Departure boards on TfL website

[astock5000]

The Circle Line is suspended, but the departure boards on the TfL website is saying there is a Circle at Aldgate platform 4.

Last updated 22:27:02

Great Portland Street station
Inner Rail - Platform 1 Destination Location Due in
1. Uxbridge At Farringdon Platform 2 7 mins
2. Hammersmith At Barbican Platform 2 9 mins
3. Circle Line Inner Rail At Aldgate Platform 4 16 mins

[Deleted]

Trains are often held in platforms when possible when there's a suspension occuring and they can't be put away in sidings / terminated short etc..
Look at the Northern line, as an example: There was a suspension of the CX branch for some incident at Waterloo - all trains were, where possible, held in platforms.

Also, bear in mind that at Aldgate, only Circle line trains use the outer platforms, as they're through platforms. Met trains use the inner, terminating platforms. As Circles are the only trains to use the outer platforms at Aldgate, there's no problem at all in holding them there, while waiting for the service to resume. (If that makes sense!).

[Chris M]

It does make sense, but the yesterday the entire Circle Line was suspended for engineering works, so there wasn't a service to resume!

[suncloud]

I guess, if for some reason they wanted to reverse a H&C at Aldgate then it'd probably need to be put up as a Circle?

[astock5000]

Can a train reverse in Aldgate platform 4?

[tubeprune]

Aug 5, 2008 13:41:06 GMT astock5000 said:

Can a train reverse in Aldgate platform 4?

No. There is no crossover west of Minories Jc. to get the train on to the WB road.

[Deleted]

Aug 4, 2008 10:57:16 GMT Chris M said:

It does make sense, but the yesterday the entire Circle Line was suspended for engineering works, so there wasn't a service to resume!

[Deleted]

Aug 5, 2008 15:31:20 GMT tubeprune said:

Aug 5, 2008 13:41:06 GMT astock5000 said:

Can a train reverse in Aldgate platform 4?

No. There is no crossover west of Minories Jc. to get the train on to the WB road.

The District would love us even more if there was!! ;D

[astock5000]

So what could that train have been then? Could there have been a not in service train there, that was being shown as a Circle?

[happybunny]

The departure boards on TfL's website are about as unreliable as you can get.

If you look at one when that line is closed for engineering work, it will probably tell you there is a service train minutes away.

Compared to NR's or the DLR's live departure boards, which is very reliable and up-to-date.. they are years behind. It should be taken off-line until it is sorted out, it is an embarrassment !

[Colin]

I'd imagine the deep routed problem is that TfL's website gets it's info from the signalling/TD system. So if an engineering train has a TD, it will show up.

(TD = train description; what you see on the platform as a dot matrix board)

[astock5000]

Is that why Willesden Green Siding, and Northumberland Park Depot show up on the website, instead of Willesden Green and Seven Sisters?

[Deleted]

Doesn't it use the 'Trackernet' system?

[Colin]

Maybe, but again Tracknernet simply relies on what it's told by the signalling system, and it's very much accepted as not being reliable.

[citysig]

The departure boards were actually working correctly. There were indeed a few "Circle Line" trains running - albeit composed of a couple of battery locos and a few trucks full of spent ballast.

The presence of engineers trains on a closed section of line can quite often generate spurious train descriptions. Trackernet is quite a clever bit of kit and detected correctly that they were there, and that, if they were moving, would arrive at Aldgate in x amount of minutes. Clever as it is, it doesn't hold a copy of the timetable within its memory, and cannot be configured to ignore trains on certain days.