New Customer Information Systems

[whole diary]

[ChrisB]

Last week's update, delayed by annual leave....

Installations completed last week:
PA^▸ (Public Address) at Frome, Trowbridge, Hayes & Harlington, Westbury.

Installations planned this week:
CIS^▸ (Customer Information System) at Ealing Broadway, Hayes & Harlington and CIS and CCTV^▸ (Closed Circuit Tele Vision) at Trowbridge

[IndustryInsider]

Yes, Ealing Broadway and Hayes & Harlington are now pretty much complete.  A real boost for passengers (and staff) at these busy stations.

Just West Ealing and (sadly for James) Acton Main Line still to do on the Reading-Paddington route.

[standclearplease]

Seems to have been a few Telent vans at Yatton over the last week or so.

[159jim]

Hi, Anyone Interested in the new CIS^▸ (Customer Information System) upgrade, you are more than welcome to join the Automated Announcements group over on the RailUK forums


http://www.railforums.co.uk/


Thanks,
Jim.

[standclearplease]

A shiny new departures board has now been fitted by the entrance to platform 2 at Yatton.

Presumably the scrolling LED boards should follow shortly. It also looks like they are installing a TVM^▸ (Ticket Vending Machine) on the platform too, just past the station building, again on 2. 

[the void]

It also looks like they are installing a TVM^▸ (Ticket Vending Machine) on the platform too, just past the station building, again on 2. 

that's the control box for the CIS^▸ (Customer Information System) equipment...

[standclearplease]

It also looks like they are installing a TVM^▸ (Ticket Vending Machine) on the platform too, just past the station building, again on 2. 

that's the control box for the CIS^▸ (Customer Information System) equipment...

Thanks.  It was a bit of a random guess; now cleared up of course.

[smokey]

Down in PNZ the new screens, seem to have a glich.

In the Buffet the Information screen (show as Staff Departures) only shows the 3rd departure onwards, in otherwords the next two out trains are NOT listed.

In the Booking Hall the Screen is Broken (it was installed broken) No sigh of a replacement.

So are the above faults EVER going to be fixed?

I ask because the New CCTV^▸ (Closed Circuit Tele Vision) systems are now being installed in Penzance.

[Louis94]

Just noticed today how the new male voice cant say Tamworth, so on Crosscountry service he completely misses it out! Also I have found recently that the volume of the new PA^▸ (Public Address)/Speakers has decreased hugely, and is can not be heard at all when a train is present. I think FGW^▸ (First Great Western) need to look at the setting for the new system far more carefully than is currently being taken.

[James Vertigan]

Just noticed today how the new male voice cant say Tamworth, so on Crosscountry service he completely misses it out! Also I have found recently that the volume of the new PA^▸ (Public Address)/Speakers has decreased hugely, and is can not be heard at all when a train is present. I think FGW^▸ (First Great Western) need to look at the setting for the new system far more carefully than is currently being taken.

I take it this means the end of Phil Sayer?   

I know the female voice appears to be the same as at Paddington and Liverpool Street, not heard the new male voice yet.

I don't like the way the female voice pronounces "St Germans" at Paddington- she seems to say it as "Ger-mAns" rather than "Germans". Think there's also one or two other places she pronounces funnily.

[Btline]

Phil has recorded every station in the UK^▸ (United Kingdom).

I wonder how many times ATOS Anne is called in for a re-recording session? Why bother when you've got files for Phil ready to use, with the added benefit that people can actually hear them at busy concourse stations.

The OXF^» (Oxford - next trains) situation is interesting as due to a massive public outcry when Phil was axed, train departures are now made on the concourse as well. It's silly to have them just on the platforms - as you're already there! Esp at a station as small as OXF!

EDIT: Please see post below for correction.

[JayMac]

The OXF^» (Oxford - next trains) situation is interesting as due to a massive public outcry when Phil was axed,

This massive public outcry didn't appear to make it to the internet or news media as far as I can gather.

[inspector_blakey]

Firstly, Oxford was never fully Sayer-ized when the new CIS^▸ (Customer Information System) was introduced there, if I recall correctly. Wasn't there a female voice making all the automatic announcements on the down platform? Secondly, I'm fairly sure there never were departure announcements routinely on the concourse anyway, although despite using the station hundreds of times over the years I'm not 100% on that one. And Sayer was still in full swing last time I used the station (January, admittedly).

Have you invented Phil Sayer being AXED? And even if the voice changed on the PA^▸ (Public Address) system, do you really think that the majority of passengers (who I can guarantee you, don't give a rat's @rs* about the particular voice artiste who is making the announcements) would rise up in the way you seem to suggest...?

[phile]

Not directly CIS^▸ (Customer Information System) but I have just realised that the announcements at Newport now broadcast the English version first before the Welsh version.  It is alleged there use to be cases of people missing trains in the event of a change of platform at the last minute, the train having reached the platform before the announcement filtered through arising in complaints that had the English announcement been made first people may not have missed the train.   The powers to be were not interested in changing the order at the time.

[Btline]

Sorry, big typo!

I meant: I was surprised at OXF^» (Oxford - next trains) having no announcements in the concourse, due to there being such a massive public outcry when Phil was axed from BHM's concourse. It made BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page) News and commuters were visibly distressed. After a long campaign, Network Rail saw sense, and he (with Celia) has been restored, much to the relief of stressed commuters.