Misleading announcements

[Deleted]

Last Sunday, about 16.10 at Edgware Road, I was on a westbound Circle Line train (S stock) in platform 1 running anticlockwise in a special timetable to provide infill trains during Metropolitan Line suspension.

After a long wait, an automated announcement (and visual displays) stated "the destination of this train has changed. This is a Circle Line train via Baker Street and Kings Cross". Many people rushed out, with luggage and children. After a few seconds, the doors closed, train moved off, westbound of course, announcements still bleating via Baker Street etc.

Not a dicky bird from the driver to alleviate the confusion.

On to Paddington. Now the announcement changed to "this is a Circle Line train to Edgware Road". As if, from the southbound platform! Again, not a word from the driver. How he/she must have been revelling in the confusion! After a long stand, the announcement chaged to "this is a Circle line train to Victoria", the doors closed immediately, leaving a lot of bemused passengers to wait for the next Circle train.

Altogether a despicable episode, and whatever the vagaries of the automated passenger information system, the driver to my mind was entirely negligent in doing nothing whatsoever to allay the confusing and incorrect information. And I wondered if the same was happening on every one of the full-circle specials.

[Chris M]

If you haven't already, you need to make a formal complaint to TfL about this, You can do so via the "Help & Contact" link on the top right of the website home page.

While some TfL people do read the forum, there is no guarantee either that the right person does or that they read every thread.

[southfieldschris]

Silly question maybe, but is there any possibility that a fault in the audio outlets can make it impossible for the driver to hear the automated announcements in the cab of an S-stock whilst they continue to be heard by the passengers? Not suggesting this happened above, just a general query.

[superteacher]

Sounds like the driver set up the wrong destination. There's probably a destination code that is used when trains are running the full Circle, but it sounds like the driver set up the clockwise code rather than the anti clockwise.

[norbitonflyer]

The driver probably wasn't listening to the announcements - after all, he knew where the train was going - so unless someone drew it to his attention he would not have noticed anything amiss.

I don't know how the announcements are triggered but if it's by location there may have been a misreading issue - on SWT we often get "roundabout" services telling us we are approaching the station we've just left and that the train is heading out of town when it's on its way back in: most noticeable at Queenstown Road because clockwise trains only call on the inbound leg and anticlockwise ones only on the outbound - "Mind the gap" it says, when the train isn't stopping and there are four other tracks between the train and the platform!

[domh245]

I know that the announcements on C stock are triggered by counting Axle Rotations, which can then be verified when the doors are released at the station, and I think that it is a similar system on the S stock. I suspect that the PIS announcements aren't played into the driver's cab, but they can most likely be heard through the cab rear wall. It is possible then that on the train you were on, if there was a noisy group behind the driver's cab, then he wouldn't hear the announcements and so couldn't correct them if he realised them to be wrong.

[Deleted]

I have stopped trusting announcements long ago. They are often confusing, misinformed or bordering on lies if you ask me.

We've probably all been there, "Good service on all London Underground lines" announcements while you are busy trying to find an alternative route because two lines are suspended and another suffering from severe delays.

That feeling of being lied to because you can see with your own eyes there is no good service, despite these announcements. Last year me and probably a thousand others had to wait in morning rush hour at Bethnal Green in front of the gateline, queues out onto the street. The Central Line suffered severe delays, the platforms were dangerously overcrowded so they shut the station. Standing there, for 20 minutes, knowing something is seriously wrong and all wondering why the announcements keep insisting there is a good service on all lines.

Some time ago I got into a heated argument with the station supervisor at West Kensington. The Piccadilly Line was suspended on the eastern half in afternoon rush hour because of some serious incident. As a result tens of thousands of people tried to get into town using the District Line. This caused the District to become severely delayed very quickly resulting in overcrowding on the West Ken platform because the very few trains that did come were packed to the rafters. All the while the local (not those all-network announcements) announcements kept saying there was a good service on all lines. The people on the platform got increasingly angry with the situation and I wouldn't have been surprised if a fight had broken out between people in their struggle to board a train. All to the tune of repeated good service announcements. I tried to find the person responsible for the announcements because the repeated lies over the tannoy weren't exactly helping the situation. I ended up speaking to the SS through the thick glass of the ticket office who said the announcement, although local, was a prerecorded message he made an hour earlier and was just on a loop. He said he could only disable it from the platform and because he refused to leave his office we were just going to hear for quite a while still.

The overall problem is that if people increasingly distrust the announcements as a reliable source of information they lose their function all together.

[Colin]

Jan 18, 2014 11:45:37 GMT southfieldschris said:

Silly question maybe, but is there any possibility that a fault in the audio outlets can make it impossible for the driver to hear the automated announcements in the cab of an S-stock whilst they continue to be heard by the passengers? Not suggesting this happened above, just a general query.

Equally I wasn't there either, but I can confirm that if the air conditioning fan in the cab is on a driver cannot hear the DVA.

[Chris M]

If a passenger believes that the DVA is incorrect, should they alert the driver (by knocking on the J door?) to this? (when the train is stationary at a platform, obviously)

[Colin]

No, not the J door - that implies that somebody is attempting to gain access for illegitimate means.......many drivers don't appreciate that sort of approach.

By all means alert the driver, but its best done by you approaching a cab door adjacent to the platform.

[t697]

No one has commented until now on the original poster's assertion that this "despicable" happening started in platform 1 at Edgware Road, and the train then went west to Paddington (Circle and District). As far as I know there is no signalled move west from Edgware Road platform 1, so I query the veracity.
Assuming it was actually from another platform, the most likely explanation is simply selection of an Outer Rail trip in error for an Inner rail trip on the CIS.
I think most passengers would agree that it would be very annoying and distracting for the CIS announcements to be made in the T/Op's cab. It's standard practice not to do that on all LUL trains.

[metrailway]

A similar thing has happened to me on the Circle last year. I boarded a north/eastbound Circle at HSK which was scheduled to continue beyond Baker St (special timetable). The CIS announcements reflected this. Once we reached Edgware Road, the CIS suddenly changed to "This is a Circle line train via Victoria and Embankment." Cue everybody rushing out of the train whilst some on the platform entering the train as a result. The S Stock doors close and it continues towards Baker Street.

[uzairjubilee]

OP - Are you sure you're not referring to platform 4?