Quiet Carriage / Coach: restrictions and issues - ongoing discussion, merged topic

[whole diary]

[willc]

Not to labour the point, but Chiltern's stickers are compact, but straight to the point, with crossed out phones, crossed out mobiles, person going shhh! and cover far less of the window than the silly strip. Why on earth FGW^▸ (First Great Western) can't just get its own version printed?

Maybe some lawyer has advised them it would be breaching someone's human rights to tell them in no uncertain terms to go and sit in one of the other four standard coaches or the other first open, but as another smart alec lawyer would tell them, the ones who want peace and quiet also have human rights.

FGW's website proudly proclaims that they were the first rail firm to introduce quiet coaches, so why are they so lily-livered about actually policing them and making their purpose clear inside the actual coaches? Anyone from Swindon care to comment?

[Chris from Nailsea]

I think you're quite right, willc - either FGW^▸ (First Great Western) have 'quiet carriages' as a feature of their HST^▸ (High Speed Train) services (and enforce it) or they just don't bother at all.

And, just as an aside, why are the on-board announcements loudest in these 'quiet carriages'?  Perhaps because the train manager / customer host knows that their announcements are more likely to be drowned out in coaches A and H ?

[Ollie]

I think you're quite right, willc - either FGW^▸ (First Great Western) have 'quiet carriages' as a feature of their HST^▸ (High Speed Train) services (and enforce it) or they just don't bother at all.

And, just as an aside, why are the on-board announcements loudest in these 'quiet carriages'?  Perhaps because the train manager / customer host knows that their announcements are more likely to be drowned out in coaches A and H ?

Coaches A and G Chris
Not sure if your post was tongue in cheek but when a train manager/customer host makes an announcement there isn't a setting they can just change to make it louder in one particular carriage.

[Btline]

Use NXEC^▸ (National Express East Coast)'s website. You have to opt in to the Quiet Zone.
Edit to correct severe typo!

[Phil]

Use NXEC^▸ (National Express East Coast)'s website. You have to opt in to the Quite Zone.

I'm sorry mate, I know it's really really rude to pick someone up on their typos... but I adore the idea of a "quite zone" 

"I say old chap, was that you I saw reading the FT in the quite zone?"

"Yaah, quite right my dear fellow"   

[Chris from Nailsea]

Quite right, Ollie: my typo, sorry! 

And yes, I was joking!  It may be that the on-board announcements just seem much louder in a 'quiet coach' - in which case, could the overhead speakers within those coaches perhaps be set to 'medium', rather than 'maximum' volume?

 

[willc]

Use NXEC^▸ (National Express East Coast)'s website. You have to opt in to the Quite Zone.

But is Joe Public, when wanting to book a journey on an FGW^▸ (First Great Western) train, going to think of going to the East Coast website? I think not.

[John R]

[

quote]
Exactly. It should NOT be hard to program a system to never place a child reservation in A or G (quite who would pay first class fares for the kids is beyond me, but anyway...).

I've often taken advantage of first class offers to take the family to London for ^60 return (from Nailsea). For one thing, you can get a table, which is a scarce commodity in standard thse days..

[Btline]

Use NXEC^▸ (National Express East Coast)'s website. You have to opt in to the Quite Zone.

But is Joe Public, when wanting to book a journey on an FGW^▸ (First Great Western) train, going to think of going to the East Coast website? I think not.

That is a problem. And NXEC do not sell Group Save Fares either, so groups would be put off.

[IndustryInsider]

Several TOC^▸ (Train Operating Company)'s, most notably c2c who are trialing it on one of their Class 357's, are thinking about coating the windows of the train with a special film in the designated quiet carriage to block mobile phone signals.

Now, I am a fan of quiet carriages - I'm not the sort of person who considers it polite to tell everybody in the carriage about their life story in an unnecessarily load voice. Several of my rail journeys have been spoiled by this since mobiles became so prevalent and I'm sure that everybody has been a victim of this too.

The trouble with applying a coating to block the signal though is that you won't be able to send/receive text messages, or browse the internet over GPRS^▸ (General Packet Radio Service), etc. Both of which can be done silently (as long as the phone is on silent of course), and both are things that I personally like the freedom to be able to do. It also does nothing to stop music being played through headphones at a volume that also irritates the hell out of most people.

The FGW^▸ (First Great Western) HST^▸ (High Speed Train) fleet has now got bright pink stickers at the top of every other window informing you that it is a quiet carriage. I like them. It's certainly difficult to miss them - though the addition of a couple of pictograms next to the lettering would mean that non-English speakers would have no excuse for ignoring the message. However, with one Train Manager looking after seven other coaches, and a reluctance of the part of some to actively get involved in enforcing the restriction they mention in their on-board announcements, often results in the ban being blatantly flouted.

I'm wondering what opinions other people have on this subject?

[John R]

I think it's an excellent idea. I believe Chiltern did this when they introduced the Cl 168s many years ago, but that was before more advanced technology enabled things like internet browsing.

I can see though that it is now a fine line. Those who want peace and quiet to work may find that they can't work because of the film that helps keep the peace and quiet. 

[grahame]

Can I admit to getting really hot under the collar with regard to the use of mobile phones in quiet carriages.  The FGW^▸ (First Great Western) site tells passengers to ...

"""Use their mobile phones in the vestibule and not in the carriage  ....""" which I find particularly frustrating if I want to use mine, totally silently, to send and receive data.  By nature I'm not a rule breaker - I haven't used my phone to send / receive data in a quiet carriage, but why on earth has the rule been framed in such a way that it very clearly bans such use?

[Btline]

In my view:

*In Quite Zones - phones off, no laptops, iPods or any electronic equipment - so there should be no WiFi signal, no power sockets and signal blockers etc. Keep all other noise to a minimum.

*In other parts of the train, phones and electronic equipment should be used in silent mode. Go to the vestibule at the end of the train if possible to make and receive calls. Consider others when using electronic equipment.

Unless I can't, I always move out of the passenger saloons when using my phone. I (a) don't want others to hear my conversation, and (b) don't want to disturb others.

The Quiet Zone is for relaxing and working. However, you should not have to be subjected to phone calls/ loud music ANYWHERE on the train.

[Zoe]

Are there any rules about talking in the quiet coach?  I know of one case where a man told a woman with children that you were not allowed to talk and so they moved to another coach.

[IndustryInsider]

I think it's a general rule of not making any unnecessary noise, so a nicely well behaved family talking amongst themselves would be OK, but a baby screaming its head off all the while might lead the Train Manager to ask them to move to another coach? As for Graham's comments, I would be very surprised if anybody would pick you up on just using your phone in silent mode for text messages or data usage - after all you make more noise turning the page of a book or newspaper! Perhaps the wording on the FGW^▸ (First Great Western) should reflect that?