Re: Passenger Information Displays

[G.Lambert@unsw.edu.au (Geoff Lambert)]

David Johnson <trainman@ozemail.com.au> wrote:

>Geoff Lambert wrote:

>> There is a display like this at Circular Quay, for people who want to
>> get to Central/Redfern on the next available train.  However, apart
>> from a day or two after it was introduced some years ago, it never
>> seems to have been used or else it has never worked properly.  Just
>> like North Sydney, we all dash up and down the stairs if we make the
>> wrong decision on which platform to choose.

>The displays at Circular Quay have worked every time I have been there.  They
>flash as a train is approaching.

Now that's an interesting thing- I've never seen them working.  There
was no indication on them last night for instance, although a train
was standing at the platform.  

Perhaps you are meant to linger at the foot of the stairs until the
rumble of an approaching train is heard and only then will they light
up and only then can you make your mad dash?....but then you don't
need the lights anyway, you can tell by the sound!  I would have
thought they ought to be set more in advance than that, so that plenty
of warning could be given, especially in off-peak periods where the
interval may be 10 minutes or so.  How long before the train actually
pulls in do the lights come on?  I seem to recall that the travel time
to Central either way is 6 min, so presumably the "next train" always
gets you to Central faster than the "next but one"?

And, while we're talking about Circular Quay, it has always seemed to
me that the "number of cars" light on the indicator board is never
used at Circular Quay (at this place in particular).  Consequently,
when a 4- or 6-car train pulls up, there is a great converging rush
from the ends of the platform by people who have strung themselves out
along its length expecting an 8-car train.  I questioned the attendant
once as to why they never bothered to indicate the number of cars and
she said "nobody knows"  (nobody knows how many cars are on a train
until it appears, she presumably meant).  The WTT contains this
information, though.

Geoff Lambert