Controlled chaos at Reading tonight

[whole diary]

[inspector_blakey]

Train delayed (Reading - Basingstoke 0707) again today by 15 mins, do not know why!

At a guess, it's adhesion problems - sounds like the leaf-fall situation has been a bit of a nightmare, with a mild autumn up to this point followed by a couple of heavy frosts that have caused trees to dump their leaves suddenly and in enormous quantity (see other threads, esp regarding the Exmouth branch, on the board). Things should settle down given a couple of weeks, once all the leaves are down. As you experienced yourself, in these sorts of conditions the only thing to do is for drivers to take things very gently, since braking too hard can make the wheels pick up and slide whilst accelerating too much just leads to the wheels spinning uselessly. That means that timekeeping tends to slip but it's the only safe thing to do in the circumstances - I don't envy drivers, especially on DMU^▸ (Diesel Multiple Unit) stock that is fairly light on its wheels, their job right now!

[Ollie]

The 07:07 to Basingstoke was late cos the inward was late - and that was late, etc..due to being late off of the depot..no reason for that given from what I can see.

[SDS]

The XDAs have specially built software on them which uses a windows mobile interface for pager messages. You also need to scan your fingerprint to 'wake them up' so they are useless if someone nicks it, or you loose it.
Also can access tyrellcheck externally.

Tyrellcheck is also being tested out with XC^▸ (Cross Country Trains (franchise)) on blackberries as well.

I also think that there is a way that a mass SMS can be sent to all company mobiles if so be.

[IndustryInsider]

As always though it'll depend on how staff use the system.  Those that rarely bother to check their pagers, will probably rarely bother to check their TYRELL updates - small strides are being taken in providing information to front line staff however there's a long way to go.  On train staff have often commented to me that they are more than often inundated with messages telling them that the PERTIS^▸ (Permit to travel) machine at Thatcham isn't working (or something equally trivial), but that their pagers go quiet when there's serious disruption and they could really do with some information.

[Ollie]

On train staff have often commented to me that they are more than often inundated with messages telling them that the PERTIS^▸ (Permit to travel) machine at Thatcham isn't working (or something equally trivial),

Disagree with it being trivial - these are the pagers messages that can stop an innocent person getting a penalty fare!

[SDS]

yeah but being sent the same message 10 times with the same status is annoying.

[JayMac]

On train staff have often commented to me that they are more than often inundated with messages telling them that the PERTIS^▸ (Permit to travel) machine at Thatcham isn't working (or something equally trivial),

Disagree with it being trivial - these are the pagers messages that can stop an innocent person getting a penalty fare!

Hear, hear.

[IndustryInsider]

Point taken, but not of much use if you're working a train at Great Malvern heading for Hereford though.  It would be nice if there was a system in place that was intelligent enough to work out what should be sent out to who at what time, rather than the 'send it to everyone' approach.  That often applies now and leads to messages often being ignored as pagers are constantly going off with information that is only occasionally directly useful.

[ChrisB]

And if you suddenly get asked to cover a trip?....you might actually need that info...

[IndustryInsider]

That's what I mean by an intelligent system, i.e. it would filter the message so that you would receive a message about Thatcham PERTIS^▸ (Permit to travel) machine (as an example, I'm not even sure it has one!) if you were a Train Manager spare (stand-by) at Reading depot, but you wouldn't if you were a Train Manager spare at Worcester who doesn't sign the route.

Or, a blackberry device or similar could replace constantly beeping pagers by presenting the information on screen, so that a TM^▸ (Train Manager, or possibly Ticket Machine, depending on context) could find it if he/she needs to, but is not alerted to it unnecessarily.  From what I've seen of the TYRELL systems this is slowly being taken on board by Nexus Alpha, but there is still some way to go.

See these links for more details about the types of systems I'm referring to:
http://www.nexusalpha.com/index.php?location=3.3.1
http://www.nexusalpha.com/index.php?location=3.3.3
http://www.nexusalpha.com/index.php?location=3.3.10

[readytostart]

The XC^▸ (Cross Country Trains (franchise)) blackberry I have filters messages regarding train running / station facilities etc by depot so you only receieve information regarding trains you could possibly work and the occasional network summary every hour. (Though I do feel sorry for some of my Birmingham colleagues who must get the whole lot).
Quite handy is having GENIUS which means you can find out what's in front of you and also look up running information for connections if you're running late yourself (or early in the case of Exeter connections at BSK^▸ (Basingstoke station, or Brake Standard Corridor (carriage), depending on context)).
Only problems seem to be some of the previous generation of staff not getting to grips with it, and those with hands like slabs of meat pressing five buttons instead of one!

[IndustryInsider]

Good to know we have someone on the forum who has actual experience with the Tyrellcheck system on Blackberries.  I'm guessing that when the FGW^▸ (First Great Western) get issued with theirs it'll be exactly the same system that XC^▸ (Cross Country Trains (franchise)) currently use - and by the sounds of it find useful too.

[SDS]

How is tyrellcheck on XC^▸ (Cross Country Trains (franchise)) working? I know they are trialling it with yourselves.