More fun with passenger information

[Deleted]

Admin - please move if I've parked this thread on the wrong line

After you were all so helpful with my query about the vagaries of train describers (if that's the proper name for them) on the Wimbledon branch, I thought I'd mention a somewhat rash development at Bayswater, where dot matrix indicators are being installed which include a clock showing the seconds.

Why do they want to publicise the fact that there are a hundred seconds in a Circle Line minute?

[Deleted]

Heh - there's also the problem of the customer (and there's gonna be a few ) saying - they're X (X being an insignificent number) seconds late.

[Deleted]

Paris Line 14 has DMIs accurate to 10seconds. Now thats showing off!

DMIs on the tube are very approximate, as they are operated by often quite long track circuits. Hopefully when lines are ATO'ed, the DMIs will become a lot more accurate, as train location will be provided by shorter track circuits or inductive loop.

[dunois]

stephenk said:

Paris Line 14 has DMIs accurate to 10seconds. Now thats showing off!

DMIs on the tube are very approximate, as they are operated by often quite long track circuits. Hopefully when lines are ATO'ed, the DMIs will become a lot more accurate, as train location will be provided by shorter track circuits or inductive loop.

There is even a project for DMI accurate to 1 sec on the RER line A but I don't have a lot of infos about it.

[Chris M]

stephenk said:

DMIs on the tube are very approximate, as they are operated by often quite long track circuits.

Not just on the tube. I was at Newport (South Wales) station recenty, and the three line next train indicators installed by FGW when they managed the station have been altered (presumably by ATW) so that instead of showing the expected time (e.g 23:10) until the train has departed the station they now only show it until the train is expected in more than 5 minues. From 5 minutes to 1 minute this is shown e.g.

	Time	Destination	Expected
1st	23:10	Bristol Temple Meads	4 mins

This is fine until you notice that it still says four mintues when 23:10 is (by the clock on the display) 3 mintues away. Then after showing 1 minute the display changes to "arrived" - even though the train is still 30 seconds to 1 minute or more away from the paltform - and at stations like Newport you can't even see the train in the distance!

[Deleted]

After a further site investigation, I can now report that a Circle line minute is in fact 115 seconds long by its own clock.

[Phil]

I have been asked by Q8 to post the following reply....

" So THAT's why they take so long to go round?" "I have waited 45 years to find that out"