Our, your,the next station stop is confusing

[whole diary]

[infoman]

Our, it does not belong to the passengers on the train.

Your,I might not want to get off at that station

The,CORRECT.

RANT OVER.

[grahame]

Our, it does not belong to the passengers on the train.

Your,I might not want to get off at that station

The,CORRECT.

RANT OVER.

An interesting one.   "Our" next "station stop" as announced by the train crew is correct in my view as it's the train operating lot who are talking.  Agreed it does not belong to the passengers, but we are very used to hearing in the spoken word the possessive used by someone then reflecting it in our own minds to (see,I'm doing it!) in the knowledge it's said from the speaker's viewpoint.

Where my toes curl is "please take all your personal possessions with you".  Most of us - thank goodness - have a home or other place(s) where we can leave possessions when away from home; there is no way that I have ever taken all my personal possessions on the train, so I have never been able to follow this instruction.  I know what they mean .. not sure if "please take everything you brought onto the train off with you" is right either - it leaves inaccuracies too particularly if the train has a working loo.

[bobm]

Or “please don’t leave any of your possessions behind” (including litter). 

[Celestial]

Or “please don’t leave any of your possessions behind” (including litter). 

I'll trade any of these irritations to get rid of "See it, say it, sorted."   With the bright scrolling displays on the units that almost drive me insane as they scroll the same bloody information repetitely for my two hour journey in my line of sight a very close second. 

[Bmblbzzz]

Our, it does not belong to the passengers on the train.

Your,I might not want to get off at that station

The,CORRECT.

RANT OVER.

That wasn't a rant, that was just a grumble in capital letters. Must try harder, 2/10.

[Bmblbzzz]

not sure if "please take everything you brought onto the train off with you" is right either - it leaves inaccuracies too particularly if the train has a working loo.

Ulp!

[Reading General]

‘Arriving into’
You can arrive at or arrive in but not into. I would happily listen to this though rather than the completely unnecessary Transport for the city up the road travel update that occurs at Reading (general) station once every 5 minutes.

[Red Squirrel]

I would more or less forgive any of this if they actually provided the correct information.

A friend of mine who seldom travels by train, perhaps encouraged by me, set off to Bath a few weeks ago. When the train stopped at Oldfield Park, the system confidently announced 'Bath Spa', so she got off... and had a long walk into town.

Those of us who use the train regularly expect Montpelier to be announced as Bridgend occasionally, but you can see how it could be a bit offputting for those who are less familiar.

[grahame]

I would more or less forgive any of this if they actually provided the correct information.

A friend of mine who seldom travels by train, perhaps encouraged by me, set off to Bath a few weeks ago. When the train stopped at Oldfield Park, the system confidently announced 'Bath Spa', so she got off... and had a long walk into town.

Agreed that is FAR more important.  Picture the traveller from Swindon to Frome on the first train on Sunday 1st December ... "change at Trowbridge" he had been told.  Was misinformed as he arrived into Melksham that it was Trowbridge and got off.     4 hour setback, which for a day trip to visit friends meant his rail trip was aborted.

Not helped ... by there not being a "Melksham" sign visible from many parts of a train that's stopped there.  One sign is at an angle behind an information board and can only be seen by the driver (probably the last one who needs to be told, as he has route knowledge) and the other one is set back so that it's masked by the waiting shelter from much of the train.  When the platform was doubled in length, no new signs at all added even though that's where the Swindon-bound trains stop, well away from any sign.

Readers may suggest we ask GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) for extra station signs.  Yep, done ... including a response to their "how can we speed up station duties prior to 15th December" request.    I doubt the signs will appear in the next 14 hours though.  There is a promise that they're included in the station planning which includes extra car parking, cafe, second gate to the station, a new (secondhand) departure screen, access to the north at Foundry Close and perhaps onto the road bridge too to make the walk to George Ward easier ... but, really, couldn't a couple of signs be made up sooner, even if they are just temporary?

[Reading General]

Once technology such as automated announcements and display screens is in place people fully trust the information. Next bus displays relying on GPS rarely work 100% but then public trust them and it leads to mistakes made by people of which the staff operating a service have no control. The next stop screens in buses also works on GPS and would often stutter leading to many to get off in the wrong place. On the railway, mistakes made like this have far bigger impact. I’ve always said about the bus GPS information, if it doesn’t work 100% of the time it’s not worth having, on trains I would always favour a person making an announcement if the technology doesn’t work properly. Another plus of having two members of staff on a train.

[didcotdean]

Verbal announcements from the driver didn't stop a foreign tour group getting off in error at an additional stop at Appleford on a Banbury-Reading service I was on Thursday evening. People near the door called after them questioning if this really was where they wanted to get off. As it happened the next service stopped there as well, as it could easily have been a two hour wait.

[JontyMort]

‘Arriving into’
You can arrive at or arrive in but not into. I would happily listen to this though rather than the completely unnecessary Transport for the city up the road travel update that occurs at Reading (general) station once every 5 minutes.

Agreed re "arriving into". My other more recent peeve is the over-use of the emphatic imperative - "do take a look around you... do mind the step...". Oh do shut up!

[eightonedee]

I would happily listen to this though rather than the completely unnecessary Transport for the city up the road travel update that occurs at Reading (general) station once every 5 minutes.

With you on that one. I'd much rather there was a regular verbal report on all the services to and through Reading, rather than having to rely on the unreliable and uninformative Journey Check (Delayed Delayed Delayed Delayed Delayed  - no explanation  - oh - its actually just left.....)

[lordgoata]

Why does it even need all the waffle? "Next Stop Didcot" simple. Works on Swedish trains just fine.

[ellendune]

Why does it even need all the waffle? "Next Stop Didcot" simple. Works on Swedish trains just fine.

Wow I didn't know there were direct services from Sweden with the first stop in the UK^▸ (United Kingdom) being Didcot!