Farringdon Cacophony

[SECR263]

Was at Farringdon on last Wednesday when the Thameslink service had a delay due to a comms cord being pulled on a Brighton Service.

After a while the staff on the Thameslink side started announcing the delay and giving reasons.

At the same time tube side staff started on the script "Hammersmith Train etc, stand behind the yellow line, wait until the train stops and let passengers off first, etc etc.

Both sides were drowning out the others messages more or less continuously so passengers had a hard time listening to information. This continued for some 25 minutes until a service train turned up.

Even if the message got through, the unbated town crier competition continued. Is there any reason why, if one announcement is being made, the other "side" could not wait? They must surely be able to hear each other or is the tube side a recording?

Thanks

 

[trebor79]

I think sometimes the tube despatches make lengthy announcements just to amuse themselves. Stand back etc is ok, but they don't really need to tell us that this is an x line train calling all stations to y, some even listing every stop.

 

[a_c_skinner]

Mind the doors is the classic one.

 

[LBMPSB]

I think sometimes the tube despatches make lengthy announcements just to amuse themselves. Stand back etc is ok, but they don't really need to tell us that this is an x line train calling all stations to y, some even listing every stop.

London is visited by a number of tourists all year round. Unlike regular users of 'tube', they need guidance on the network. At Farringdon, there are trains on different lines going different destinations, so mentioning lines and places they call is of great customer assistance, not just for staff amusement.

 

[Towers]

It’s certainly the case that some Tube staff can be a tad ‘frantic’ with their dispatch announcements; you sometimes wonder if their previous career involved running a market stall or working on a trading floor!

 

[Brush 4]

I think it's the two announcements drowning out each other that is the point......

 

[Dstock7080]

you sometimes wonder if their previous career involved running a market stall or working on a trading floor!

Or introducing a boxing match, as one regular individual at Victoria did.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Mind the doors is the classic one.

Standclearofthedoorsmindthedoorsmindthedoors!

Farringdon has always been terrible for waffle. Just shut up and let the auto announcer do its job

 

[bramling]

I think sometimes the tube despatches make lengthy announcements just to amuse themselves. Stand back etc is ok, but they don't really need to tell us that this is an x line train calling all stations to y, some even listing every stop.

The reason why LU staff do it is because they are scored by way of mystery shoppers, so can be downscored if elements of the script aren’t delivered. Common sense isn’t allowed on TFL these days. You’ll always then get people who take things even further as well.

 

[QueensCurve]

Mind the doors is the classic one.

"Miner Doors" and "Miner Gap".

 

[AlbertBeale]

"Miner Doors" and "Miner Gap".

Anyone remember the famous Goon Show, spoofing Quatermass and the Pit, where the "punch line" related to "Mind the Doors"?

 

[b0b]

London is visited by a number of tourists all year round. Unlike regular users of 'tube', they need guidance on the network. At Farringdon, there are trains on different lines going different destinations, so mentioning lines and places they call is of great customer assistance, not just for staff amusement.

Farringdon wasn't exactly a tourist destination or change point, although it might have changed now the Elizabeth Line runs through

 

[Gerald Fiennes]

Regular readers might recall the long debate between national rail and TfL about whether the Thameslink route through Farringdon should be on the tube map! So getting some co-ordination on PA announcements there is just another reflection of this sad situation... Bring back the London Transport Passenger Board?

 

[Surreytraveller]

Farringdon wasn't exactly a tourist destination or change point, although it might have changed now the Elizabeth Line runs through

Since the Elizabeth Line opened, Farringdon is now a major interchange station

 

[Gonzoiku]

Regular readers might recall the long debate between national rail and TfL about whether the Thameslink route through Farringdon should be on the tube map! So getting some co-ordination on PA announcements there is just another reflection of this sad situation... Bring back the London Transport Passenger Board?

Do you perhaps mean the London Passenger Transport Board?

GZ

 

[Horizon22]

Farringdon Thameslink northbound and the H&C Westbound certainly do clash, but they are simply so close to each other.

They are probably on completely separate loops due to being run by completely separate companies and due to the proximity of the platforms there will be inevitable clashing from time to time, especially during disruption.

I think a lot of them are automated but as @bramling says the mystery shopper element is also key as to why there are often manual ones.

