Before I start, let me just say sorry for not noticing this extremely insightful forum earlier. For some strange reason only known to myself, I've only just discovered the existence of this messageboard today. Heaven only knows why/how I didn't come across it earlier as I like to believe that I am one of the most fiercely outspoken critics of our railways.....and I have yet to come across any others who have quite as many grievances as I harbour over the sheer incompetence at every single level of railway management that we have had to deal with ever since the onset of privatisation all of 16 years ago.
Over the years, I have written countless letters to TOCs and Network Rail (and Railtrack before them) - over 200 in fact - lambasting them and offering savage criticism (or, in some rare cases, rare appraisals) for what I consider major failings in their day to day operations etc... and the issue of automated station and on-board-train announcements is without a doubt by far my biggest bugbear and pet hate.
So much so that I have since launched several one-man campaigns railing against the sheer pointlessness of this whole farcical exercise and even written to celebrated railway columnist Christian Wolmar on several occasions (last few times out on his website), providing him with my own printed findings from several passenger surveys I have carried out over the last four years competely of my own initiative to gauge passenger's views and opinions of these various issues...and indeed gaining some very intriguing results which I have put to various operators such as Merseyrail, Northern Rail, Virgin Trains and Trans-Pennine Express - most of which I use very regularly as I work in three different locations and am always darting back and forth via train between Liverpool, Manchester and Glossop.
Much of my righteous anger and disapproval is aimed at Manchester Piccadilly station in particular where there are apparently no less than TWENTY ONE different security and 'nannying' announcements now in operation (two new ones have just been added, bringing the total to this) emanating from that much-despised AWW that they have deployed at this station and several others such as Leeds, Sheffield and Liverpool Lime Street.
I have been in touch several times with the various station managers and divisional directors, even having face to face meetings with them on a few occasions (with Merseyrail at Lime Street, and also Manchester Piccadilly's Network Rail offices) raising the issue of such wantonly excessive and intrusive announcements, pointing out to them that not only is it completely counter-productive to have so many of them repeated at a frankly alarming rate each hour, but it also constitutes a noise pollution menace. Sadly, most of them continue to inhabit their own particular ivory towers and do not see it as a problem, citing the need to 'keep passengers informed' as paramount. Perhaps it has completely escaped their notice that it's not so much a case of keeping passengers 'informed', as to keep them 'harassed'....
I have even started a few blogs online (albeit tentatively - there are no Facebook campaigns set up yet but it may well be that I should implement one in due course if that is going to be the only way to get more disgruntled train users to join up and spearhead a proper campaign once and for all) but what gets me as much as this whole depressing situation is the fact that most commuters are so apathetic and lazy to get off their backsides to complain and raise their hands that I often resign myself to the fact that they deserve all they get through their lack of passion...content to just sit/stand by and let somebody else (i.e. usually me) to campaign vociferously in an army of one. Well that ain't good enough because one person alone cannot start a revolution can they?
Anyway, check this link for a YouGov article I started last year discussing what change in the law I would like to see implemented: I suggested that we should have a new piece of legislation banning or restricting the over-excessive use of pointless health and safety/security announcements at stations etc..... It's just a shame that, as with anything, there aren't enough people seeing these items to make the campaign suggestion worthwhile....
http://www.govyou.co.uk/vastly-redu...necessary-noise-pollution-menace/#comment-483
Re: Merseyrail
As a regular user of the Merseyrail system over the last 30 years now, I have voiced my thoughts and opinions regularly to the managerial department of customer relations - namely Merseyrail marketing directors such as Rudi Boersma and Bart Schmeink who actually appreciate a lot of my feedback and have actually acted on some of my suggestions - such as removing the automatic tendency to use that nauseatingly overfamiliar and cliched phrase "would like to apologise for any inconvenience" and start learning to use the word 'sorry' again as it sounds more sincere and, more importantly, human. THis is based on several passenger surveys I carried out on no less than TWENTY TWO DIFFERENT RAIL ROUTES around Merseyside and Greater Manchester over a six year period asking people for their views - and a whopping 76 percent of of the 6,877 passengers I questioned admitted quite openly that the phrase was one of their biggest bugbears....along with the excessive announcements.
Compare that with the useless "passenger satisfaction surveys" that TOCs like to foist upon us at regular intervals all in the name of simply keeping up appearances and you can see quite easily how it is often the voice of the people - when questioned by one of their own instead of a faceless marketing/public relations bod - that really counts for everything.
Thus it's been quite rewarding to discover that several months of tireless campaigning and pushing on my part at Merseyrail to revise their agenda has borne positive outcomes regarding the use of this annoyingly trite phrase being used very little nowadays - unlike with other TOCs elsewhere!
However, since their new Marketing bod Karl Clawley joined up a year ago (he has since departed to another company already....funny that!) Merseyrail appear to have done themselves no favours at all by implementing several extra - and thus pointless - new health and safety announcements on board the trains. This time they have used the existing voice computer that lists all the stations en route to nanny us about lifts, escalators and which side to stand on [holding the hand rail!!!] when using them as the train pulls through the Liverpool Loop section between James Street and Central stations. Furthermore, it's pointless because the noise from the train travelling through the single track tunnel along this stretch is so unbearably deafening (screeching wheels and flanges - blame Network Rail for this after they've messed up the tracks) you can't hear the soddin' announcement anyway, so that's a bit of an own goal isn't it?
So as you can see, it's a never ending minefield this health and safety announcements lark, isn't it? But if somebody can set the wheels in motion for the powers that be to finally wake up and take notice of the simple fact that it is high time they stopped treating us people like they are stupid, then things might just one day change for the better and we can get a little bit of peace and quiet back - in between the incessant barrage of bloody automated computer-generated noise that harrasses us over every step that we care to take when we go about our day to day routines.....
Yes, this is a massive first post from me, but I hope some people can see exactly what I'm getting at here, because this whole subject really does rankle big time with me.
I'll confess to annoucning where coach A is, and asking people to keep the gangways clear for the trolley, but I try to keep it as brief as possible and I don't do it at every stop. I also leave the 'mind the gap' etc for just the big stations, cos it becomes a little insulting to repeat the same thing at every station!
