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Due to failure in the IT system, it is not possible to run any trains today

ns.nl

311–320 of 365 posts

Re: Due to failure in the IT system, it is not possible to run any trains today

#311
post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

scheduling hasn't been used for preventing conflicting movements since the 1830s https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Railway_signalling#History_of_...

Isn’t way too late if the conflict is detected at signal level ? The worst will have been avoided, but at least one of the train will have to back down to the nearest junction, and depending on how packed it is they might have to back down a few more train as well. I’d assume in reality it would deadlock from there.

The worst case is the trains stop running for a while, which it sounds like is what they pre-emptively did?

Re: Due to failure in the IT system, it is not possible to run any trains today

#312
post #154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

'Those who can, do; those who can't, teach' -George Bernard Shaw

Maybe if we paid those who teach better, we'd attract the best of the best to teach. Instead we drive good people out by making the job unbearable.

> Maybe if we paid those who teach better, we'd attract the best of the best to teach.

I agree struggling for basic survival as a public servant is not ideal, but be careful not to turn education into a lucrative opportunity where people come for money not passion.

Money is certainly not the only way to attract talent (though teachers still need to pay their bills) and in most schools i've attended the talented teachers were just ridiculously hindered by the bureaucrats defining their program and agenda. David Graeber's talk "Manageurial feudalism and the revolt of the caring classes" comes to mind.

Re: Due to failure in the IT system, it is not possible to run any trains today

#313
post #288
post #154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe if we paid those who teach better, we'd attract the best of the best to teach. Instead we drive good people out by making the job unbearable.

We should pay better those who teach better, not everyone. Otherwise we just make the market bigger with even more room for incompetence. Look at the software industry.

And what kind of metrics can you use to determine whether someone teaches well? Whatever metrics you use, there's probably ways to game the system without providing better services.

Re: Due to failure in the IT system, it is not possible to run any trains today

#314
post #264

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The cynicism runs deep. Did you know that cynicism is linked to depression? " The study was conducted on a group of 3,399 individuals, all from London and aged between 35 and 55. The personality traits that were observed included cynicism, suspicion, resentment and distrust. After the study period was completed, it was found that the majority of individuals who expressed these particular personality traits that were…

> from London and aged between 35 and 55 Check and check. > cynicism, suspicion, resentment and distrust Its london - if you are not suspicious and distrusting your phone will be removed from your possession as a you walk down the street. Resentment - from the council estates to mayfair. Cynical, I would say I am 100%, however, as per your article Being cynical essentially means you are unable to trust the intensions…

> The bottom line is if you give your driver less than 5 stars, you have screwed him over

The bottom line is that the system is messed up, isn’t it? Same with performance reviews at big co. Why have reviews at all if it’s only useful as a weapon.

Re: Due to failure in the IT system, it is not possible to run any trains today

#315
post #182

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which on a train system is paramount for safety, otherwise you'd have trains crashing into each other because they're on the same track.

No the section a train is on is automatically and mechanically secured by the lights on the section ahead and afterwards. (2 sections if you count the yellow warning lights)

Unless they are operating a dynamic block system like the channel tunnel lines and other high speed lines across Europe. Anything that runs over 125mph (or has to mix with traffic which does) isn't using block signalling.

Re: Due to failure in the IT system, it is not possible to run any trains today

#316
post #148

What jumps out at me after reading this notice is how it completely lacks any apology. I am not prescribing what it should say but merely observing that having lived in North America for sometime now, it seems hard for me to imagine for such a notice to not sound profusely apologetic here. Note: I do not consider words like 'unfortunately' and 'extremely unpleasant' apologetic. Also, I understand there are cultural d…

I don't mind the tone, I got tired of US style politically correctness just for the sake of saying it. How would "We are trully sorry for this incident" make it any better ? I do mind the fact that they don't pay the people their money back if they try to find alternatives to get to their destination. That's 100% unacceptable.

> I do mind the fact that they don't pay the people their money back if they try to find alternatives to get to their destination.

