New headache for Southeastern rail bosses as campaign group warns of epilepsy risk over flickering light
Bosses at Southeastern have got another headache building, and this time it's being caused by flickering lights.
A campaigning group has written an open letter to Southeastern managing director David Statham to complain that the "rapidly flashing on-train displays" could provoke an epileptic fit, claiming it is "an issue that needs urgent attention".
The Dartford Rail Travellers Association wrote:
The indicators on the trains, when attempting to display the London Bridge disruption message, end up in a state where they flicker very fast for the stretch of the journey where the train doesn't stop for over five minutes.It’s been reported by DRTA group members and others on Twitter since, and Southeastern have not addressed it – I’ve also asked for an update constantly since seeing this last Wednesday, with no ETA.
It has also been tweeting about it
https://twitter.com/DartfordRailTA/status/557955075990372352
https://twitter.com/DartfordRailTA/status/558163992192221184
Southeastern's Twitter feed has acknowledged the problem:
https://twitter.com/Se_Railway/status/557980199233814528
The campaign group says the British Epilepsy Association confirmed it could trigger seizures and needed to be dealt with quickly.
Southeastern has been one of several operators affected by the major works at London Bridge that has wreaked havoc on commuter travel.
Yesterday Southeastern published data showing that last week 91.9 per cent of trains arrived on time, acknowledging that there had been problems as a result of changes to the timetable at London Bridge.
Statham described the performance as "good", adding: “It will take a few weeks for the new timetable to bed-in, but we’ll publish an update on further changes that we plan to make in response to passenger feedback and what we have learned by the end of January.”