When Technology Goes Wrong
Posted: Sat, 5 November 2005 | permalink | No comments
A dramatic title for a not so dramatic post.
The Sydney suburban train network runs several sorts of rolling stock. The newest of these are the much-maligned "Millenium Trains", which bring local train users (all 18 of them) into the 20th century.
One of the features of these technological masterpieces is an irritatingly obsequious voice which announces the current and next stations on the train's journey, and an LED board displaying the same info. So far, so good.
Of course, I was a little curious as to how the boards and little-miss-noisy were kept in-sync with where they were. I was thinking transponders, maybe something that the train guard did.
Then, last week, I found my explanation. This train announced each station as being the preceding one. So, we'd stop at Central, l-m-n would announce "This train will stop at Museum". We stop at Green Square, l-m-n says "This train will stop at Central". And so on. At least the voice and the board were in sync, even if the voice and reality were eyeing each other off at quite some considerable distance...
My goal now is to find a train which is announcing stations for the wrong line completely, rather than just one station behind on the current line -- but considering I only get these new-fandangled millenium trains a couple of times a week (they spend the rest of their time in the sheds being fixed, apparently) it may be a while.
Post a comment
All comments are held for moderation; markdown formatting accepted.