Which train would you board

Abigail on 2006-07-05T14:50:38

It's 18.35 and you are on a platform on station A. Your connecting train leaves station B at 19.08. On your left, a train going to B (and beyond) sceduled to leave at 18.14, with an expected departure delay of 10 minutes. On your right, a train going to B (and beyond) sceduled to leave at 18.29, with an expected departure delay of 5 minutes. The train on your left will make 3 stops between A and B, the train on your right just 1. The sceduled time it takes for the train on your left is 33 minutes, for the train on your right 31 minutes. There will be no space for the trains to pass between A and B. Queried officials claim not to know which train will leave first.

Which train would you board?

---

Hm

pudge on 2006-07-05T23:27:27

Aren't both trains already gone by now, which is 18.35?

I'd pick the one scheduled to leave earlier (18.14), if it is still there.

Or if I am in a huge hurry, get tickets for both, and be prepared to jump from one to the other if the other starts moving ...

Don't assume anything

mr_bean on 2006-07-06T01:07:59

This is quite similar to a situation I was in 6 years ago in Taiwan.

In Abigail's story, the time now is later than the announced delayed departures, but that just means the delay is more than they expected, or announced.

I chose the train which arrived first (and was announced to leave first?).

I was surprised when the other later-arriving train left first.

But the kind conductor and train driver of the slow train helped me make a connection at the other station.

Perhaps they were thinking that seeing the first train was so delayed, another delay extension would not be so important. Better to keep the delay on the less-delayed train as short as possible.

The train less traveled

dws on 2006-07-06T05:32:40

Being in no particular hurry, I might take whichever train looked less crowded, so that I might get a window seat.

Think Outside the Box ^W Station ?

n1vux on 2006-07-06T22:13:03

Hail a cab. This is obviously no way to run a railroad.

Meanwhile, in Belgium...

bart on 2006-07-06T23:36:06

I've noticed a tendency that trains that are already late, to never pick up the slack, but instead, are delayed even more to let the trains that aren't late, run normally.

So I would prefer not to border a train that's already late. The more it's late, the more reluctant I'd be.

Which train is claimed to arrive there fastest, meaning, with the least time between scheduled departure and arrival? Sometimes, trains that leave later still arrive earlier, depending on the number of intermediate stops they make. That would be the train I'd favour.

Re:Meanwhile, in Belgium...

Abigail on 2006-07-07T09:52:50

For both trains, A was the point of origin. The train on the left "arrived" first, but both trains came in from the other direction.

It would have been very unlikely that the train leaving last would overtake the train leaving first, given the route.

Eventually, it didn't matter. I waited on the platform, watching the signals, and boarded the train that got the green light first. But it arrived at B after my connecting train left, and both trains arrived in B before the next connecting train.