Mass removal of services from station departure boards during disruption

[AdamWW]

I came across a new way of communucating disruption today.

At Paddington there was disruption due to some kind of problem between there and Reading, leading to trains being cancelled and delayed.
Rather than leaving the scheduled services on the board and showing them as delayed or cancelled, everything was removed apart from the Heathrow Express, then if a train did run it was reinstated when ready to board.
There were no announcements or (at least where I was on the footbridge) messages explaining what was going on.
I didn't find this especially helpful. Can anyone suggest the advantage of this approach?

In general, I much prefer cancelled services to be shown as such rather than making it look as if they never existed because I think it's just confusing.

 

[800001]

I came across a new way of communucating disruption today.

At Paddington there was disruption due to some kind of problem between there and Reading, leading to trains being cancelled and delayed.
Rather than leaving the scheduled services on the board and showing them as delayed or cancelled, everything was removed apart from the Heathrow Express, then if a train did run it was reinstated when ready to board.
There were no announcements or (at least where I was on the footbridge) messages explaining what was going on.
I didn't find this especially helpful. Can anyone suggest the advantage of this approach?

In general, I much prefer cancelled services to be shown as such rather than making it look as if they never existed because I think it's just confusing.

Trouble is if everything cancelled shows on departure boards, then services that are still running maybe won’t be visible? As the cancellations fill the board?

 

[Bletchleyite]

Trouble is if everything cancelled shows on departure boards, then services that are still running maybe won’t be visible? As the cancellations fill the board?

That's exactly the reason - to stop delayed/cancelled trains cluttering up the board so you can't see on time ones. Normally it's announced and put on the "Special Notices" screen, maybe they just forgot.

 

[12LDA28C]

I came across a new way of communucating disruption today.

At Paddington there was disruption due to some kind of problem between there and Reading, leading to trains being cancelled and delayed.
Rather than leaving the scheduled services on the board and showing them as delayed or cancelled, everything was removed apart from the Heathrow Express, then if a train did run it was reinstated when ready to board.
There were no announcements or (at least where I was on the footbridge) messages explaining what was going on.
I didn't find this especially helpful. Can anyone suggest the advantage of this approach?

In general, I much prefer cancelled services to be shown as such rather than making it look as if they never existed because I think it's just confusing.

The 'problem' was an Elizabeth line train striking a person east of Reading who had apparently fallen from an overbridge. BTP, RIO and SOCO involved at the scene. In a major incident such as this, all trains will be cancelled for several hours so leaving those services on screens is not practicable. What purpose does it serve to show dozens of trains on screens as cancelled? Better to clear the boards and just show any trains that are actually running.

I'd be very surprised if no announcements were made at all but don't expect gory details to be passed on to passengers. It's hardly surprising that given what happened, no trains were running apart from the HEX and that services were in complete disarray.

 

[Mag_seven]

The last thing you want is ATOS Annie booming out "We are sorry to announce..." every 5 seconds.

 

[Dr Hoo]

Ever since the birth of the PIDD (Passenger Information During Disruption) over ten years ago many information systems have been able to switch to Disruption Mode, which only displays what is actually running.

 

[800301]

While I agree that it’s better to not have a board full of cancellations, there was a distinct lack of information being conveyed at all, at least around 3pm when I was at Pad, the 1518 Cardiff was announced about 5/7 mins before departure causing a stampede at the gate line, despite the train and crew being on the platform for some time before this, I’m sure someone needed to make a decision if it was going to run or not but at least saying it will be held for a short while to allow people to board would have been nice.

On the departure board a message explaining that there is disruption and to await further announcements I think would be better than just blank screens

 

[davews]

I was at the Reading end of this this morning, around 11am. Very little information on the departure boards there either apart from a statement 'trains to Paddington cancelled due to an incident, travel via Waterloo'. But they seemed to have left my 1109 Waterloo train off the boards as well, which did run normally.

