Sky Rider wrote:


If you check the Live Departure Boards on the National Rail website (or
even on the home page of the FCC website) you'll find that although it
only lists EMT services under the label 'London St Pancras (Domestic)
(STP)', it has a link to the page for FCC services which are listed
under 'London St Pancras (Low Level) (SPL)'.

That's bad. If you want to know the time of the next fast train to
Luton, you don't care if it's FCC from the Low Level platforms, or EMT
from the High Level, or any combination. There should be one webpage
that lists all of them, no matter which operator or platforms just
happen to be involved.

What about the departure screens in St Pancras itself? Is there an
integrated display showing High Level and Low Level together? Or do
you have to run back and forth between them to compare times and see
which one's first?

On 13 Dec, 16:38, "Paul Scott" wrote:

"jonmorris" wrote in message
...

The platforms are A and B (which in itself is rather confusing when
other St Pancras platforms are numbered) so the whole thing is a bit
of a mess. I know King's Cross TL was A and B, but what was the
reasoning for keeping that for an all-new station up the road?

Hadn't realised that, I thought they'd be 14 & 15 or so...


Maybe they're trying to avoid a Stratford-style mess of random
platform numbers. When the Kent services start, it would be nice if
_all_ the High Level platforms could be numbered from 1 to [whatever],
in order.

Still, while their train indicators are still showing trains in the
wrong order (and not being consistent on times at all),

IIRC that is not the fault of the new set up, the PIS on the whole route
through London Bridge and the Thameslink route has suffered from that for
ages...

All modern PIS systems, everywhere, suffer like that when there are a
lot of delays on the line. It's just more noticeable on Thameslink,
because the route is more vulnerable to performance pollution.

solar penguin wrote:
When the Kent services start, it would be nice if
_all_ the High Level platforms could be numbered from 1 to [whatever],
in order.

That is the intention - otherwise the 'Interim' platforms (which were
operational between 12 April 2004 and 14 July 2006 inclusive) would not
have been labelled 10 to 13. During the Thameslink blockade (11
September 2004 to 15 May 2005 inclusive), platforms 8 and 9 were also
brought into use.

snip

solar penguin wrote:
Sky Rider wrote:

If you check the Live Departure Boards on the National Rail website (or
even on the home page of the FCC website) you'll find that although it
only lists EMT services under the label 'London St Pancras (Domestic)
(STP)', it has a link to the page for FCC services which are listed
under 'London St Pancras (Low Level) (SPL)'.

That's bad. If you want to know the time of the next fast train to
Luton, you don't care if it's FCC from the Low Level platforms, or EMT
from the High Level, or any combination. There should be one webpage
that lists all of them, no matter which operator or platforms just
happen to be involved.

If you check the Journey Planner (e.g. for a journey from Luton), StP is
labelled as 'London St Pancras (Domestic) (STP)' regardless of which
operator you travel with. So they're not even consistent.

What about the departure screens in St Pancras itself? Is there an
integrated display showing High Level and Low Level together? Or do
you have to run back and forth between them to compare times and see
which one's first?

Along the 'Market' (i.e. the Midland Road-Pancras Road passage) you'll
find a *very* long set of PIS screens (which list both departures and
arrivals), but they're grouped by operator.

"solar penguin" wrote

Maybe they're trying to avoid a Stratford-style mess of random
platform numbers. When the Kent services start, it would be nice if
_all_ the High Level platforms could be numbered from 1 to [whatever],
in order.

AIUI they will be. 1-4 for EMML; 5-10 for E*; 11-13 for Kent.

There were some here who advocated renumbering for the whole KXStP complex
in a single sequence.

Peter

"solar penguin" wrote in message
...
On 13 Dec, 16:38, "Paul Scott" wrote:

Still, while their train indicators are still showing trains in the
wrong order (and not being consistent on times at all),

IIRC that is not the fault of the new set up, the PIS on the whole route
through London Bridge and the Thameslink route has suffered from that for
ages...

All modern PIS systems, everywhere, suffer like that when there are a
lot of delays on the line. It's just more noticeable on Thameslink,
because the route is more vulnerable to performance pollution.

I reckon Thameslink is far worse than the SWML though [with which I'm
admittedly more familiar] - if mainline trains arrive out of order the PIS
invariably changes to match. I suspect the SWML's connection between the
train ID in the signalling system and the PIS works better.

Paul S

On Fri, 14 Dec 2007 12:58:51 -0000, "Peter Masson"
wrote:


"solar penguin" wrote

Maybe they're trying to avoid a Stratford-style mess of random
platform numbers. When the Kent services start, it would be nice if
_all_ the High Level platforms could be numbered from 1 to [whatever],
in order.

AIUI they will be. 1-4 for EMML; 5-10 for E*; 11-13 for Kent.

There were some here who advocated renumbering for the whole KXStP complex
in a single sequence.

Indeed, and some alternative names for the complex were suggested as
far back as April 2002:
http://groups.google.com/group/uk.tr...42765f9515010/
http://tinyurl.com/2rbwkh

John Rowland suggested "London Elizabeth" (I think that would have to
wait until she dies) and Richard J. memorably suggested "Agincourt"
:-)

On 14 Dec, 11:40, "Paul Scott" wrote:
"Arthur Figgis" wrote:


On the rare occasions when I needed an NR ticket at King's Cross, I used
to wander over to St Pancras where the queues were shorter. I guess that
doesn't work any more :-)

It might still work - most of the criticism above about queues has been
about the LU ticket halls I think - the NR booking hall in St Pancras is
near the entrance to the Thameslink platforms, and I've never seen it very
full.

Paul


Another option is the FCC ticket office at the KX suburban platforms,
though I'm not sure how busy that gets during peak times. I'd
certainly recommend that as a place to get Day Travelcards for those
arriving at KX (LU's ticket windows and machines are almost always
very busy).

There are plenty of FastTicket machines in Kings Cross itself of
course if one wants to quickly buy a walk-on ticket. I'm not sure if
these will sell you a Day Travelcard - though I'm pretty sure the
Virgin FastTicket machines at Euston will.

In message
"Peter Masson" wrote:


"solar penguin" wrote

Maybe they're trying to avoid a Stratford-style mess of random
platform numbers. When the Kent services start, it would be nice if
_all_ the High Level platforms could be numbered from 1 to [whatever],
in order.

AIUI they will be. 1-4 for EMML; 5-10 for E*; 11-13 for Kent.

There were some here who advocated renumbering for the whole KXStP complex
in a single sequence.


Why not start at Paddington and work round clockwise. My train to
Southampton will leave from platform 42...

--
Graeme Wall
This address is not read, substitute trains for rail.
Transport Miscellany at http://www.greywall.demon.co.uk/rail/index.html

In article ,
Graeme Wall wrote:

In message
"Peter Masson" wrote:


"solar penguin" wrote

Maybe they're trying to avoid a Stratford-style mess of random
platform numbers. When the Kent services start, it would be nice if
_all_ the High Level platforms could be numbered from 1 to [whatever],
in order.

AIUI they will be. 1-4 for EMML; 5-10 for E*; 11-13 for Kent.

There were some here who advocated renumbering for the whole KXStP complex
in a single sequence.


Why not start at Paddington and work round clockwise. My train to
Southampton will leave from platform 42...

You'd have to leave some slack for development. How about starting at 1
or 0) at Paddington, 100 at Marylebone, 200 at Euston, 300 and StP, 400
at KX and so on. Depending on how you count, Sotons could be leaving
from platform 1000-and-something.

Sam