Arrivals/Depature screens in Heuston
 

As you enter Heuston from the Luas the pair of screens at the left hand side of the entrance have been showing a screensaver for the last week or so.

While it's nice to see the IE logo and pictures of the platforms in heuston I'd much prefer to be able to quickly see where my train is going from.

they used to have the classic windows blue screen of death, so a screen saver is an improvement.

GO Transit recently launched a very simple method of displaying up to date arrival/dep info on the web, at least for the principal station (Union) - capture the output to the screen
http://www.gotransit.com/publicroot/...us/default.htm

You'll note both train and bus departures - that would be the integration CIE couldn't manage when it was CIE and certainly wouldn't happen post the sham "competition" the govt used to insist on between bus and rail rather than let the dreaded private companies get in.

The arrival screen is fairly useless as the information is never accurate in terms of times, and 2 minutes after you get off your train it disappears from the screen.

Arrival times seem to be a guess based on what time the train passes Adamstown at

:confused:

If you're on the train, you know you've arrived. Arrival screens are for use by those meeting passengers etc, so they know when the train is coming and which platform. So they should clear down shortly after the train arrives....

LC

What of a meeter/greeter who arrives late to not find the expected passenger (wandered off or arriving on a different train) and no message on the screen.

Yes, mobile phones are useful, but not always practical.

In either of those cases, what would leaving the arrival info on the screen achieve? If the passenger has moved away from the platform of arrival, it is of no use to know where the train arrived; if the passenger is on a different, train, not much point in knowing where the expected train arrived. The only case where it should be left up for a period (about 15-20 minutes) is if the train has been cancelled - other than that, train not on screen = train arrived.

LC

Thats all well and good, then what do you do when the train from Cork arrives in 15 minutes early, it vanishes off the display leaving anyone who arrives 5 minutes before the due time very confused

The displays should show all arrivals arrived on the display until such time as the space is needed for other arrivals, so in a reasonable setup all arrivals in the last 30 minutes should be shown as should all trains due (as per the timetable) within the next hour

This all assumes the displays actually show a accurate representation of the actual and expected arrival times which as well known isn't the case

compare Dublin Airport
 

Right now 20:23 16th April Dublin Airport's website shows arrivals (scheduled and actual) from 17:00

This might be excessive, but leaving arrivals for a time is hardly going to hurt.
Irish rail should be aiming to at least provide a better experience than either of the irish airlines or the irish airport operators. (can't see this happening though)