 

[AlbertBeale]

Farringdon Thameslink northbound and the H&C Westbound certainly do clash, but they are simply so close to each other.

They are probably on completely separate loops due to being run by completely separate companies and due to the proximity of the platforms there will be inevitable clashing from time to time, especially during disruption.

I think a lot of them are automated but as @bramling says the mystery shopper element is also key as to why there are often manual ones.

Presumably you mean T/L southbound and H&C (etc) westbound?

 

[D7666]

Since the Elizabeth Line opened, Farringdon is now a major interchange station

Farringdon wasn't exactly a tourist destination or change point, although it might have changed now the Elizabeth Line runs through

It always was a major interchange station before Eliz line.

I use it routinely and have been doing so ever since Snow Hill lines re-opened.

There are numerous passengers off and on every TL train changing to/from LU, tourists, as well as anyone else.

Eliz has simply added to it.

With the high combined frequency of trains on the 4 surface platforms, when you add together trains in both directions on both routes, you'd never get a satisfactory system to work that only allows one announcement at a time.
_

I agree some of the prattle from manual announcers*** is tedious and unnecessary but as a routine user of the place, it can apply to TL as well as LU. Actually IMHO the manual LU announcing there is usually succinct and to the point, it is the TL ones that are poor, when they do do it.

The worst scenario is when TL is in degraded mode ......

We are sorry to announce the 17:00 to Bedford is delayed by 43 minutes....... the next fastest train is the 17:15......
We are sorry to announce the 17:15 to Bedford is delayed by 36 minutes.......the next fastest train is the 17:30......
We are sorry to announce the 17:30 to Bedford is delayed by 22 minutes.......the next fastest train is the 17:40......
We are sorry to announce the 17:40 to Bedford is delayed by 9 minutes.......the next fastest train is the 17:xx......

followed immediately by

We are sorry to announce the 17:00 to Bedford is delayed by 45 minutes....... the next fastest train is the 17:15......
We are sorry to announce the 17:15 to Bedford is delayed by 38 minutes.......the next fastest train is the 17:30......
We are sorry to announce the 17:30 to Bedford is delayed by 23 minutes.......the next fastest train is the 17:40......
We are sorry to announce the 17:40 to Bedford is delayed by 11 minutes.......the next fastest train is the 17:xx......

etc
etc
etc
every time the delay increment changes. And that is just the Bedfords, never mind the other destinations doing the same thing.

continuous useless babble - useless because when things are in that state don't need to announce every consecutive train in the same pattern, only when the next one to that destination in that pattern is.

All I can say it is a good job 700s don't have a Virgin/Avanti style shop else there would be "on board shop in coach X for delicious refreshments" etc (or whatever the wording is) tacked on to every announcement (e.g. like they do at Crewe, which is another location for never ceasing babble whenever there is WCML disruption)



*** if you want hear real useless TL prattle then Blackfriars is the place to go; and I wish someone would instruct one particular specimen the normal off peak and peak daytime default patterns, no Bedford or Luton or Cambridge or Peterborough trains call at all stations to those places; they seem to assume that all the stations in the normal pattern and shown on the screens can be announced as "all stations". Very misleading.

 

[Horizon22]

Presumably you mean T/L southbound and H&C (etc) westbound?

I do indeed!

 

[Westerndiesels]

I was at Plymouth Sunday and an IET from Cornwall came in and parked up on platform 7. Driver got out and left and the board for platform 7 showed this train was an arrival only. Ten minutes later there was an announcement saying the next train at platform 7 wasn't stopping and to stand clear of the yellow lines, watch your buggy etc.

I was waiting to catch my train due on platform 8 and even though I was quite sure it was a mistake I was a bit alarmed and kept my eye on the bridge at the Laira side of the platforms.

I feared I would have been to late to avert a disaster and no one else seemed to realise the imminent collision that had been announced.

I would have had to just scream run for your lives and jump over the platform 8 track and sidings and hope for the best.

Of course the signalling failsafe would have kicked in but it's just an example of how contradicting silly messages are made that are downright confusing and often over the top of each other.

