New Customer Information Systems

[whole diary]

[BBM]

The new style of announcements have started this week at Twyford and apart from the new 'bing bong' I've noticed that the announcements include the length of the train which is useful, and also the origin station which seems a little superfluous maybe? I've noticed too that the announcements on Platform 3 are male while those on Platform 4 are female.

[lordgoata]

The new style of announcements have started this week at Twyford and apart from the new 'bing bong' I've noticed that the announcements include the length of the train which is useful, and also the origin station which seems a little superfluous maybe? I've noticed too that the announcements on Platform 3 are male while those on Platform 4 are female.

Are they announcing how long it is until they arrive ? The PA^▸ (Public Address) at Maidenhead used to do that (expected in x minutes), but I noticed last night the new PA didn't include that, it instead said where it came from (which as you say, seems some what needless). I agree with the carriage count being useful as it gives you a chance to position yourself in the right place.

The PA on Platform 2/3 at Maidenhead is male, not sure about 4/5.

They also seem to have fixed the cock up with the platform through train announcements for platforms 1,2 & 3 at last!

[bobm]

I agree the origin of the train is more relevant at places like Reading.

The number of coaches is useful as is HSTs^▸ (High Speed Train) being in reverse formations. I assume this has to be entered manually and it is prone to error. More than once I've had to scurry down a platform because First Class was at the other end. Once I've even had to go back the other way when a train advertised as being back to front actually wasn't!

Are they using the same voices as at Reading/Wokingham/Bracknell?

[Louis94]

Are they using the same voices as at Reading/Wokingham/Bracknell?

Nope, the female voice is the same as at Paddington, and the male voice is a member of FGW^▸ (First Great Western) staff at Reading who was recorded (He does lots of engineering announcements at the bigger FGW stations, like Reading, Plymouth, Exeter, etc)

[inspector_blakey]

When I got off last night, there were a two elderly couples just in front of me, and they were commenting how slow its all going, but how they are looking forward to the new bridge. I think everyone is expecting it to end up like Twyford!

Hopefully it gets done a bit more quickly than Radley - that had a temporary footbridge for months or possibly even a year whilst very little happened.

Are there issues with the bridge at Goring being listed or otherwise historically significant?

[Oxman]

I'm not aware of any historical significance for the bridge at Goring & Streatley. I took a look at it today, and could see some issues. The decking has all been removed. The main beams look to be in reasonable condition. There are about 8 cross beams that support the decking. Four of these have been replaced. At least three of the others must also be replaced - in places, there was more air than ironwork! As a regular user of the bridge, the apparent condition was something of a worry!

Some of the diagonal stretchers also look in need of replacement. The vertical members that support the side panels also need treatment, and the side panels are mostly rusted away at the base - not structural, but does not look good!

Work is carried out overnight, with two of the four lines closed to allow work on half of the bridge to take place.

I had it confirmed today that the new CIS^▸ (Customer Information System) could not be implemented until the bridge work was complete, hence the posting in this thread.

[ajdunlop]

Romsey Station has some contractors this week putting in new platform LED boards (looks like 2 lines and a clock). Also today they were putting up what looks like a departures board on one of the platforms (I assume there will be another on the ticket office side. Can't wait to wave bye bye to the old fuzzy departures CRT^‡(resolve) monitors which are nearly impossible to read at the corners (the most useful bit where it says how late the FGW^▸ (First Great Western) service WILL be).
Hopefully poor speaker for the audio announcements will be replaced as well. And I hope that having the time so obviously in the platforms will encourage FGW to try and keep to it rather than always running a few (if your lucky) minutes late.
Does anyone know if the quality of the information shown on the new system will be different (i.e. will they have a new back end?) as the current one seems very inaccurate compared to those at SWT^▸ (South West Trains) stations.

[JayMac]

Thank you for those observations ajdunlop. I hope someone will be along shortly to answer your specific points.

In the meantime, let me extend a very warm welcome to the Coffee Shop! 

[Louis94]

Romsey Station has some contractors this week putting in new platform LED boards (looks like 2 lines and a clock). Also today they were putting up what looks like a departures board on one of the platforms (I assume there will be another on the ticket office side. Can't wait to wave bye bye to the old fuzzy departures CRT^‡(resolve) monitors which are nearly impossible to read at the corners (the most useful bit where it says how late the FGW^▸ (First Great Western) service WILL be).
Hopefully poor speaker for the audio announcements will be replaced as well. And I hope that having the time so obviously in the platforms will encourage FGW to try and keep to it rather than always running a few (if your lucky) minutes late.
Does anyone know if the quality of the information shown on the new system will be different (i.e. will they have a new back end?) as the current one seems very inaccurate compared to those at SWT^▸ (South West Trains) stations.

