I also confirm that I too am having this issue. A fix would be greatly appreciated as of right now you can't have an item label on its own at a train stop without the mod highjacking it and converting it to a number.
@netherous, that's not a great work around as when I use item labels they are always first at the front before any text. The best solution I feel though as you say would be to change the placeholders.
As there has been no changes or updates to this mod in 9months and no response as yet from the author I had a peak at the code and can't see an easy way or where to change the [] place holders. Any ideas?