Exeter St Davids on Friday afternoon had messages on many delays talking over other platform announcements. My train due on platform 4b was given a change to 4 just seconds before it arrived. Then it turned up in 4b anyway, with first class the opposite side than announced.

 

[Towers]

I was at Plymouth Sunday and an IET from Cornwall came in and parked up on platform 7. Driver got out and left and the board for platform 7 showed this train was an arrival only. Ten minutes later there was an announcement saying the next train at platform 7 wasn't stopping and to stand clear of the yellow lines, watch your buggy etc.

I was waiting to catch my train due on platform 8 and even though I was quite sure it was a mistake I was a bit alarmed and kept my eye on the bridge at the Laira side of the platforms.

I feared I would have been to late to avert a disaster and no one else seemed to realise the imminent collision that had been announced.

I would have had to just scream run for your lives and jump over the platform 8 track and sidings and hope for the best.

Of course the signalling failsafe would have kicked in but it's just an example of how contradicting silly messages are made that are downright confusing and often over the top of each other.

Exeter St Davids on Friday afternoon had messages on many delays talking over other platform announcements. My train due on platform 4b was given a change to 4 just seconds before it arrived. Then it turned up in 4b anyway, with first class the opposite side than announced.

 

[Kite159]

I was at Plymouth Sunday and an IET from Cornwall came in and parked up on platform 7. Driver got out and left and the board for platform 7 showed this train was an arrival only. Ten minutes later there was an announcement saying the next train at platform 7 wasn't stopping and to stand clear of the yellow lines, watch your buggy etc.

I was waiting to catch my train due on platform 8 and even though I was quite sure it was a mistake I was a bit alarmed and kept my eye on the bridge at the Laira side of the platforms.

I feared I would have been to late to avert a disaster and no one else seemed to realise the imminent collision that had been announced.

I would have had to just scream run for your lives and jump over the platform 8 track and sidings and hope for the best.

Of course the signalling failsafe would have kicked in but it's just an example of how contradicting silly messages are made that are downright confusing and often over the top of each other.

Exeter St Davids on Friday afternoon had messages on many delays talking over other platform announcements. My train due on platform 4b was given a change to 4 just seconds before it arrived. Then it turned up in 4b anyway, with first class the opposite side than announced.

Same as those announcements at terminal stations which say "please stand back from the edge of platform X, the next train isn't scheduled to stop at this station" when an ECS is arriving from the sidings/depot to form a peak time extra

Would get a bit messy if it didn't stop.

 

[Sad Sprinter]

I was at Plymouth Sunday and an IET from Cornwall came in and parked up on platform 7. Driver got out and left and the board for platform 7 showed this train was an arrival only. Ten minutes later there was an announcement saying the next train at platform 7 wasn't stopping and to stand clear of the yellow lines, watch your buggy etc.

I was waiting to catch my train due on platform 8 and even though I was quite sure it was a mistake I was a bit alarmed and kept my eye on the bridge at the Laira side of the platforms.

I feared I would have been to late to avert a disaster and no one else seemed to realise the imminent collision that had been announced.

I would have had to just scream run for your lives and jump over the platform 8 track and sidings and hope for the best.

Of course the signalling failsafe would have kicked in but it's just an example of how contradicting silly messages are made that are downright confusing and often over the top of each other.

Exeter St Davids on Friday afternoon had messages on many delays talking over other platform announcements. My train due on platform 4b was given a change to 4 just seconds before it arrived. Then it turned up in 4b anyway, with first class the opposite side than announced.

I was on an up Thameslink going through City Thameslink the other day which didn’t stop, the message on the information screens said the train “may not” stop here. What perfunctory wording…

 

[louis97]

I was at Plymouth Sunday and an IET from Cornwall came in and parked up on platform 7. Driver got out and left and the board for platform 7 showed this train was an arrival only. Ten minutes later there was an announcement saying the next train at platform 7 wasn't stopping and to stand clear of the yellow lines, watch your buggy etc.

That is announced when any empty stock headcode or unknown headcode is input into a berth for that platform.

 

[LBMPSB]

Farringdon wasn't exactly a tourist destination or change point, although it might have changed now the Elizabeth Line runs through

I beg to differ. Even prior to the Elizabeth Line, it is a common place for Tourists to change lines going to/from Luton or Gatwick Airports.