Well the Showground station has been open for three days now, and Adelaide Metro is showing their usual ineptitude in the area of passenger communication.  

I travelled from Adelaide to Hove and back and did a step-back break of journey at Showground to have a look.   Here are some observations:-

1)   New station is quite impressive (but probably an expensive white elephant for 48 weeks a year).

2)   Only a small handful of users in evidence in mid-morning period.   These looked like old blokes and pensioner couples with a bit of time on their hands along for a look.  No regular fare-paying passengers IMHO, but old Keswick would be deserted at this time of day too.  Quite a few tradies still at work with angle grinders, paint rollers etc.

3)   No signage at all to indicate to any “normal” punters who arrive at the new station which platform their train will leave from.  Even temporary signs would be useful – you can’t assume everybody “just knows” the layout of tracks.  You need to get down onto each platform and read the PID to see where the next train is going.

4)   Lift on island platform apparently not in operation yet.  Bad luck if you arrive in a wheelchair or with a pram.  Maybe one of the Wilson Security guys will help drag you up the longish flight of steps.

Regarding passenger info about the new station:-

-         PID screens on Adelaide Station Concourse now list the stopping pattern for Noarlunga and Belair departures as:  Mile End – Keswick – Goodwood –

-      Auto announcements at yellow posts on suburban stations say “blah blah – Goodwood – Keswick – Mile End – ”.

-      Visual PIDs inside railcars show “Stopping Mile End then express to Goodwood”.

-        Audio announcements in railcars ignore Showgrounds and say “next stop Goodwood”.  On one train the driver made a manual announcement, on return trip he didn’t bother.

-         Belair trains approaching Goodwood now announce “change here for Seaford and Tonsley”, so they obviously have managed to update the audio files recently.

-         Adelaide Metro website has new pdf timetables and pdf maps which show Showgrounds correctly.  
But those ugly customizable tables on the website totally ignore Showgrounds in both the times and the route diagrams.

It’s not like the opening of Showgrounds is a complete surprise to anyone.  Why is it so hard for Adelaide Metro to update their systems on time – especially the website, which is supposed to be the definitive source for timetable info?

Actually the station could have been called Wayville as if and this is a big if should the showgrounds ever be relocated the station is going to look stupid named showground's or what ever and the showgrounds are no longer there! It has been planned for years to move the showgrounds so it is not like it was not known. It could have signs Reading Wayville in large letters and a subname of showgrounds under it. If the show grounds ever did move some quick paint work on the showgrounds part and the station is still known as Wayville!

I dont agree with caling the station Wayville it does conflict with the tram stop. Honestly I do like the name of the Adelaide Showground station better than Wayville it makes it sound more fancy to me at least. However the easiest thing to have done would've been to keep the station named as Keswick

Strictly speaking the area is Wayville on one side and Keswick on the other. A good reason for Waywick.

I doubt the show grounds will move but then if some developer offers enough money so concrete boxes can be built on it who knows?

Strictly speaking the area is Wayville on one side and Keswick on the other. A good reason for Waywick.

I doubt the show grounds will move but then if some developer offers enough money so concrete boxes can be built on it who knows?

Send it to Parskerville.

Took a trip to Keswick (departure boards) which didn't stop according to the train but the driver announced he was stopping at Wayville as we pulled in. Huge roof with no shade from the afternoon sun and rain from the west. Didn't see any other passengers. Seems a well kept secret.

Took a trip to Keswick (departure boards) which didn't stop according to the train but the driver announced he was stopping at Wayville as we pulled in. Huge roof with no shade from the afternoon sun and rain from the west. Didn't see any other passengers. Seems a well kept secret.

I presume that you were travelling by tram. Wayville is NOT on the Seaford line. The sooner cutesy private nicknames and outright misnomers are abandoned on this list in favour of the station's correct name (without a terminal s), or Showgrounds as an abbreviation, the better. If the driver called it 'Wayville', then he was at fault.  

We need to remember that if this discussion group (and in this comment I am not referring to your posting) is to have any hope of influencing the authorities in making their decisions, we need to make sure that what we write has relevance, is polite, and free from petty point scoring.

Your comment about the lack of weather protection offered by the roof is a very pertinent one. I wrote about this some months ago. It is quite clear to me that the designers of most of the new railway stations in Adelaide (with the exception of St Clair which is simple and suitable for its purpose) are downright incompetent and/or obsessed with 'artistic' effects to the complete detriment of practicality.

Thus Oaklands is needlessly too short for a six car 4000 class train, Marion has an expensive underpass which greatly lengthens the walk to and from Westminster School instead of effective and much cheaper gated crossings at each end, and many stations have no real weather protection from wind driven rain and blazing sunshine.