As far as I am aware the back end of the CIS^▸ (Customer Information System) will remain the same, as I understand the current CIS there is of an older version of the new CIS we are getting which has been upgraded already, however I would imagine that the installation of the new hardware will allow the system to work better with the upgraded software. As far as I am aware the audio equipment will not be replaced however the voice will change and should make the announcements sound a lot clearer.

[paul7575]

To revisit something I may have posted a while ago, Romsey and the other two stations on the way down from Salisbury are obviously a bit of an outpost of FGW^▸ (First Great Western)'s network.  If the PIS^▸ (Passenger Information System) displays and announcements are (in simple terms) driven by the signalling system - then there's no reason why the info shouldn't be as accurate as SWT^▸ (South West Trains)'s info is - because trains are running in an area already under the control of Eastleigh and Salsibury.  But I still have my doubts because I think it will be run remotely by FGW - even if they use the same basic info that SWT would use.

With the current trend towards NR^» (Network Rail - home page) route devolution, and integrated TOC^▸ (Train Operating Company)/NR control rooms, this asks an obvious question about what happens when it all goes pear shaped, and manual announcements have to be made, should these come from the Wessex ICC^▸ (Integrated Control Centre), or from Swindon (or wherever FGW are centralised)?

There is obviously some sort of cross linking between all these PIS systems, because the computerised voices at Southampton can and often do deal with reports of signalling delays in South Wales just as well as they deal with congestion in Yorkshire; but is what they are doing the very best solution?

Paul

[Louis94]

There is obviously some sort of cross linking between all these PIS^▸ (Passenger Information System) systems, because the computerised voices at Southampton can and often do deal with reports of signalling delays in South Wales just as well as they deal with congestion in Yorkshire

The information regarding delays in other areas is inputed manually by South West Trains control, each TOCs^▸ (Train Operating Company) CIS^▸ (Customer Information System) system are separate, and require manually updating by the relevant TOCs control to ensure the data is correct on both their own trains and other operators. They all may read off the same systems (Trust/Signalling), however information such as expected delays, formation and reason for late running must be manually added by each TOCs CIS control, an example of this is when a SWT^▸ (South West Trains) service is expected to leave Salisbury later than booked, SWT will input it on their system, and FGW^▸ (First Great Western) will have to do the same for Romsey to show the delay.

[ajdunlop]

That's loopy, I can understand that sone of the first systems put in place would be incompatible but new ones! Surely given the amount of flack TOCs^▸ (Train Operating Company) get following major disruption about the lack of clear info given to passengers there would be a case for expanding the current systems to support entry of disruption information into a central system which all CIS^▸ (Customer Information System) run off?

[Louis94]

That's loopy, I can understand that sone of the first systems put in place would be incompatible but new ones! Surely given the amount of flack TOCs^▸ (Train Operating Company) get following major disruption about the lack of clear info given to passengers there would be a case for expanding the current systems to support entry of disruption information into a central system which all CIS^▸ (Customer Information System) run off?

You'd think they would of, however it appears they havent. I know that certain companys can edit each others CIS, such as XC^▸ (Cross Country Trains (franchise)) can edit EMTs^» (East Midlands Trains - about) system, but i guess it all depends on whether various operators have systems that are compatiable. This again is another issue of privatisation, every different operator wants a different system.

[ChrisB]

This week's FGW^▸ (First Great Western) update -

Installations completed last week: CCTV^▸ (Closed Circuit Tele Vision) at St Budeaux, CIS^▸ (Customer Information System) and PA^▸ (Public Address) at Twyford

SE installations planned for this week: CCTV, CIS and PA at Romsey, Exeter Central,
Paignton, Nailsea & Backwell, CIS and PA at Newbury, West Drayton and Theale

[insider]

The new LICC system that is currently be rolled out across FGW^▸ (First Great Western) network, does take a feed from the Tyrell system. This means that when Cross Country amend, cancel or delay a train and assuming they "page" that info out via Tyrell then the LICC system automatically updates without any user intervention.

This is also the same for FGW, in that when the FGW team "page" out the relevant information the CIS^▸ (Customer Information System) automatically updates. This is only on the LICC system which is being rolled out. This feature does not work on the original LTV^▸ (London [and] Thames Valley) system or the Amey Datel system at the major FGW stations.

All TOC^▸ (Train Operating Company)'s are going this way with much more integration and automation with regards to CIS and other applications such as journey check. It should also be noted that the NRE^‡(resolve) powered features (such as live departure boards) are also updated in the same manner.