On Dec 6, 5:39*pm, Tom Anderson wrote:
On Sat, 6 Dec 2008, pedan3 wrote:
Took the slow train from Paddington to Reading and back today (thus
saving money by using Freedom Pass to maximum extent).

On the way back, the train information display in the main hall at
Reading showed the train terminating at Ealing Broadway, as did the
dot matrix indicators on the platforms.

On a different display screen, which I almost missed, was the
information that all such trains are shown as terminating at Ealing
Broadway, but "of course" (in the words of the second display panel)
they run to Paddington.

The point is that a slow train is a really bad way to get to Paddington,
but if you advertise it as a Paddington train, some people who aren't
fully on the ball will take it to do just that, and then be very
disappointed about how slow it is. Thus, it's advertised as running to the
last stop before Paddington, so such people won't get on it.

You get this on the ECML too, with slow trains from Cambridge being
advertised as going to Finsbury Park and so on.

It is a bit weird, but i think it's a good idea. Ideally, the details for
on the display should show it going to Paddington, but use Ealing Broadway
as the headline destination - this is what the displays on the ECML do.

The problem is the lack of consistency and the potential for
confusion. Instead of a fake destination, it would probably be better
to find a consistent way of showing that a train will be overtaken by
at least one other.

If you know that your train to Potters Bar is the 1406 to Cambridge,
you might well ignore the departure to Foxton (which no one has heard
of) shown on the display at Kings Cross.