Just before we departed the guard said that there was a fast train to Paddington from platform 7 and quite a lot of people got off to catch that. It seemed that was around the time things started moving again so surprised Paddington was still not back to sort of normal at 3pm.

 

[AdamWW]

I must say I'm a little surprised at the responses.

I have never seen this before, i.e. having all services pre-emptively wiped out like this. Maybe I've had a sheltered life.

I can see the issue with boards clogging up with delayed trains but they normally seem to manage (at Paddington and other places) to display cancelled and delayed trains without making the displays unusable.

Certainly, showing future departures - as cancelled or delayed - isn't going to be any worse than showing them when they run.

When I arrived trains were moving, just not all of them and with delays so it's not the case that nothing was going to be leaving for hours. But there was no way of knowing that without collaring a member of staff. I can see the idea that it's better just to show ones that are running, the problem is that nothing was shown as running until suddenly it was shown as ready to board.

Normallyin my experience at Paddington they are able to give some notice that a departure is going to happen (by having it on the board as something like "Train being prepared") not just announcing out of the blue that a train is about to leave.

And, just in case someone has managed to misconstrue what I'm saying, I'm not criticising that they were delays, and I know that sometimes (but not always) the railway doesn't wish to say that someone has been hit by a train).

But as someone very used to rail travel and how to deal with the information provided during disruption, I had no idea what to make of this when turning up to the station and seeing the boards devoid of any suggestion that they'd ever had planned to run beyond Heathrow.

I was at the Reading end of this this morning, around 11am. Very little information on the departure boards there either apart from a statement 'trains to Paddington cancelled due to an incident, travel via Waterloo'. But they seemed to have left my 1109 Waterloo train off the boards as well, which did run normally.

Just before we departed the guard said that there was a fast train to Paddington from platform 7 and quite a lot of people got off to catch that. It seemed that was around the time things started moving again so surprised Paddington was still not back to sort of normal at 3pm.

I think it was back to sort of normal. The problem was that it didn't look like that.

I should have been just in time for a train which I presume was cancelled. I waited half an hour or so and the next one was suddenly displayed and - I think - would have left maybe 10 minutes late had someone not activated the passcom. The train due half an hour after that left almost on time.

If the displays were handled in the way I'm used to at Paddington, the first train would have been shown as cancelled (so I would have known not to try to find it) and the next two would have shown on the boards, possibly as "delayed". And there would have been a "special notice" or some such explaining that the line had been closed and there is now disruption as they recover from it. I don't ever recall seeing the bank of screens showing individual departures mostly dark.

I really can't see how presenting information in the way I'm used to would have been worse than the information "black hole" I was presented with.

 

[Falcon1200]

I had exactly the same experience back in May when the GWML was severely disrupted by points failures at Slough and the station was packed with confused passengers. I cannot see any reason why booked trains should not be shown on departure screens and shown cancelled until being removed when their booked time has passed. There doesn't seem to be a problem showing all trains when they are running!

 

[DarloRich]

Sensible in my book. Focus on what IS runnnig.

Most wont care that the 1057 to crewe was cancelled when thry arrive at the station at 1300!

 

[AdamWW]

I cannot see any reason why booked trains should not be shown on departure screens and shown cancelled until being removed when their booked time has passed. There doesn't seem to be a problem showing all trains when they are running!

Quite. And that's what normally seems to happen.

Most wont care that the 1057 to crewe was cancelled when thry arrive at the station at 1300!

But it's useful to know when arriving at 1300 that the 1305 is cancelled.

Sensible in my book. Focus on what IS runnnig.

Well in this case they focussed on showing nothing as running, until just before each train left.

As I said before, maybe I've had a sheltered life but I've never seen this approach before, i.e. imply nothing is running, give passengers absolutely no information and expect them to watch the screens like a hawk in case a train suddenly appears.

 

[Falcon1200]

Most wont care that the 1057 to crewe was cancelled when thry arrive at the station at 1300!

