Connect again!

[Deleted]

It seems it hasn't been without it's teething problems on the C&H. A lot of trains have been having trouble switching talk group: ie it won't automatically change from District to Met or cabin to cabin. I picked up a train at Edgware Rd that was stuck on Barking cabin and District service control. Luckily the Connect project technician guy was on the platform and sorted it for me. I spoke to another driver who got throught to the District controller at Latimer Road! I've also heard a lot of Circles are sticking to one cabin on either line and then only "picking up" again at Aldgate for some odd reason. I hope they can iron these problems out as the safety implications of speaking to the wrong controller are pretty worrying.

[prjb]

I was on a 'C' today that was stuck on the Barking Cabin talk group, the connect guy tested it and it did go through to the Met Controller.

[Deleted]

The District D stock have been experiencing the same problems, but as none of the cabins or signal desks were live, it didn't really matter which one the train thought it was in. They still called up the District Controller ..with the Met one appearing only between Aldgate East and Tower Hill.

The problem appears to occur primarily upon a change of ends, where connect remembers which group it was last looking at. So a cab last "open" at Upminster will default to Upminster even though it has just been opened up at Wimbledon. If the connect is logged in whilst at the platform it will usually (but still not always) then find it's correct group. If the driver engages in a quick getaway and logs in upon departure, connect logs in, but does not change talk group until the next "area change" ...so in the above example show's Upminster until getting to Putney Bridge to search for the High Street Ken signal desk.

However this clearly makes rather more difference to a C stock last open at Barking to the District controller and now opened leaving Hammersmith being on the wrong signaller and controller !

Then ocassionally it just does somthing wiered, today my D stock had up Acton signal desk (at Upminster) and leaving Upminster it changed to Met Line Controller and Aldgate Signal desk and so remained until leaving Elm Park

But most of the problems lay in login's on the move.

[Colin]

I had problems with my C stock today (well, yesterday now) - it was stuck on the Wimbledon cabin group at the west end, and Edgware Road cabin group at the east end. At all times though, it did connect with the correct line controller for the section of line it was on.

The point of my post? I worked how to manually change it to the correct cabin group!!

You press and hold the 'tick'....scroll to 'range'....press the 'tick'....press 1 (or 3 ;D - which ever one is marked select by ABC)........enter K (for a District group) / Q (for Edgware Road) / etc <you enter a letter like when you text on a mobile>.......scroll to the required signal group and press the 'tick'. After that, you'll probably find the Connect unit will behave as it should and will automatically find the next signal group.

I am a genius!! ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D Ok, I just got lucky pressing random buttons. Now you know, pass it on

[Deleted]

i've had to mess about like that myself, although it would have been nice if they'd covered it in our training rather than let us find out for ourselves by playing with it on the road! How long before someone has a spad fiddling with the Connect?!! ;D

[Deleted]

prakash said:

i've had to mess about like that myself, although it would have been nice if they'd covered it in our training rather than let us find out for ourselves by playing with it on the road! How long before someone has a spad fiddling with the Connect?!! ;D

Im sure someone will do soon! Iam surprised you were not taught that Colin?

[Colin]

Trouble is, the training was done on an unrealistic laptop - with the promise that it would be so reliable, we wouldn't need to know anything more than how to set it up and how to make & receive calls.

Mind you, it's like most things if life, you learn more from actually using the thing day to day than you ever do in the classroom.

[Deleted]

BUMP.

Has Connect gone fully online on the C&H yet?

If so, have the Line Controllers using it on the SSL begun using the full functionality of the Connect terminals? And are there any C&H cabins equipped with the signalman's terminal yet (besides Barking)?

[Colin]

I don't know too much about the H&C's progress, other than I can confirm that all of the C stocks are now using Connect.

As for the whole of SSR - the A stocks are not using Connect yet! (well, they are on the East London line - quite how that works in relation stock transfers etc, I have no idea).

[Deleted]

All the infrastructure is in place for connect on the Met, it is just a matter of staff training. So the ELL stock moves can technically use their equipment to contact the Met controller, although I would guess they also carry a legacy handsportable which would work too.

