New South Western franchise: Awarded to First/MTR

[swt_passenger]

It doesn't quite work that way, when Phil Sawyer initially did the voice work he had to record specific words many of which had nothing to do with the railway. A computer then takes those sounds from the recordings to make new words.

But he would have already done "Great Western Railway" surely, for that TOC and its calls at SWT stations? But anyway, the earlier post was by someone proposing that Phil Sayer wouldn't be heard anymore, and that has obviously turned out not to be the case...

 

[Monty]

But he would have already done "Great Western Railway" surely, for that TOC and its calls at SWT stations? But anyway, the earlier post was by someone proposing that Phil Sayer wouldn't be heard anymore, and that has obviously turned out not to be the case...

Again what you're hearing is a computer taking sounds from previously recorded words to make that announcement, he never actually recorded "Great Western Railway".

 

[greaterwest]

Again what you're hearing is a computer taking sounds from previously recorded words to make that announcement, he never actually recorded "Great Western Railway".

A person has combined Phil Sayer's "South" from "South West Trains" (or elsewhere) and "Western Railway" from "Great Western Railway" for use by the automated announcement system as "South Western Railway". That is the point swt_passenger is getting at.

 

[387star]

Wonder who could benefit from this

 

[su31]

I've just noticed the App Store is a bit out of date. A new app (apparently) called "South West Trains Journey Planner" has the new SWR logo but Stagecoach South West Trains underneath! South West Trains Journey Planner by Stagecoach South Western Trains Ltd https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/south-west-trains-journey-planner/id1104215511?mt=8

 

[Amaroussi]

[*]confirmation the logo represents the network map (also animation here https://twitter.com/SW_Help/status/899098638378520576)
[/LIST]

The position of the "Railway" part is still weird.

Note how the logo is formed of the lines between Clapham Junction to Reading, Shepperton, Weymouth, Chessington South and Dorking.

 

[swt_passenger]

A person has combined Phil Sayer's "South" from "South West Trains" (or elsewhere) and "Western Railway" from "Great Western Railway" for use by the automated announcement system as "South Western Railway". That is the point swt_passenger is getting at.

That is exactly what I meant. I thought it was fairly well done anyway.

 

[spark001uk]

Interesting. The live arrivals/departures on the SWR site seems to refuse to recognise London Waterloo. Bit of a significant station to miss out!

 

[TT-ONR-NRN]

deleted

 

[swt_passenger]

deleted

also deleted then...

 

[Kite159]

WiFi on the 159s seems to have been broken with the franchise switch, bringing up "no user" circular errors

 

[swt_passenger]

Cannot believe SWT didn't have delay repay in 2017..

It was always the case that SWT would only bring in delay replay if DfT forced them too, because it hadn't been established when the 2007 franchise was let. AIUI SWT believed that delay repay would cost them more than the charter scheme, so wouldn't renegotiate to bring it in, and it seems DfT let the matter lie. I suspect it would have come in with the direct awards if it had been agreed couple of years.

Aren't GWR in the same position, i.e. they either have not, or have only just started delay repay?

Whenever the first delay repay scheme was announced was, I remember people saying that it would take a heck of a long time to get it rolled out across every TOC, which definitely appears to have been the case...

 

[louis97]

It doesn't quite work that way, when Phil Sayer initially did the voice work he had to record specific words many of which had nothing to do with the railway. A computer then takes those sounds from the recordings to make new words.

Whilst initially the recordings may have been split down into words, the system has moved on a lot now. A lot of the recordings have merged to become one to make it sound less disjointed. An example, previously a TOC name and "service to" were separate clips on this system. However for a good 5+ years these have become one clip.

On early systems there was a lot of control an operator had to make all sorts of combinations of announcements, but this was a manual process. Like when Phil was at Victoria, there was a large range of different things you could do with the announcements, but it had to be setup by someone! Since more automation the flexibility has been lost, but the consistency has improved by having the CIS control the announcements and not a person! Indeed at Victoria when Phil was there I heard announcements totally different to what the screens were advertising.

 

[swt_passenger]

Whilst initially the recordings may have been split down into words, the system has moved on a lot now. A lot of the recordings have merged to become one to make it sound less disjointed. An example, previously a TOC name and "service to" were separate clips on this system. However for a good 5+ years these have become one clip.

So do you know exactly what they have done in the case we are discussing?

 

[HH]

It was always the case that SWT would only bring in delay replay if DfT forced them too, because it hadn't been established when the 2007 franchise was let. AIUI SWT believed that delay repay would cost them more than the charter scheme, so wouldn't renegotiate to bring it in, and it seems DfT let the matter lie. I suspect it would have come in with the direct awards if it had been agreed couple of years.

Aren't GWR in the same position, i.e. they either have not, or have only just started delay repay?