If Adelaide Showground station needed a bold statement to make its presence known from Anzac Highway, it could have been by a vertical pylon, neon or LED lit at night, with a roof much nearer platform level to provide protection while still allowing a view of the not very distinguished architecture of the military depot, if that was indeed the reason for the present structure. I do like, however, the coloured strip lighting that adorns the station.

I wonder if the as yet unbuilt controlled crossing of Anzac Highway will lead to a direct footpath to the bridge over the standard gauge rail approach to Adelaide Parklands interstate rail terminal rather than the dogleg now needlessly in place. As the Showgrounds station is a good deal further from it than was Keswick, the needs of passengers toting heavy luggage should be a criterion rather than an afterthought. That said it is a decided improvement to be able to catch frequent trains to the city or stations along the Belair and Seaford lines.

Send it to Parskerville.

Aaron, do you mean Paskeville? (aka the Yorke Peninsula Field Days site)

Brian

You have made you point aboiut the cute names previously, why I don't know, but I let it stand. It seems like the alternate names annoy yuo.

62440 was simply reporting his TRAIN trip. Ironic if 62440's report is true that neither the ARS departure screens now the drivers announcement referred to the new station as Showgrounds.

Although I have only veiwed the new station fron Anzac Highway, having no cause yet to use it. I must say that it is grossly over designed and that the only statement it makes is "We can waste your money".

The bridge could be simplified and the awning lowered saving much steel and hence lowering the carbon footprint of the project. To our previous governements carbon is so important that we must tax it, presumably so they can squander it on such structures.
Sorry Brian, now I am getting carried away.

Ian

I've now updated my article to reflect the station's correct official name, and included some new photos of the station now that it has been completed.

The updated article is here

No doubt this station has been designed to win some kind off bragging rights architecture award (no doubt adding 2 to 3 million to it's price tag). I would laugh if it also won a Civil Trust brickbat award for building such a wonderful looking designed structure and then putting it where no one can see it.

Ian

You have made you point aboiut the cute names previously, why I don't know, but I let it stand. It seems like the alternate names annoy yuo.

Yes Ian, I did. I don't like the confected terms at all. Nor do I like the common practice of using a string of letters to save a few keystrokes, causing the reader to guess what is meant. What we write here needs to be intelligible to more than a few regular contributors if the standard of debate is to be worthwhile in influencing official action. That above all is what I care about. Is this a pro-rail lobby group or isn't it? If the latter I am wasting my time, and so are people like you who also take a serious interest in real progress. We don't agree on some things, but we certainly do on others. The resultant discussions may just be read by someone who has his hands on the levers of change.

62440 was simply reporting his TRAIN trip. Ironic if 62440's report is true that neither the ARS departure screens now the drivers announcement referred to the new station as Showgrounds.

I specifically exempted 62440's comment from my accusation of triviality with regard to many contributions to this list.

Although I have only veiwed the new station fron Anzac Highway, having no cause yet to use it. I must say that it is grossly over designed and that the only statement it makes is "We can waste your money".

I agree with you. It should have been far simpler and more practical while still being something of which we could be proud, though it does look 'big city' impressive from passing trains.

The bridge could be simplified and the awning lowered saving much steel and hence lowering the carbon footprint of the project. To our previous governements carbon is so important that we must tax it, presumably so they can squander it on such structures.

Too late now. It will cost a great deal to make the station comfortable in inclement or sunny weather. At the very least some wind enclosures protected from the sun. Have you noticed also the fad for backless seats everywhere? They are absolute agony to sit upon for very many people.

Sorry Brian, now I am getting carried away.

That shows that you care. Keep on disagreeing with me all you like.

Brian

To clarify for SAR526, the driver called it "Wayville" that was not my naming. The departure board calls it Keswick.

I think they got around to updating it a train to the city at NC today had it showing as Adel Showgrounds

Just to confirm, the driver said "Wayville", I was merely reporting what I heard.

Just to confirm, the driver said "Wayville", I was merely reporting what I heard.

I'll second you, my train today arrived at Waywick circa 2.20 with the driver calling it Wayville.

Just to confirm, the driver said "Wayville", I was merely reporting what I heard.

I wasn't 'having a go' at you 62440. If you read the third and fourth lines of my posting again you will see that I mentioned the possibility of the driver being at fault in this regard, and that I specifically excluded you from any criticisms that I made.

