New South Western franchise: Awarded to First/MTR

[PudseyBearHST]

Just got on the newly liveried 444(040) and the guard announced it as a 'South West Trains stopping service...':roll:. Surely it can be that hard when there are South Western Railway stickers everywhere outside and inside the train!

As mentioned, it is very easy to forget- I always mess up when writing the date after the new year (e.g. 2017 instead of 2016)- but also, I think the guard has much more pressing matters to deal with than to remember to say 'South Western Railway' instead of 'South West Trains' and to be honest, I really don't think most of the public care or realise the mistake.

 

[fairysdad]

I've heard a couple of guards announce it as a 'South West Tr.....ailway' service which I've found amusing.

I have noticed though that although the internal displays now say 'South Western Railway', the problem they had a while back with a huge gap between some stations has returned.

 

[CosherB]

Just got on the newly liveried 444(040) and the guard announced it as a 'South West Trains stopping service...':roll:. Surely it can be that hard when there are South Western Railway stickers everywhere outside and inside the train!

Believe me ..... there are far more important things to worry about.

 

[TEW]

I've heard a couple of guards announce it as a 'South West Tr.....ailway' service which I've found amusing.

I have noticed though that although the internal displays now say 'South Western Railway', the problem they had a while back with a huge gap between some stations has returned.

That returned when the PIS was updated for the Waterloo Blockade, unfortunately it seems the latest update has not fixed it.

 

[infobleep]

As you know it is useless then you need to check more thoroughly before posting. In the relevant post I'm sure you also have defeat for defect, and disputing for disruption...

The odd typo is one thing but I think you must be missing quite a lot of failed autocorrect attempts...

I do try to check but being dyslexic means I can't always spot words that look similar as I read them as I intended them to be.

On my own computer I use a program to read back work, ClaroReas Pro but such programs don't appear to exist for Android, at least not from my research. I spoke to the company who made the software and they said nothing existed.

Google are a multi million pound company so I they feel should be doing more in this area. I do submit feedback to them before anyone says anything. They claim to use that to influence future development, so one can but hope.

Anyway this is getting off topic.

 

[infobleep]

I suggest you download the SwiftKey app and turn on its learning capability. Duff auto-completes will soon be a thing of the past.

I shall try that, although what I really need is something to underline the errors. Much as Google Chrome on the desktop PC does or something to read back work.

 

[infobleep]

As mentioned, it is very easy to forget- I always mess up when writing the date after the new year (e.g. 2017 instead of 2016)- but also, I think the guard has much more pressing matters to deal with than to remember to say 'South Western Railway' instead of 'South West Trains' and to be honest, I really don't think most of the public care or realise the mistake.

I imagine a fair number of passengers still think it's South West Trains. Perhaps we need to laugh and criticise them, especially if they travel regularly. Don't they follow the news? :roll: :a joke:

 

[The Ham]

I shall try that, although what I really need is something to underline the errors. Much as Google Chrome on the desktop PC does or something to read back work.

My version of Google Chrome on my android phone has the red underline when I type something wrong. It doesn't help help that it doesn't always give the correct spelling on the predictive text line. However a quick Google search often finds the correct spelling.

 

[Rick1984]

I imagine a fair number of passengers still think it's South West Trains. Perhaps we need to laugh and criticise them, especially if they travel regularly. Don't they follow the news? :roll: :a joke:

Certainly my journey from Portsmouth Harbour to Waterloo on Sunday there was no indication of a change of operator.
If it wasn't for here I'd have still thought it was SWT.

 

[Harbouring]

Certainly my journey from Portsmouth Harbour to Waterloo on Sunday there was no indication of a change of operator.
If it wasn't for here I'd have still thought it was SWT.

The announcements at stations do say it but they're fairly easy to ignore. PMH does have one of the few bits of station branding too on the front but again easy to ignore.

Another thing that has been annoying me is how South Western Railway can sound like Great Western Railway on platforms, I always seem to miss the start of the announcement and when I realise what is going on my mind fills in the blanks I guess. It can't be ideal having two TOC's with 80% of the syllables in the name the same at common stations. Only affects a limited number of stations of course.

 

[3141]

I've heard a couple of guards announce it as a 'South West Tr.....ailway' service which I've found amusing.

I have noticed though that although the internal displays now say 'South Western Railway', the problem they had a while back with a huge gap between some stations has returned.

The display on the 159 I travelled on last week still welcomed us to South West Trains.

As for guards getting it wrong, it's not the least surprising. At home, have you ever moved something you use frequently to a different drawer or cupboard? It's likely that for some time afterwards you reach for the old location when you go to get the thing out. Your muscles have developed a memory. Imagine a guard who's worked for SWT for ten years. For well over 2000 days, and perhaps 60 times or more on each of those days, he's said "South West Trains". Even if he's trying to remember to say the new name, it starts the same way, which probably makes it more difficult to erase the built-in memory of SWT.

 

[PudseyBearHST]

I imagine a fair number of passengers still think it's South West Trains. Perhaps we need to laugh and criticise them, especially if they travel regularly. Don't they follow the news? :roll: :a joke:

That's true- all commuters care about is fare prices, trains being on-time to get them there and back from work, etc... Of course, I would have of thought that most may realise that the name and the livery/brand have changed but most of them really won't care and it won't affect their lives in the slightest.