Which is why trains should vanish from the screens once their time has passed - Which is what happens normally anyway. But arriving at Paddington for the train on which you have an advance ticket and reserved seat, only to not see it mentioned on the departure screens, at all, is somewhat disconcerting! Is it going to run, or not?

 

[AdamWW]

Which is why trains should vanish from the screens once their time has passed - Which is what happens normally anyway. But arriving at Paddington for the train on which you have an advance ticket and reserved seat, only to not see it mentioned on the departure screens, at all, is somewhat disconcerting! Is it going to run, or not?

I fully agree but I think we're in a minority here!

 

[Surreytraveller]

Its been happening for years. There's no point in trains being on the departure boards if they don't know if they're running or not, as it prevents those trains which are running from being displayed

 

[Bartsimho]

Surely the best way would be to keep them on the departure boards with them listed as cancelled until their usual set-off time so anyone who has just arrived in the station to catch the train can see it as cancelled rather than panicking as it's not there on the board

 

[Bald Rick]

I came across a new way of communucating disruption today.

At Paddington there was disruption due to some kind of problem between there and Reading, leading to trains being cancelled and delayed.
Rather than leaving the scheduled services on the board and showing them as delayed or cancelled, everything was removed apart from the Heathrow Express, then if a train did run it was reinstated when ready to board.
There were no announcements or (at least where I was on the footbridge) messages explaining what was going on.
I didn't find this especially helpful. Can anyone suggest the advantage of this approach?

In general, I much prefer cancelled services to be shown as such rather than making it look as if they never existed because I think it's just confusing.

As others say, it’s been routine practice for around a decade.

The trouble with leaving everything up showing cancelled is that at busy stations everything will be shown cancelled for the next 20-30 minutes, but the occasional train that is confirmed as running in (say) 40 minutes is not shown, and thus passengers who could make use of that might think there’s no service.

It’s particularly important when there’s major disruption on routes with multiple branches where, say, half the branches are affected and half aren’t.

 

[Snow1964]

As others say, it’s been routine practice for around a decade.

The trouble with leaving everything up showing cancelled is that at busy stations everything will be shown cancelled for the next 20-30 minutes, but the occasional train that is confirmed as running in (say) 40 minutes is not shown, and thus passengers who could make use of that might think there’s no service.

It’s particularly important when there’s major disruption on routes with multiple branches where, say, half the branches are affected and half aren’t.

Although there is also something wrong when the departure boards are not capable of showing the next 40 minutes worth of trains, (especially where many services operate hourly) even if scrolling extra pages

I am not sure what the maximum quantity that can be shown at Paddington, but since Elizabeth line effectively took over one pair of tracks, and one track is inbound, in practice only displaying trains for the westbound fast track, and it never has trains less than 2.5 minutes apart, so 18 rows would cover 40 minutes. Reality more like 12-15 rows, as repeats at 15, 20, 30 mins not normally shown if preceding train not yet reached departure time

 

[AdamWW]

Although there is also something wrong when the departure boards are not capable of showing the next 40 minutes worth of trains, (especially where many services operate hourly) even if scrolling extra pages

I am not sure what the maximum quantity that can be shown at Paddington, but since Elizabeth line effectively took over one pair of tracks, and one track is inbound, in practice only displaying trains for the westbound fast track, and it never has trains less than 2.5 minutes apart, so 18 rows would cover 40 minutes. Reality more like 12-15 rows, as repeats at 15, 20, 30 mins not normally shown if preceding train not yet reached departure time

As I said at the start, maybe I've had a sheltered life.

But every time I can think of (both Paddington and elsewhere) when I've turned up to disruption it's been obvious because the screens have been a mass of "cancelled" and "delayed".
I've never seen the boards showing nothing but the Heathrow Express and it's not the first time I've been to Paddington when things have been very messed up.

And in any case there is absolutely no point in clearing out space to show non-cancelled trains in 40 minutes time if you are only going to flash departures up on the screen briefly just before they are about to leave.

