Train Descriptions on Passenger Information Systems

[whole diary]

[rower40]

Derby station, platform 2, silly-o-clock in the morning of 20th April 2017.  (Sorry for the delay in posting this - I've been busy.)

This is the first time I've seen a passenger display (other than at Eurostar stations) that shows the Train Description of the train.  See the "code" column at the left hand side of the screen.



Is this a glitch, or the start of Train Operators actually telling us which train is which?  Could it be that OpenTrainTimes and similar are widening the use of Train Descriptions to beyond the "in the know" railway community?

The Train Description (once known as the 'headcode') used to be displayed on the front of trains, and at the top of the columns in the printed timetable - I don't know when that practice stopped, and when this information ceased to be allowed out to the General Public, but I'd've guessed at early 1970's.

Comments?
 

[John R]

The headcodes on trains were withdrawn in the mid 70s, although the two digit route headcodes on the Southern Region (admittedly slightly different) remained in use whilst the trains were withdrawn in the 90s and 00s. Those headcodes were well understood by regular travellers so of much more use than the more widely used train specific four character ones, which really were just for operational use.

[SandTEngineer]

These screens are provided for staff purposes (as well as used by the public in several areas). They are publicly available on the internet and I will post the link when I get back to my home computer.  I understand the staff use their mobile devices to access them as well.  There are other types apperaing such as TRUST^▸ (Train Running System TOPS) maps/screens at various stations (there are several on the platforms at Plymouth station for example).

Edit: Here is the link for Great Westen Stations (select a station and then Staff View) http://iris2.rail.co.uk/tiger/gwr.html#