DLR help points

I think DLR should have help points too, but I recognise that the alarm must take priority. I have had cause to use alarms on some DLR stations from time to time.

With the exception of underground stations (and possibly Canary Wharf) I think all DLR stations are regarded as unmanned, which means there does not have to be staff at the station - although of course there can be if the need arises.

Isn't there an "underground" DLR station - Cutty Sark?

The Croydon tram also doesn't (didn't) have help points. The control room staff would insert messages into the next train displays during a delay.

As long as the loudspeaker hadn't been pelted with stones.

You are confusing Control Room with Station Operations Room.

Help points, known as PHPs are what followed PAPs which came long after PIPs.

PIPs (Passenger Information Points) are what were installed originally on the Victoria Line as built, I recovered most of them circa 1990 although they had long been out of use.

PAPs (Passenger Assistance Points) was the Neumann system as fitted at Oxford Circus and eastern Central Line stations in the 1980s. These are the systems with the red emergency pull handles.

PHPs (Passenger help Points) are from Ascom and known commonly as 'Pillboxes' because they resemble pills. These systems have been fitted since the early 1990s.

In all cases the PIPs, PAPs and PHPs allow passengers to communicate with the Station Operations Room (SOR). On an unmanned station there is little need for an SOR.

There is a system on the H&C where the PHPs at six stations all communicate with the SOR at Ladbroke Grove. AFAIK it is the only such system on the network but of course things may have been updated since I retired.

The DLR has its Control Room at Poplar and presumably any PHPs would have to be arranged to communicate with the Information desk there as long as stations are to remain unstaffed.

SORs as we know them today began with the building of the Victoria Line, each station having an Ops Room manned by a 'Station Agent'. In those days the Station Agent monitored just 5 cameras at the average station, could make local PA announcements, could take passenger calls on the PIPs and also discharge the traction current in an emergency. These basic systems, though greatly enhanced and expanded, are still the basis of the local SORs throughout LUL. Sometimes SORs are/have been known as Station Control Points (SCPs) and at the southern end of the Northern Line, where they are prominently placed in the street level ticket hall, as Focal Points (FPs)

Semantics aside, does anybody fancy having a go at answering the poster's question? Because I'd be interested to know too.