• Our booking engine at tickets.railforums.co.uk (powered by TrainSplit) helps support the running of the forum with every ticket purchase! Find out more and ask any questions/give us feedback in this thread!

Avanti West Coast Rolling Stock Updates

Sponsor Post - registered members do not see these adverts; click here to register, or click here to log in
R

RailUK Forums

py_megapixel

Established Member
Joined
5 Nov 2018
Messages
6,676
Location
Northern England
I don't think it's a good idea to use identically shaped lights for both reserved and unreserved status. Surely that's a nuisance for colourblind people.

You could use some sort of schematic symbol - for example, a red filled circle for "reserved" and an green open circle for "unreserved".
 

py_megapixel

Established Member
Joined
5 Nov 2018
Messages
6,676
Location
Northern England
Colourblind people can just read the text on the display.
But so can people with full colour vision.

The lights have a slightly different function to the display - they make it easier for passengers to see unreserved seats at a glance, which some small text on an LCD doesn't really allow. It seems reasonable that if possible it should be designed so that colourblind people have access to this functionality as well.
 

Bletchleyite

Veteran Member
Joined
20 Oct 2014
Messages
98,045
Location
"Marston Vale mafia"
But so can people with full colour vision.

The lights have a slightly different function to the display - they make it easier for passengers to see unreserved seats at a glance, which some small text on an LCD doesn't really allow. It seems reasonable that if possible it should be designed so that colourblind people have access to this functionality as well.

I can't see how that would be possible. A different shape isn't useful the length of a coach away.
 

AJDesiro

Member
Joined
10 May 2019
Messages
650
Location
Rugby
But so can people with full colour vision.

The lights have a slightly different function to the display - they make it easier for passengers to see unreserved seats at a glance, which some small text on an LCD doesn't really allow. It seems reasonable that if possible it should be designed so that colourblind people have access to this functionality as well.
The majority of people are not colourblind, so in over 90% of cases this is a non-issue. Colourblind people can simply read the text, I don’t think it would be very easy to have different shaped lights, when that destroys the point of being able to do a quick glance down the carriage for available seats.
 

Energy

Established Member
Joined
29 Dec 2018
Messages
4,501
But so can people with full colour vision.

The lights have a slightly different function to the display - they make it easier for passengers to see unreserved seats at a glance, which some small text on an LCD doesn't really allow. It seems reasonable that if possible it should be designed so that colourblind people have access to this functionality as well.
Green unoccupied, blue partially occupied, off for currently reserved.

Green/Blue colourblind is much rarer than Red/Green, and for the few who are they can still easily see which seats are available for part of a journey.

Green/Blue/Off is less intuitive than Green/Yellow/Red but I'm sure most passengers would realise after reading one of the screens.
 

Pep and co

Member
Joined
17 May 2019
Messages
250
As a frequent traveller on the WCML I've got used to hoping for an unrefurbished set as the power sockets and WIFI seems rarely to work on the modified sets. Anyone else experiencing these issues?
 

pokemonsuper9

Established Member
Joined
20 Dec 2022
Messages
1,739
Location
Greater Manchester
As a frequent traveller on the WCML I've got used to hoping for an unrefurbished set as the power sockets and WIFI seems rarely to work on the modified sets. Anyone else experiencing these issues?
They've always worked for me when I've been on them (albeit that's only about 4 times so far)
 

Mikey C

Established Member
Joined
11 Feb 2013
Messages
6,870
Got a picture of the new seat display from 390135 at Manchester Piccadilly this evening. Screen looks the same but those new lights look really nice.
How does that work when one of the seats is reserved and the other available? Are there 2 separate lights for each line?
 

OscarH

Member
Joined
15 Sep 2020
Messages
461
Location
Crawley
As a frequent traveller on the WCML I've got used to hoping for an unrefurbished set as the power sockets and WIFI seems rarely to work on the modified sets. Anyone else experiencing these issues?
WiFi is terrible no matter what pendo I seem to get, they're just poorly designed for mobile data and WiFi. Haven't noticed it being even worse on the refurbs but it's possible

Power sockets I've not had issued with in any refurb sets though
 

Chiltern006

Member
Joined
3 Oct 2018
Messages
658
I'm surprised the reservation screens weren't changed. Here's a couple I did about a year ago and completely forgot to share them.

(apologies for poor quality)
 

Attachments

  • Avanti res screen.png
    Avanti res screen.png
    2.4 KB · Views: 163
  • Avanti res screen comparisons.png
    Avanti res screen comparisons.png
    5.3 KB · Views: 161

Roger B

Member
Joined
16 Jun 2018
Messages
896
Location
Gatley
And probably load quicker. It's a right pain at Manchester Piccadilly when you board and have to hover around waiting to see when the reservations are going to load.
A great frustration at either end of the line - or indeed anywhere you board.
Is this still happening with the refurbed Pendos (apologies if I've missed anything related in previous posts)?
Seat reservation loading has been unreliable for over a decade - and possibly ever since the Pendos were introduced (but I can't trust my memory that far back). For all VT's loud trumpetting of their customer-centric values. they could never be bother to get round to sorting it, but hopefully it's being addressed as part of the refurb programme.
 

AJDesiro

Member
Joined
10 May 2019
Messages
650
Location
Rugby
Have anymore 9 car 390s been for refurbished since the last update?
If RTT is to believe, 044 left Widnes today and 050 went in to Widnes today.

 

Huntergreed

Established Member
Associate Staff
Events Co-ordinator
Joined
16 Jan 2016
Messages
3,023
Location
Dumfries
Out of curiosity, does anyone know the completion date of the 9 car sets (and by extension, the entire project).
 

The_Train

Established Member
Joined
2 Jun 2018
Messages
4,367
If RTT is to believe, 044 left Widnes today and 050 went in to Widnes today.

According to the diagram for 044, it has lost 2 carriages at Widnes ;) :D

Three 9-car trains have now completed refurbishment at Widnes, 390045, 390009 and 390044.
This leaves 18 trains remaining (390050 currently in work), with project completion in June 2024.
Have either 009 or 044 re-entered service or are both still at Edge Hill?
 

Top