[Deleted]

lots of H&C trains are picking up the ELL controller at Whitechapel instead of District and also district on the met and vice versa.

It seems to work better on the dis/ell as they dont switch controller (except notting hill-erd on c-stocks) but lots of C&H drivers have been complaining about the failure of the radio to switch over controllers.

[Deleted]

prakash said:

lots of H&C trains are picking up the ELL controller at Whitechapel instead of District and also district on the met and vice versa.

It seems to work better on the dis/ell as they dont switch controller (except notting hill-erd on c-stocks) but lots of C&H drivers have been complaining about the failure of the radio to switch over controllers.

There is an issue, I hear, with a particular line where the controller isn't doing as they should with their dispatcher terminal. This makes the call transfer from controller to controller as unanswered.

Also there have been numerous complaints about talk groups not changing from location to location. Although, I believe a District/Met/Ell controller can still contact you, and generally you can still contact them (is this not the case ). The talk group is for the signalmans area, which hasn't been commissioned in the cabins yet, even at Barking.

Prakash are you saying that if you hit the controller button at say Embankment you could pick up the Met controller? If this is the case, I would suggest going back to your legacy radio? The other option is trying to make a group call instead of a 1-2-1 with the controller. To do this simply pick up the handset, press the PTT button and yap away? (I wonder if this comes up with the same effects?)

[Deleted]

Have pressed the LC button on the Hammer branch and been answered by the District, yes. Same with the ELL at Whitechapel. Would be really handy if I had a one under...

And yes, I'm clinging onto my handheld legacy radio for dear life!!!

[connected]

Its a bit late - but there are some user guide and training aid on the Connect intranet site. The location is intranet.lul.co.uk/cpo/pfi/connect/training and support.asp. If anybody has a look please let me know if they are of any use.

[Deleted]

Let me see if I've got this right.

Train gets to terminus, driver has a nice massage, cup of char or whatever, gets in the opposite cab to the one (s)he drove there in. And [shadow=red,left,300]Connect[/shadow] will permit the train to leave the station before it and the driver agree on what station they're leaving from?

Whatever happend to fail-safe?

[Deleted]

innocentabroad said:

Let me see if I've got this right.

Train gets to terminus, driver has a nice massage, cup of char or whatever, gets in the opposite cab to the one (s)he drove there in. And [shadow=red,left,300]Connect[/shadow] will permit the train to leave the station before it and the driver agree on what station they're leaving from?

Whatever happend to fail-safe?

Surely that is failsafe? If you can still use the equipment without having to enter your personal information....?

[Tubeboy]

Massage?

Who will be providing it? The poor sa? They need the massage more! ;D

[Deleted]

Did I see right, or is some of the Connect control box on C stock already falling to bits... Was at tower hill... C stocker went past, happened to see the control panel had bits of blue tape around it! or was that just the lights reflecting?

[c5]

But the system still reguarly calls the Line Controller on the Group Call function, and this is the one used to send out Code Amber/Red

And the spurious Mayday messages which show up everywhere on a Talk Group bleeping every 2 minutes with the Controller or the NMC (the Thales Radio Control Centre) unable to answer it.

And the radio is not always "configured" with the train (all cabs) so it has to be taken out of service beacuse it doesn't work.

[Deleted]

The excuses of "teething problems" are now starting to wear a bit thin. I don't think it was designed to keep switching controllers and is forever sticking on a talk group (you can still have private calls to Met if it's stuck on District, but you won't pick up the group calls - code Red/Amber etc). Lots of trains are being taken out over this and plenty are being run round with Legacy handhelds provided in the cab (not changed over asap as the procedure states).

Personally I'm not a fan and time hasn't convinced me otherwise.

[Deleted]

Well i made a general message to the Amersham talk group last night, and the next thing i know its gone to the whole met, circle and H&C! How do you explain that one! Good job i wasnt telling a joke! ;D

[c5]

Looks like the Connect is playing up again (or the telephone system) - Minor Delays due to faulty communications equipment.
Not bad for £2billion