 

[Dr Hoo]

Although it might be seen as a second order issue, it's worth remembering that every service that is shown as Delayed or Cancelled also has to be repeatedly announced as Delayed or Cancelled.

Perhaps I'm being ableist and selfish but that used to really get on my nerves.

 

[Bartsimho]

Although it might be seen as a second order issue, it's worth remembering that every service that is shown as Delayed or Cancelled also has to be repeatedly announced as Delayed or Cancelled.

Perhaps I'm being ableist and selfish but that used to really get on my nerves.

I'm thinking at people arrive at different times for their timed train so might not be aware when they arrive

 

[Bald Rick]

I'm thinking at people arrive at different times for their timed train so might not be aware when they arrive

What about people who arrive for, say, the next train to Reading, and see a board full of cancelled services? But there are three Reading services that are running, but they are not yet on the board that is full of cancelled services. How would they know to wait?

 

[Failed Unit]

I must admit I prefer it when they only list the services that are running. You can quickly decide your next steps. Welwyn Garden City isn’t a busy station, but you still can have ”scrolling issues“ in major disruption there. Just seeing 1 service to Moorgate on the board really shows - us it. Otherwise you end up with lots of “Delayed” and no-one really knows what is happening.

 

[Bevan Price]

It would be more sensible to display something like:
"Due to an incident, all trains are cancelled until further notice".

 

[jayah]

P

Sensible in my book. Focus on what IS runnnig.

Most wont care that the 1057 to crewe was cancelled when thry arrive at the station at 1300!

Paddington are famous for hiding trains that are awaiting traincrew in platforms.

The boards suggest no services are boarding, but a delayed service half full, due to have left 20mins earlier is quietly sitting out of sight, completely unadvertised.

As the next service to board will also leave 30mins late, lots of unnecessary delay is caused.

 

[Revilo]

I must admit I prefer it when they only list the services that are running. You can quickly decide your next steps. Welwyn Garden City isn’t a busy station, but you still can have ”scrolling issues“ in major disruption there. Just seeing 1 service to Moorgate on the board really shows - us it. Otherwise you end up with lots of “Delayed” and no-one really knows what is happening.

Scrolling issues are even worse at, say, Cardiff Central when they also have to go through the Welsh versions of the information for the 0.1% of the population who don’t speak English.

 

[Bald Rick]

It would be more sensible to display something like:
"Due to an incident, all trains are cancelled until further notice".

But what if they are not all cancelled, but just, say, 70% of them are? Or just the next 45 minutes ?

 

[Bartsimho]

What about people who arrive for, say, the next train to Reading, and see a board full of cancelled services? But there are three Reading services that are running, but they are not yet on the board that is full of cancelled services. How would they know to wait?

Surely the boards at most stations can handle it and if not maybe looking at getting some more would be required

 

[Travelmonkey]

The 'problem' was an Elizabeth line train striking a person east of Reading who had apparently fallen from an overbridge. BTP, RIO and SOCO involved at the scene. In a major incident such as this, all trains will be cancelled for several hours so leaving those services on screens is not practicable. What purpose does it serve to show dozens of trains on screens as cancelled? Better to clear the boards and just show any trains that are actually running.

I'd be very surprised if no announcements were made at all but don't expect gory details to be passed on to passengers. It's hardly surprising that given what happened, no trains were running apart from the HEX and that services were in complete disarray.

A simple "emergency services dealing with an incedent" is a good base announcement i know sometimes they mention "a person hit by a train" either way in the grand scheme that is one delay that is truly understandable and tragic at the same time, thoughts with the family of the victim and the driver of the train,

 

[Taunton]

Woking station, a while ago. Nothing running to/from the west. Indicators all blank. Guildford line train arrived, many got off to try and continue westward. No staff visible.

Suddenly over the PA comes "May I Have Your Attention .....". Instant silence, all listen for the continuation.

"Please Keep Your Luggage With You At All Times".