Hayes & Harlington - Customer Service Monitor Out Of Order

[whole diary]

[CJB666]

Damn - I just missed the train to London at lunch time today because it turned up at platform 2 instead of 4 - AND NO-ONE ANNOUNCED ANYTHING.

The CIS^▸ (Customer Information System) monitor in the main foyer on the Station Road bridge has been out of order for weeks. But it is usually the first point of reference for passengers going down to the platforms. Why has it not been reconnected?

However this weekend FGW^▸ (First Great Western) and Network are excelling in their collective incompetence. Not only is the main CIS monitor u/s in the main foyer THE TRAINS ARE CALLING AT ALL FOUR PLATFORMS without any discernible pattern. When I suggested to the one platform staff a hi-tech solution, i.e. a felt tip pen and a piece of paper stuck to the wall, he said that even the staff do not know which platforms the trains are calling at.

The lack of real-time information at H&H is appalling. Network Rail have very large signs stating that for London pax need platform 4, and for Oxford / Reading they need platform 3. HOWEVER THESE ARE WRONG IN THE EARLY MORNINGS, LATE EVENINGS, AND AT WEEKENDS.

During these times the trains tend to use platforms 2 for London and 1 for Oxford / Reading.

Indeed knowing the platform for the last trains to Oxford / Reading is CRITICAL because its a long way to run from the usual platform 3 over the road bridge to platform 1. Actually the quickest short cut from 3 to 1 is to run across the fast tracks.

Today the trains were using ALL FOUR platforms; and NO-ONE KNEW WHICH TRAINS WERE STOPPING AT WHICH PLATFORMS.

I have emailed Mark Hopwood (GM FGW), FGW Panel Rep., John McDonnell (MP^▸ (Member of Parliament) H&H), and FGW Feedback. The response - zero, zilch, sfa.

[ChrisB]

Try the twitter account...7 till 7 I think, 52/7

[Network SouthEast]

Well I can provide some information that might be of interest to you.

This weekend, as with other recent weekends there is engineering work on the relief lines between Dolphin Junction and Airport Junction. For example, a stopping train from Reading to Paddington crosses over from relief lines to fast lines at Dolphin Junction (just east of Slough). However, even though the engineering work finishes at Airport Junction it is not possible for a train on the mains to access the reliefs until Southall East Junction. Heathrow Connect trains from Heathrow Airport to London Paddington are unaffected by the engineering work, so they can run on the relief lines as usual.

So the end result is that today (and tomorrow) all FGW^▸ (First Great Western) Paddington trains are leaving from platform 2, and all Heathrow Connect Paddington trains are leaving from platform 4.

Doing things this way might be inconvenient if you turn up at the station at the last minute, but it ensures 4tph are able to run between Hayes & Harlington and Paddington instead of 2tph. Those that are observant will note that to ensure the maximum number of trains can run some Heathrow Express services are running on the releifs the whole way and the Reading stoppers are being variously crossed over at Southall East, Acton West or even between Portobello Junction and Royal Oak!

My observations from this morning, is that the vast majority of passengers were on the correct platform for the next Paddington train. The individual CIS^▸ (Customer Information System) boards on the platforms themselves, along with announcements seemed to work.

I do have sympathy with frustration from any CIS boards being out of order. It may be worth either bookmarking the National Rail or Realtime Times website and/or downloading the app(s) as checking these on the way to the station will give you some idea of what platform the train will be departing from.

To say that the quickest route across Hayes and Harlington station is over the tracks I find a little hysterical.

[bobm]

Try the twitter account...7 till 7 I think, 52/7

If you mean the FGW^▸ (First Great Western) twitter account (@FGW) it is staffed 07:00 til 22:00 - although during the height of the winter storms it was available throughout the night as well.

[a-driver]

I think the Twitter account is now staffed 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. 

[bobm]

The heading on their twitter page certainly says that but I looked back over the last few days and there don't seem to be any tweets, not even promotional ones, in the wee small hours.

[ChrisB]

That was just through the Dawlish problem, now back to 10pm - 7aam closure

[johoare]

Looking at Realtime trains, the London bound Heathrow connect trains were going from platform 4 and the FGW^▸ (First Great Western) ones from platform 2.. So not something that couldn't have been advertised easily then 

[Network SouthEast]

Just like I said in my post 

[johoare]

Just like I said in my post 

Oops sorry..  There were quite a lot of words in your post and I obviously didn't read them all 

[Ollie]

That was just through the Dawlish problem, now back to 10pm - 7aam closure

It's actually 24/7 like it says on the FGW^▸ (First Great Western) Twitter bio..

[Chris from Nailsea]

Thanks for clarifying that, Ollie. 

[mathmo]

I sympathise with the problem mentioned in the first post - at Langley, before the new CIS^▸ (Customer Information System) was installed, the only monitor showing platforms was in the ticket office (closed evenings and Sundays) and there was no CIS at all on platforms 1 and 2 (and that on 3 and 4 was often not working/unreadable).  On at least one time when I was there this resulted in a decent number of passengers having to sprint over the bridge when a train turned up on platform 2 rather than 4.  But with the new CIS the problem has been well and truly sorted.  I'm surprised a busier station like Hayes and Harlington has a similar problem.

[IndustryInsider]

I'm surprised a busier station like Hayes and Harlington has a similar problem.

Not sure if the number of information screens and their location has something to do with Hayes having two station entrances nowadays?  The entry point on the overbridge is consequently much quieter than it was.  Totally agree that having a screen out of action for more than a couple of days is unacceptable though.

As 'Network SouthEast' has posted, there was a pattern and it's perhaps a shame that if there was widespread confusion as the OP^▸ (Original Poster / topic starter) states, the station staff didn't use their initiative and provided a poster/hand written sign to help people.