Train departs EARLY!

Plaugogior14

Just ran onto platform to see train departing. My watch said I still 2 minutes to spare, platform clock said 90 seconds to go. I will now miss my connections. What gives, SBB?

Limeuhu12

Plaugogior14 I will now miss my connections. What gives, SBB?

Sorry, but I’m not convinced by your story. If you can prove that you arrived home an hour late due to the departure time in Wallisellen, you should ask SBB for compensation.

Kind regards
Christoph

Krist

What train? Where? When?

Plaugogior14

S14 from Wallisellen. Supposed to depart at 18:09, went a little bit early :-(

Plaugogior14

Not convinced? At what point did you decide to call me a liat? The SBB’s own clock showed a clear discrepancy.

Danhiel

Hello Plaugogior14

Errare humanum est, perseverare diabolicum.

You can use this link if you want to make a complaint:

https://www.sbb.ch/en/help-and-contact/customer-service/praise-comments/reklamation.html

Kind regards
Danhiel

Plaugogior14

I thought somebody might have access to the real-time data, it was a clear error. As regards the platform clock, I was always told that those clocks are radio controlled and are the ones to follow.

Thanks for the form, I will send it off.

Krist

Is there a way to consult historical train running data? Trains are normally not supposed to leave early, but people sometimes do make mistakes.

Danhiel

Krist

Historical train running data are certainly available, but not for us.

SBB makes also corrections: in the SBB app it is never indicated that a train runs in advance, but SBB communicates the real times to other companies. I saw once on a ICE display that the train should arrive one minute earlier in Olten and the same indication was probably also available in the DB Navigator, but not in the SBB app.

Ex-Bähnler

Danhiel Historical train running data are certainly available, but not for us.

Es gibt dazu öffentlich zugängliche Daten:
https://data.opentransportdata.swiss/de/dataset/istdaten

Gruss, Reto

Krist

Trains arriving early happens. I once was on a Bern - Zurich IR that was operated with an ICN set, and the driver took advantage of the fact that he could run faster, and we arrived several minutes early in Brugg and later as well in Baden. But of course we always left on time :-)

Danhiel

Ex-Bähnler

Thanks for the answer, I didn’t remember the name of the site.

However, I don’t know if real times are communicated or corrected times, without the erroneously early departures and the delays under 3 minutes, to avoid that someone recalculates the published punctuality.

Some published schedules in the timetable are false, because train drivers are not required to check departure times at every station. An example:

Between Lausanne and Pully, a train needs 3 minutes, but between Pully and Lausanne 4-5 minutes for the same distance (according to the published schedule). Unless very few people travel, trains are always 1-2 minutes late in Pully, but arrive despite it on time in Lausanne. I suppose that train drivers must not check the departure times between Cully and Lausanne.

Gruss
Daniel

Krist

Danhiel Between Lausanne and Pully, a train needs 3 minutes, but between Pully and Lausanne 4-5 minutes for the same distance (according to the published schedule). Unless very few people travel, trains are always 1-2 minutes late in Pully, but arrive despite it on time in Lausanne. I suppose that train drivers must not check the departure times between Cully and Lausanne.

I suppose the train drivers do check departure times, but yes, they sometimes do end up running late. But fortunately there is a buffer in the timetable so they can recover the delay…

RolandP

Hello Danhiel

Every station where a stop is foreseen by the timetable (except for stop on request stations) has a scheduled departure time. The minimum stop duration is 15 seconds. An earlier departure is either a human error (it happened to me as well once in Morges, this usually happens when the timetable has been modified due to construction) or followed by an order by the operation center.

The train cannot simply run faster than indicated by the signalling. This is not driving a car 🙂, the train safety system would immediately stop the train.

Kind regards,
Roland

Danhiel

Hello RolandP

Thanks for your answer. What I explained in the previous post was once valid, but probably no more now. If I remember correctly, no time was indicated in the service timetables, only a sign to indicate that the train must stop but can start without checking the clock. It is clear that all other security rules must be observed. The source of this information was probably the Schweizer Eisenbahn Revue.

However, if this rule is no more valid, I don’t understand the mismatch between both directions (3 minutes between Lausanne and Pully but 4-5 minutes between Pully and Lausanne).

Kind regards
Danhiel

Danhiel

RolandP

This rule is still valid, I found the reference in the Schweizerische Fahrdienstvorschriften FDV (letter H stop without time information):

RolandP

Hello Danhiel

Yes.

The screenshot above describes the operational schedule (Fahrordnung), not the commercial schedule.

Public SBB passenger trains never run without a published departure time, even if the arrival and the departure time is for the same minute.

The time difference in the opposed direction may be due to a passage requiring a reduced velocity, or to have a time buffer. I will try to find out.

Kind regards,
Roland

RolandP

Found while researching another topic.

Whoughumox59

Ist mir auch schon passiert. Basel - Zuerich. 2 Min vor der Zeit. Tueren schliessen warten , ein paar schritte fahren und dann wegen Signal warten, Ich war nicht der einzige. Mindesten 5 leute sind auf dem bahnhof rumgelaufen um noch eine Tuer aufzukriegen, Ich habe SBB vorgeschlagen, doch zur Belustigung, diese Scenen zu sammeln und in der Halle zur Belustigung aller zu spielen. Verkürzt die Wartezeit beim Kunden service. Aber SBB hat keinen Humor und steht solches Geschehen nicht ein.