They don't have the current DR scheme. They have the hodge podge of Passenger Charter for ST holders and DR for the rest. That may change, but only if DfT pay for it.

 

[Mainline421]

You like being officious to rail staff then?

Not at all, though I can see how it would read that way, he cheerfully approached me while I was taking a photo out the doors before departure and I jokingly said that it's still Stagecoach/South West Trains till 2am. I couldn't think of a word to communicate this in that post but avoided using "told" to avoid it reading like that.

It isn't called 'First South Western', surely? Just South Western Railway?

Maybe he meant it was the first service of the new franchise, rather than First's service?

Yep but I think he meant First rather 1st, not an official thing by the sounds of it. Think it's caught in the background of my video so will edit this post with a link when its up. If I'm honest I was hoping for announcement to mark the arrivals of the last ever SWT service at Southampton Central like I've seen on YouTube with other franchise ends though.

Video now up https://youtu.be/XRPVOBm4bck?t=9m24s

 

[Damo1977]

Wimbledon Traincare Depot today (sorry it's on its side, I've tried rotating and reattaching but it stayed the same).

 

[cactustwirly]

They don't have the current DR scheme. They have the hodge podge of Passenger Charter for ST holders and DR for the rest. That may change, but only if DfT pay for it.

No its the passenger charter for everything.

 

[embers25]

WiFi on the 159s seems to have been broken with the franchise switch, bringing up "no user" circular errors

Hope that gets fixed quickly as 159 WiFi is by fat the most reliable in the country on any TOC or train class.

 

[dcd]

The only part of their site that seems to be live is the Ticket buying part. Gives a fuller idea of the colour scheme I guess..

http://tickets.southwesternrailway.com/sw/en/journeyplanning/mixingdeck

But they seem to still have South West Trains in the mouseovers on the timetable part.

 

[thedbdiboy]

As far is I'm concerned, this makes me happy. Cannot believe SWT didn't have delay repay in 2017.

I know lots of people are Mourning SWT quite openly, but I'm really looking forward to seeing what SWR can do.

Delay Repay is a contractual part of the franchise. The DfT didn't specify it in 2005 and it wasn't therefore costed in then. It could have been introduced at any point if the Government wanted it but it has chosen the franchise change to specify it (and in effect fund it, as bidders costed it in). If Stagecoach had won, they would have made exactly the same change.

 

[HowardGWR]

If 'all routes lead to London' then they might as well have used 'LSWR'. Come to think of it, what about a 159 in salmon and dark brown?

I just hope they keep up staff morale which, anecdotally, seems to be very high, at least on the SW main line.

 

[HowardGWR]

deleted

 

[jon0844]

Liked BBC London News interviewing people today asking if anyone had noticed a difference yet!

Come on First, you'll have been running things for almost 24 hours soon so how many franchise commitments have you ticked off already? You're slacking!

 

[Kite159]

Hope that gets fixed quickly as 159 WiFi is by fat the most reliable in the country on any TOC or train class.

It was working fine and dandy earlier on in the day on 159006, but kept on repeating "No user" errors [even when filling in the details] on 159102 & 159011.

Hopefully just a minor issue and it will get repaired at the supplier end soon [can't have Mrs Grumpy of North Dorset moaning that she is unable to do important work when travelling to Waterloo now ]

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One thing I'm looking forward to is having an hourly service on Sundays from my local station (currently 2-hourly)

 

[traji00]

They were quick to put their brand on Wimbledon depot [emoji38] maybe due to the visibility from all mainline trains?

Come on First, you'll have been running things for almost 24 hours soon so how many franchise commitments have you ticked off already? You're slacking!

Well, at the station I work at (travelcard zone 4), the gateline is to be staffed in the off-peak from tomorrow.

That's one commitment already? [emoji14]

 

[SpacePhoenix]

Was there much sadness from train crews when they signed out at the end of their last ever shift as SWTs employees?

 

[greaterwest]

They were quick to put their brand on Wimbledon depot [emoji38] maybe due to the visibility from all mainline trains?



Well, at the station I work at (travelcard zone 4), the gateline is to be staffed in the off-peak immediately.

That's one already? [emoji14]

Sent from my VTR-L09 using Tapatalk

As is the case with some stations totally outside of the travelcard zones.

 

[PudseyBearHST]

Was there much sadness from train crews when they signed out at the end of their last ever shift as SWTs employees?

I spoke to a Commercial Guard a few months ago about the franchise change, and he just said "well, I'll be wearing a different tie. That's about it."

But there seems to be no new lanyard/name badge for employees yet. (Or at least not for all employees)

 

[infobleep]

With the ongoing Waterloo works pausing a mass re-brand exercise until early September seems pretty wise

What might be the problem if they did it now? People thinking they are no good as an operator? The recorded announcements have changed.