Is there any reason to assume that this is a fact? Usually in these situations, NS is pretty good about paying people back.

Re: Due to failure in the IT system, it is not possible to run any trains today

#317
post #259

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is no correlation between the schedule you see at Dutch train stations monitor screens, and the actual schedule of Dutch trains:-) You might see this is an ironic comment, but it is as much that, and as much a technical statement of fact. Sometimes the trains arrive at the correct time ( +/- 10 min) so they correlate to what you are seeing on the screen. But unless it's a delay of 1 hour or more, neither trains…

You either misunderstood, misremembered or were misinformed. As long as I've been taking the trains (20 years or so) here, the monitors have always updated with schedule changes. Even when the information screens were still analogue, they updated with delays and track changes. It might be that what you heard only applied to international trains, those have generally lagged behind technology-wise (though nowadays ther…

Not true. It's not if the screens get updated. They do not get updated based on the actual train on the track but from information info you can infer from an pre-established schedule.

Let me tell more about what prompted the conversation with the platform manager. I was staying at a hotel in Amsterdam while doing an IT project in the north of the country. One of the days took the wrong train. At that time, I just attributed it to not really carefully reading the platform indicator. The next day had to take the same train, at the same time, carefully checked the platform monitor, but as I had been burned the previous day....Decided to also ask the train ticket controller at the train door. He laughed and pointed me to another different indicator some trains have, and that happened to show a different destination for that specific train.

The cognitive dissonance that I experienced was so strong, I decided right there to also be late that day, look for the train station manager, for a polite but frustrated conversation on my part, and it was then he clarified this.

Also any Internet search will show others with similar experiences.

Edit: Looking at this example from 6 months ago...Continues to happen:-)

https://community.ns.nl/dienstregeling-59/geen-sprinter-maar...

Re: Due to failure in the IT system, it is not possible to run any trains today

#318
post #309

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Take a bit time to understand this joke. Crazy. Especially the new host would not be very appreciated of that la.

It's a known statistical phenonema (Will Rogers phenomenon) [1] used to illustrate the problems when adjustments are made to clusters. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Will_Rogers_phenomenon

Concrete example from that article: with improved detection of cancer, it’s true that “people with cancer live longer on average” and also that “people without cancer live longer on average” even if there’s no change to the treatment or anyone’s lifespan.

Re: Due to failure in the IT system, it is not possible to run any trains today

#319
post #214

Earlier quoted context omitted.

An absolute legend! My favourite of his jokes: "when I moved to Sweden from Norway, the average IQ went up in both countries".

My favorite story about him was when he caught a student sleeping in his class. He paused, mid-sentence, and asked the student if they were too tired. The student looked up sheepishly and confirmed. "Did it get a bit late last night? Can't keep your eyes open?" Again, the student agreed. Rolf flashed a huge smile and in a singsong voice said "then I have something for you!". He walked over to his bag, pulled out a st…

I have a similar anecdote which completely stunned us, but which may possibly be part of his standard routine, and thus something he does for every set of students:

He always wore the same striped sweater. At one point, he took a break to drink some water and remove his sweater. But beneath the sweater was another identical sweater!

I assume everything he did was very well-planned and part of his pedagogic system and routine, but it was often hard to tell if he was acting, or if he was actually being serious but eccentric.

Re: Due to failure in the IT system, it is not possible to run any trains today

#320
post #259

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is no correlation between the schedule you see at Dutch train stations monitor screens, and the actual schedule of Dutch trains:-) You might see this is an ironic comment, but it is as much that, and as much a technical statement of fact. Sometimes the trains arrive at the correct time ( +/- 10 min) so they correlate to what you are seeing on the screen. But unless it's a delay of 1 hour or more, neither trains…

They got GPS tracking on the trains. Any delay over 5 minutes will show up automatically, less than 5 minutes you can see on the app. The train operator took over the information screens, so it's all part of the same company now.

Do you know as from which date?
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