But then again, some commuters really despised Stagecoach SWT (there is a dedicated anti-SWT website but to be honest, you can find one for any train company) and so they were happy that Stagecoach lost their franchise. But looks like they aren't any happier with South Western Railway as I just found this anti-SWR Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/I-hated-SWT-but-now-I-despise-South-Western-Railways-161816723927027/


Edit: I don't how to embed photos on forums. Any advice would be appreciated. But someone has just edited the SWR slogan so it says, "We'll make you SWeaR"

 

[Mainline421]

On Saturday a guard on a train I was on actually made an announcement correcting the PIS after it incorrectly announced that it was an SWT service.

 

[Matt Taylor]

Just got on the newly liveried 444(040) and the guard announced it as a 'South West Trains stopping service...':roll:. Surely it can be that hard when there are South Western Railway stickers everywhere outside and inside the train!

I've worked that unit, on the inside it is identical to all the other 444s. I've spent years and years announcing 'South West Trains' around a hundred times a day, it's very easy to make a mistake.

 

[CapitalStar378]

Certainly my journey from Portsmouth Harbour to Waterloo on Sunday there was no indication of a change of operator.
If it wasn't for here I'd have still thought it was SWT.

There have been no changes made on the trains at all, not even internal maps. Everything still says SWT.

When LO took over Silverlink they had white vinyl stickers on the outside of the 313s from day one, also when they took over the lines out of Liverpool St everything was at least de branded by launch day.

Maybe SWR won't bother until new stock arrives.

 

[swt_passenger]

... also when they took over the lines out of Liverpool St everything was at least de branded by launch day.

The probable reason there has been no rush to 'de-brand' in this specific case has almost certainly been explained earlier - the "South West Trains" trade mark was not owned by Stagecoach, but by DfT.

The Stagecoach livery 'swoosh' features are possibly a different matter of course, but not easily altered overnight either...

 

[matt_world2004]

There have been no changes made on the trains at all, not even internal maps. Everything still says SWT.

When LO took over Silverlink they had white vinyl stickers on the outside of the 313s from day one, also when they took over the lines out of Liverpool St everything was at least de branded by launch day.

Maybe SWR won't bother until new stock arrives.

Ive seen several lo services still branded as aga from severn sisters I notcied because ny ticket didnt allow me on the aga services and I missed my train.

 

[randompixel]

https://twitter.com/SW_Railway/status/907921843369234433

Over the next few weeks we'll be giving all our trains a good clean, inside and out to make your journey better https://www.southwesternrailway.com/other/about-us/our-plan …

You'd think at the very least they'd do the internal posters / network maps and things during this ^^

 

[infobleep]

My version of Google Chrome on my android phone has the red underline when I type something wrong. It doesn't help help that it doesn't always give the correct spelling on the predictive text line. However a quick Google search often finds the correct spelling.

Unfortunately this forum doesn't have a mobile friendly web site, which is why I switched to use Tapatalk, which from ease of form access is much better.

 

[Bletchleyite]

https://twitter.com/SW_Railway/status/907921843369234433


You'd think at the very least they'd do the internal posters / network maps and things during this ^^

I'm not sure why they are showing off about something they should be doing daily/weekly anyway.

 

[Kite159]

159014 now says South Western Railway on the automatic announcements.

Sorry if already mentioned, only noticed it myself at Andover when heading home

 

[Clip]

There have been no changes made on the trains at all, not even internal maps. Everything still says SWT.

When LO took over Silverlink they had white vinyl stickers on the outside of the 313s from day one, also when they took over the lines out of Liverpool St everything was at least de branded by launch day.

Maybe SWR won't bother until new stock arrives.

As a general knowledge question - how many trains did LO take over from Silverlink and how many did SWR from SWT?


Not saying that it couldn't be done but its a question of how much money do you want to throw at it?

And thus invoke the wrath of posters on here who say TOCs spend too much on rebranding and marketing...

They cant win eh?

 

[TEW]

The 455s and 456s are changing over to say South Western Railway. Most appeared to be done last weekend but there are still some around that say SWT.

 

[Clip]

I'm not sure why they are showing off about something they should be doing daily/weekly anyway.

It doesn't take much working out to know they mean a deep clean :roll:

 

[[.n]]

https://twitter.com/SW_Railway/status/907921843369234433


You'd think at the very least they'd do the internal posters / network maps and things during this ^^

Only if they actually proof read the things first! I've not really looked but am aware of the 2 big errors so far being missing Winchester of a map, and changing Woking and Clapham Junction around on a timetable booklet

 

[DenmarkRail]

personally think the name change was silly... If the TM was Dft owned, they should've changed the livery with time, but kept logo / name the same...

 

[superalbs]

158888 now says South Western Railway, but the quality of the new recording is noticeably worse than the rest of the announcements.

 

[greaterwest]

158888 now says South Western Railway, but the quality of the new recording is noticeably worse than the rest of the announcements.

That's because they've used the same recording on the train as they've used for the stations.

 

[PudseyBearHST]

personally think the name change was silly... If the TM was Dft owned, they should've changed the livery with time, but kept logo / name the same...

Originally it was a Stagecoach branch and they sold it to the Dft. So yes technically First Group can use it but it does not make business sense as SWT is associated with Stagecoach and they still use the same theme with EMT.

You could argue the name 'South West Trains' is a fairly neutral name but the brand (colours And logo) are not so I can see why First Grouo have opted to change.

 

[spark001uk]

I suggest you download the SwiftKey app and turn on its learning capability. Duff auto-completes will soon be a thing of the past.

+1 on that. Been using it exclusively for a number of years/devices now. Catches most typos, though it can occasionally substitute a wrong word here and there!