Digital Display in Dart Carriages

[Tobur]

For over two years now I have been complaining about incorrect information on Digital Display in Dart carriages. As a regular Dart user I estimate that this information is incorrect on almost one third of my journeys! Today I boarded the 13.11 Clongriffin to Malahide. The display in the carriage showed : Destination - Greystones. Next Station - Shankill. I later took the 15.30 Southbound from Malahide. On leaving Portmarnock the display showed : Next Station - Howth Junction. The existence of Clongriffin Station has yet to be acknowledged on many Dart services! I have established through enquiries that the Dart driver has no way of knowing what information is displayed in the carriages behind.
Has anyone discovered a way to persuade Dart Administration to address this ongoing problem? I have tried again and again without success.

[Mark Gleeson]

The DART driver has full knowledge of what is on the display and can shut it down or correct it

This is an ongoing issue which has been discussed with Irish Rail several times. Things have improved but it needs work.

This evening the train I was on was saying destination Malahide, next station Bray despite the fact we were going to Greystones.

You are spot on about a third being wrong, you will find the old DART's and the air conditioned ones are nearly 100% right, the rest are nearly always wrong

We hope to have an update after meeting Irish Rail later this month

[Tobur]

Originally Posted by Mark Gleeson

The DART driver has full knowledge of what is on the display and can shut it down or correct it

This is an ongoing issue which has been discussed with Irish Rail several times. Things have improved but it needs work.

This evening the train I was on was saying destination Malahide, next station Bray despite the fact we were going to Greystones.

You are spot on about a third being wrong, you will find the old DART's and the air conditioned ones are nearly 100% right, the rest are nearly always wrong

We hope to have an update after meeting Irish Rail later this month

Thanks for reply. You say "The DART driver has full knowledge of what is on the display and can shut it down or correct it."
If this is so I am even more concerned since it implies a number of disturbing possibilities such as :
The driver is not aware (has not checked) that the passengers are being misinformed. /
The driver is aware ("has full knowledge") but doesn't care and takes no action.
The mind boggles at the scenario of a Dart driver heading ,say, for Malahide and knowing that his passengers are being informed that they are travelling in the opposite direction!!
When I rang Dart Administration today I was told that the driver's only input was to 'key in' his ID in order to activate the display - but that he did not actually have control over its content.
I was promised a phone call when the matter had been queried with Maintenance section - SO - watch this space!!!!

[Mark Gleeson]

The driver enters a train code into a console, the screen then reports the origin destination and stopping stations. When the train is in the platform to depart the driver pushes a ready to start button which sets the systems up

The driver can change the start and destination station if required and can disable the system if required

Irish Rail of course have not updated the software on several trains so when they are coupled together it gets very confused when they don't match. Of course the timetable has to be uploaded to the train or else it can't make sense of the train codes

We are meeting with Irish Rail shortly and this issue is on the list.

The instructions for the commuter trains are

1 Enter train ID as usual on the train radio (rule book requirement)

2 When the train is standing at the platform from which the train will actually depart press [/] once (sets the trains starting location)

3 When train the appears on the screen press [-] to accept. The screen then should then change to show the route map. Check that the station name listing on the screen is the correct starting station, if it is correct press [-]

4 If for some reason the train is not starting from the usual station different stations may be selected by pressing + and -and confirmed by pressing [-]

5 Press [/] again to return to the CCTV screen