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Post by shunterl44 on Jul 27, 2016 12:53:03 GMT
I have just noticed a new signal has appeared on platforms south of Baker Street (might be north as well but I haven't been that way to look yet). The signal comprises a silver coloured box at high level near the middle of the platform with a three way facetted face. There is a white light on each face and these seem to come on just before the doors close so I was wondering if these signals are to tell platform dispatch staff that the timetabled platform time has expired or do they have another purpose?
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North End
Beneath Newington Causeway
Posts: 1,769
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Post by North End on Jul 27, 2016 13:08:39 GMT
I have just noticed a new signal has appeared on platforms south of Baker Street (might be north as well but I haven't been that way to look yet). The signal comprises a silver coloured box at high level near the middle of the platform with a three way facetted face. There is a white light on each face and these seem to come on just before the doors close so I was wondering if these signals are to tell platform dispatch staff that the timetabled platform time has expired or do they have another purpose? The white visual illuminates when the train has a limit of movement authority. They're generally provided at locations where platforms may be staffed, to assist staff making announcements and raising the SATS baton. There is a certain amount of inconsistency with the precise moment the visual illuminates. Some places it comes on before the driver's limit of movement authority advances, whilst at other places is can be a couple of seconds later. Likewise there's also massive inconsistency with the Seltrac system actually issuing a limit of movement authority relative to the driver's countdown. At plenty of locations on the Northern Line it doesn't happen until about 5 seconds countdown, so if you wait until this happens before closing the doors then you're guaranteed to leave late. Which means in reality many drivers tend to close the doors on about 8 seconds, and re-open if the limit of movement authority doesn't advance for any reason. This is sort of bad practice, although there's no risk of moving off as the train won't move without a limit of movement authority, it's confusing for station staff too as they don't have the countdown display so don't know what's going on.
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Post by MoreToJack on Jul 27, 2016 13:50:01 GMT
Indeed, they're known as 'Ready to Depart Indicators', or RTDIs, but in practice this is rarely accurate. Station Assistant Train Services (SATS) staff generally use them as an indicator of when a train is ready to proceed, and to thus raise their baton, but regularly it is the case where a train will depart before the RTDI illuminates, or will be held after it has illuminated.
TBTC (Transmission Based Train Control, the Thales Seltrac S40 variant in use) is far from a perfect system, although the lights are of more use than the platform guidance provided by the Victoria line's DTG-R (Distance to go - Radio - Westinghouse/Invensys-supplied) system...
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Post by shunterl44 on Jul 27, 2016 14:26:29 GMT
Thanks North End and MoreToJack. Obviously been there a while so I need to be more observant!
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