The station isn't called 'Wayville'. As Aaron has said it straddles the division between that suburb and Keswick. It is officially 'Adelaide Showground', but ought to be 'Adelaide Showgrounds' in conformity with general usage. For the benefit of all, and particularly of visitors to our city, it should always be referred to by its correct name.

Regards,

SAR526

I did 10 trips to/from the city this week on the train and on every occasion I had absolutely no idea what the driver said on approach to the station. On all occasions it was just an almost inaudible mumble from the driver, both male and female.

Maybe the train drivers are not sure what it's called either, so an inaudible mumble is not necessarily wrong.

Let's do a quick recap here.

1. We have 62440 reporting that train drivers making announcements are referring to it by names which are less of a mouthful other than Adelaide Showground/s.
2. We have Milkomeda reporting that it needs to be abbreviated for use on PIS displays.
3. I'm guessing that it needs to scroll on the internal PIS displays of the DEMU fleet (though not as badly as on trains serving London St Pancras International) which with an orange LED dot matrix is hardly human-friendly. I haven't seen the internal PIS of the EMUs yet to see if they stuck with an orange LED dot matrix or switched to a LED-LCD display.
4. The public is unlikely to refer to it in general usage as Adelaide Showgrounds, most people knowing the facility as just the "Showgrounds" or "Wayville Showgrounds."

The sum of all this would seem to indicate that the name was chosen for the station is the wrong one!


I would suggest that one of two options should be considered for the long term:

1. Officially (or almost officially) change it to  "Showgrounds" without the Adelaide bit which should be more concise for clearer audio announcements, better for PIS displays on trains and platforms without the need for abbreviation or scrolling, and will be more reflective of how it will be generally known.
The RA&HS might kick up a fuss, but they should be told to have spoonful of cement and get over it (or the more diplomatic equivalent of being informed that their concerns were passed on to the relevant area for consideration). There is plenty of precedent for shortened names of stations in Adelaide, such as Mawson Interchange (not an interchange dedicated to the memory of Sir Douglas Mawson, but a shortening of Mawson Lakes™ which John Rau's buddies at Lend Lease would probably have preferred stay intact) and Oaklands (which is not located in Oaklands, but in Oaklands Park). There are also the similar precedents in Australia of Exhibition (serves the Brisbane Exhibition Ground) and Olympic Park (serves Sydney Olympic Park)

2. Use "Wayville" which will be geographically correct, concise for clearer audio announcements, better for PIS displays without the need for abbreviation or scrolling, and appropriate for the station's main purpose of serving the facility commonly known as the Wayville Showgrounds.
I don't think the issue of there also being a tram stop called Wayville needs to be allowed to become an issue. People manage to cope with there being both a Goodwood tram stop and a Goodwood train stop just fine.

On all occasions it was just an almost inaudible mumble from the driver, both male and female.

Remember the pre-refurb days of the DEMUs when the PA system was so $#!7house that an indistinguishable noise sounding somewhat like the consequences of a bad curry was as good as you could hope for, thanks partly to the volume control being inaccessible on the reverse side of the control console?

I did 10 trips to/from the city this week on the train and on every occasion I had absolutely no idea what the driver said on approach to the station. On all occasions it was just an almost inaudible mumble from the driver, both male and female.

10 trips>

No wonder you call yourself yoyoman.

Can you walk the dog?

10 trips>

No wonder you call yourself yoyoman.

Can you walk the dog?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMUffrxo920

1 up trip to work, 1 down tip from work x 5 days = 10 trips in total, just like everyone else

JAP is talking sensibly again, 'Showgrounds' is a far better name for the station than 'Adelaide Showgrounds'. Clearly to us, it's not, but to geographically challenged people a garbled 'Adelaide Showgrounds' (or even a slight mishearing of) could result in unintended alighting in anticipation of 'Adelaide Station'.

No need to create ambiguity, just call it either 'Wayville' (my preference) or 'Showgrounds' - not both and be done with it.

AdelaideNow article: Adelaide’s new $16.5m Wayville rail station will only be used during major events
Bit I liked the most "Opened on Monday, the $16.5 million Adelaide Showground Train Station is located just a stone’s throw from the existing Keswick station, which the government admits was seriously underused." lets keep it a secret that Keswick has been demolished and see long before some one notices it gone.

AdelaideNow article: Adelaide’s new $16.5m Wayville rail station will only be used during major events
Bit I liked the most "Opened on Monday, the $16.5 million Adelaide Showground Train Station is located just a stone’s throw from the existing Keswick station, which the government admits was seriously underused." lets keep it a secret that Keswick has been demolished and see long before some one notices it gone.

Interesting how they ask the question "was this money wisely used" yet provide NO link to answer it!