Last Friday, I was required to escort some people from Harrow to
Gatwick, and pick them up again at the airport on Sunday to take them
back to Harrow.

On my way to Harrow on the Friday morning, I arrived at Baker Street
(Met) to find an all-stations train set to terminate at Harrow, which
I boarded.

At Finchley Road, I looked out of the train to see the PIS advertising
the train as:
1. Harrow-on-the-Hill (All Stations)
Calling at: Harrow-on-the-Hill ONLY

I wouldn't really have minded either way, but in the event it did stop
at all stations.

At Wembley Park, the platform PIS was saying:
1. Harrow-on-the-Hill [Local]
2. Uxbridge [All Stations]
3. Watford [All Stations]

Why the difference? Perhaps "Harrow-on-the-Hill [All Stations]"
wouldn't have fitted on one line, but I bet there were some people
wondering if "Local" meant something different from "All Stations".
(Unlike at Finchley Road, the stops aren't listed on this display.)

On the way to the airport, we waited on the Marylebone-bound platform
at Harrow, where a train pulled in saying "Aylesbury" on the front.
A lady on the platform asked me if the train was going to Marylebone,
and I assured her it was. Inside the train, the internal PIS was
saying: "This is Aylesbury. This train terminates here. Please
remember to take all your belongings when leaving the train."
It repeated this message all the way to Marylebone.

On the Bakerloo platform at Marylebone, the left-hand part of the
dot-matrix display wasn't working, so all trains were advertised as
going to PHANT & CASTLE.

On the Sunday, I got a Southern 377 from Victoria to Gatwick. The
information systems seemed to be working OK, and I was feeling
slightly reassured about the state of the capital's ****, until we
left East Croydon, whereupon there was an announcement of "bing bong
The next station is East Croydon." The display repeatedly scrolled
this same message (minus SFX) all the way to Redhill, which was in
fact the next stop.

The trip to Harrow was uneventful in terms of PIS. But on my return
journey from Harrow, the London-bound 165 was again displaying
"Aylesbury" on the front. This time, the scrolling message
accompanying the trip to Marylebone was: "This train is for Aylesbury.
Calling at Rickmansworth, [etc], Aylesbury."


In a country where it can be ordered that trains be withdrawn and put
into store because of displays 3mm too short, just what is it with the
quality of information on our Passenger Information Systems?
Train companies seem to care an awful lot about liveries and colour
schemes, but don't they realise that wrong information creates a
greater, bad, impression? Fortunately for me I knew exactly where I
was going and what I was doing, but the systems are there for people
who don't. Even Chiltern, who are reputedly the best TOC we have,
appear to fall below par in this respect.