Connect to go live tomorrow apparently!

[Deleted]

Should be interesting as i've spoken to a few drivers who have yet to receive training on it!

I hope it all goes off without a hitch, and am quite looking forward to it, but knowing the H&C/Circle I wouldn't be surprised if the introduction of Connect creates more delays than we usually have.

Seems to be ok on the "dark side" for the most part though...

[Colin]

colin said:

Finally, from the District's point of view, the C stocks are planned to be Connect enabled starting on the 8th November, with the completion of C stocks by 13th November.

Looks like they're running to schedule for a change then.

[Deleted]

so if a driver has not recived training how will they bring it in on time sorry if i am being blind over this one

[c5]

Yup, then plan is tonight about 15-20 trains (those at Hammersmith Depot) will be connected, with the rest over the next few days.

[Deleted]

some drivers have said they wont use it if they haven't been trained and run as normal with the old radio. although if the old radio is disconnected i expect they'll refuse to pick up until theyve had training.

[Deleted]

true to LUL form, after all the hype "all the trains in hammersmith depot" turned out to be one train that got kitted out in time and another 3 came into service from Barking with connect. Not without problems either so i'm told.

[Deleted]

I expect that being the only driver on the line with Connect is something like being the first person in the world to own a telephone.

Tough start and the benefit won't really be felt until a substantial amount of drivers is connected I suppose.

[Deleted]

By the way, how is this organised?

Is there some 'Connect-Taskforce' that has now moved from the District to the H&C+C and can take along the experiences of implementing it on the District?

[c5]

The sound quality was worse than the old system too.... hmmm

[Tubeboy]

I work on the Jubbly, and connect will be part of my ATOR in January.

[Deleted]

c5 said:

The sound quality was worse than the old system too.... hmmm

Interesting - COLIN said that the sound quality is very much improved on the District. I wonder if the kit in the C&H areas is a bit less "new" than the kit in the District areas.

[Colin]

If the driver just press's the 'press to talk' button without lifting the handset, the line controller / signaller / whoever at the other end will get a lot of background noise - not helped if the driver has his hand held turned on.

If the driver lifts the handset and uses that, the quality will be much improved.

It's very much a case of we've been told one thing in training (ie, no need to lift the handset), but found that in practice it's very different (ie, must lift the handset)

[trainopd78]

colin said:

If the driver just press's the 'press to talk' button without lifting the handset, the line controller / signaller / whoever at the other end will get a lot of background noise - not helped if the driver has his hand held turned on.

If the driver lifts the handset and uses that, the quality will be much improved.

It's very much a case of we've been told one thing in training (ie, no need to lift the handset), but found that in practice it's very different (ie, must lift the handset)

Sadly, its a case of the condenser mics working too well by getting rid of all background noise including that of the drivers.

None of us line based Connect trainers have been asked to assist with the Met line's delivery, but the People who have been seconded to connect from learning and development (training school) will go round line by line to assist with the floorwalking. Hopefully they will take some of our experiences with them to give other drivers a better heads up. we were the first big line to have gone live so we expected teething troubles. Things aren't too bad overall though, no worse than expected and now drivers are getting used to it, it is a far superior system to the legacy.

[Deleted]

about half the fleet has been done now i believe. still not had the pleasure myself though. there's a few connect radio people loitering around edgware road and hammersmith to tell drivers what to do should they need it.