Station and on board train announcements - merged topic, ongoing discussion

[whole diary]

[Kernow Otter]

'Lostwithiel' was a bit of a tounge twister for the announcer recently.  Not heard it for a while but it may have changed..

[eightf48544]

Not station names but came across a strange announcement at Taplow last night about:

"Not boarding the train whilst the doors are closing as it delays the train."

Presumably because the driver has to press the open button again.

It came quite out of the blue no trains about. Is it on a timer?

Was going to post it in the lighter side but this seems appropriate as it wasn't all that clear and might have been computer generated..

[TonyK]

Is it on a timer?

Yep, probably spliced in just after the one about not leaving your baggage, or any other member of your family, unattended.

[JayMac]

I once heard a manual announcement on board a Virgin service, where the train manager reminded folk not to forget their belongings, including granny or the children. He said that any unattended luggage may be destroyed by the security services and any unattended grannies or children would be sold into slavery!

[mjones]

The railways make far too many announcements, on trains and at stations, and this is likely to make people switch off and be less likely to pay attention to the ones that are really important. I gather from a colleague who used to work in the aviation industry that airports have deliberately greatly reduced their use of announcements for this reason. I think the railways ought to learn from this and do a bit of research into how people respond to announcements and what information they retain from them, and only make announcements where they can be shown to be effective.

For example, I find it highly unlikely that many passengers ever read the safety cards, or ask for the Braille version, despite having to put up with the tedious exhortation to do so after every station!  If there is a genuine safety reason for getting this information to people, then it needs to be provided by methods that shown to be effective, otherwise there is the suspicion that it is a box ticking exercise...

[John R]

And the one reminding people to alight on the correct side of the train (particularly at Chippenham).

[TonyK]

An the one reminding people to alight on the correct side of the train (particularly at Chippenham).

In slam-door days, my colleague, with poor eyesight, was the only man on the train who did not hear the conductor tell everyone that because of engineering work, the train would stop on the opposite platform to usual at Yatton. It's a long way down, and very dirty, he told me later.

[JayMac]

The current station wide safety announcements at Bristol Temple Meads definitely need sorting out.

For some reason they are slightly out of sync and use both the male and female voice. So you'll get the "Please do not leave your luggage unattended..." pre-recorded announcement which will start in the male voice on platforms 1-4, then a second or two later the female voice will kick in on platforms 5-8 making the same announcement. Finally the male voice will start the same announcement, with a further one or two second delay on platforms 9-15.

If you are on platforms 5-8 in the middle of the station you get a cacophony of out of sync announcements which really hurts the ears. 

[Southern Stag]

That's a pretty common problem at stations which are using both voices, and it does sound terrible.

[inspector_blakey]

There's been a bit of a Twitter campaign in the last few days about Brian Blessed, who has apparently offered to record the announcements for Waterloo if his fee is donated to the Samaritans. I would love to think that this might happen!

[JayMac]

Barbara Windsor was recently to be heard across the rail network's public address systems with a pre-recorded message urging people to donate for the Royal Bristish Legion's Poppy Day. I heard her last week at Swindon.

[chrisoates]

St Ives branch on arriving at St Erth....
"Over the bridge to platform 1 for services to Penzance, Platform 2 for the rest of the World."

[JayMac]

From the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page):

Transport minister Norman Baker has said the number of computer-generated announcements on trains has got out of hand and needs to be reduced.

Many of the speaker messages were irrelevant to passengers and spoiled their journeys, he told the BBC.

It was unnecessary, for example, to tell people they were on a non-smoking train when it was banned on all trains.

The Association of Train Companies said many passengers found announcements useful but a balance must be struck.

Mr Baker told Radio 4's The World at One that firms should differentiate between essential announcements - such as imminent station arrivals and explaining reasons for delays - and ones which were "simply unnecessary".

"Telling people they are in a quiet carriage when you have chosen to be there, telling people they are in a no-smoking train when all trains are non-smoking, telling you if you see something suspicious to see a police officer when there aren't any on the trains. There are so many announcements which get in the way. People do not want every single moment of their journey filled with someone saying something... the sadness is that the unnecessary announcements dilute the value of the important ones."

'Playing incessantly'

Announcements by on-board train staff "were not that bad" and it was automatic ones which were most annoying, the Lib Dem MP^▸ (Member of Parliament) suggested.

"Someone has designed a computer program somewhere in a dark cellar and they have put it into the train and plays incessantly and no-one has the power, it seems, to stop the program playing."

Asked what he was going to do about the issue, Mr Baker said trying to regulate what could be said would be "completely over the top" and train operators should simply use their common sense about what was appropriate or not.

"What I am saying to the train companies is often you are running really good services but you are spoiling the journey for people by the excessive announcements."

The Association of Train Companies (ATOC^» (Association of Train Operating Companies See - here)) said that, according to research by consumer watchdog Passenger Focus, the vast majority of people were satisfied with information they get on trains and at stations.

"Passengers want concise and relevant announcements, such as what the next station is so that they get off at the right stop," it said.

"Train companies know there's always a balance to strike - they need to keep passengers informed without irritating them with too many announcements."

Train operators are expected to adhere to industry guidelines on all aspects on passenger information, including on-train announcements, although they are free to implement the guidance in different ways. ATOC said the guidance was under constant review.

[phile]

If on board announcements go on all the time, people tend to treat them as a load of drivel abd don't bother  to listen to them and miss the important ones, i.e. train running ones.   Some stink too much of the nanny state and I feel quite insulted when being told how to alight from a train as though I can't be trusted.

[trainer]

As one who has left more hats on more trains than I care to remember over many years, I can testify that exhortations to take all my belongings with me fall on deaf ears if you are terminally forgetful and fail to retain in your brain all the items you boarded with until an unpleasantly cold wind hits your unprotected head after the train has started to pull out.  Save your breath, dear Train Manager/computer, I am a hopeless case.

I'll just get my coat...did I bring it in?