Cannot cope with EMT guard announcements

[stephy]

Please tell me I am not alone. I have actually resorted to wearing earplugs. They are so loud. I actually have hypercausis so they literally hurt!

But that aside - honestly why do they have to be so long? I understand there needs to be a level of procedure but take today. Sorry to say the lady seemed thrilled by her own voice. Such a breathy announcement. When arriving at bedford do we REALLY need

'Shortly arriving at bedford.. Please ensure you take all your personal belongings with you. Please retain all ticket documents as ticket barriers are in operation. Once again shortly arriving at bedford. Once again retain all travel documentation as barriers ARE in operation and don't leave anything behind. Ladies and gentlemen shortly arriving at bedford'

This is not an interchange station, it's also only 20 after the same announcements at Luton, surely we do not need more than 'next stop bedford'.

Also do we need to be told
Which train we are on (this is the 6pm...)
The carriage letters (m, k, l are standard...etc) I think first class seats are clearly signposted and it's not as if it's possible to get stuck in a first class carriage. And ok you've reserved a seat but you're on the bloody train and can quite easily walk to find your carriage.

It's just such overkill. Also the non smoking thing. Well duh! I hate them but FCC don't even bother and it's actually v rare there's a smoking incident on one of their trains. The amount of time I've seen everyone around me mutter shut up shut up shut up shut up. Once I was told what train I was on 4 times in 10 minutes - twice before it left and twice after.

Going mad

 

[PHILIPE]

There is a thread about excessive announcements pn the Board.

 

[stephy]

Sorry I can't seem to see it?

 

[Qwerty133]

Please tell me I am not alone. I have actually resorted to wearing earplugs. They are so loud. I actually have hypercausis so they literally hurt!

But that aside - honestly why do they have to be so long? I understand there needs to be a level of procedure but take today. Sorry to say the lady seemed thrilled by her own voice. Such a breathy announcement. When arriving at bedford do we REALLY need

'Shortly arriving at bedford.. Please ensure you take all your personal belongings with you. Please retain all ticket documents as ticket barriers are in operation. Once again shortly arriving at bedford. Once again retain all travel documentation as barriers ARE in operation and don't leave anything behind. Ladies and gentlemen shortly arriving at bedford'

This is not an interchange station, it's also only 20 after the same announcements at Luton, surely we do not need more than 'next stop bedford'.

Also do we need to be told
Which train we are on (this is the 6pm...)
The carriage letters (m, k, l are standard...etc) I think first class seats are clearly signposted and it's not as if it's possible to get stuck in a first class carriage. And ok you've reserved a seat but you're on the bloody train and can quite easily walk to find your carriage.

It's just such overkill. Also the non smoking thing. Well duh! I hate them but FCC don't even bother and it's actually v rare there's a smoking incident on one of their trains. The amount of time I've seen everyone around me mutter shut up shut up shut up shut up. Once I was told what train I was on 4 times in 10 minutes - twice before it left and twice after.

Going mad

The thing that gets me with EMT is the inconsistency with the announcements, some take ages and say absolutely everything and others don't seem to know how it works and are always completely unclear.

 

[Mojo]

I don't often travel with East Midlands Trains but can definitely sympathise with you. Announcements on trains, particularly long distance services, are absolutely crazy these days, but actual information content is limited!

 

[stephy]

I'm sure I read that FGW are culling them, or reducing them at least.

It bugs me so much that I'm tempted to take it to their HO on a personal crusade

 

[telstarbox]

This is from the FGW forum - is it true?

Security announcements (like the one about reporting anything strange to a police officer) are mandated by Transec. TOCs must ensure they are broadcast at the Transec recommended intervals. On a large station, that is twice every hour, and the CIS system is programmed to do this. I don't know what the required frequency on trains is, but you can be sure TOCs will do all in their power to comply with a Transec requirement. Transec regularly conduct unannounced inspections of station and train security, and have draconian powers if a TOC is seen to be failing. Its inspections are treated very seriously by responsible managers - those who don't, do not remain in their jobs for very long.

 

[bb21]

Announcing everything twice or even three times is probably overkill, however announcements are a necessary evil. There will be people moaning if the announcements are short and doesn't cover what they wanted to hear and people moaning if they are comprehensive.

However I strike the balance at running through everything once, then perhaps stress the station being approached again just as a reminder.

And yes, it is important to announce which train it is, however I would prefer it to be done during station dwell if possible rather than after departure, as it is too late for people on the wrong train to get off by then.

 

[rmt4ever]

Announcements across all TOCs are way outa control on trains and stations. In my opinion LUL are the worst by far . They have more human ones which are worse somehow than automatic ones.

My favourite is along the lines of "due to today's wet weather, areas of the station are slippery, please take care" ... And when one leaves the station on to the street outside, the weather is still wet and the surfaces are still slippery, there is obviously a flood of people who have fallen over all around you because there is no longer an announcement telling us to take care.

 

[EM2]

Telstarbox - certainly as far as stations go, it is true. I don't know the rules for on board, but I would think there are similar stipulations.
As to how to cope with them, headphones work for me!

 

[Kettledrum]

Please tell me I am not alone. I have actually resorted to wearing earplugs. They are so loud. I actually have hypercausis so they literally hurt!

But that aside - honestly why do they have to be so long? I understand there needs to be a level of procedure but take today. Sorry to say the lady seemed thrilled by her own voice. Such a breathy announcement. When arriving at bedford do we REALLY need

'Shortly arriving at bedford.. Please ensure you take all your personal belongings with you. Please retain all ticket documents as ticket barriers are in operation. Once again shortly arriving at bedford. Once again retain all travel documentation as barriers ARE in operation and don't leave anything behind. Ladies and gentlemen shortly arriving at bedford'

This is not an interchange station, it's also only 20 after the same announcements at Luton, surely we do not need more than 'next stop bedford'.

Also do we need to be told
Which train we are on (this is the 6pm...)
The carriage letters (m, k, l are standard...etc) I think first class seats are clearly signposted and it's not as if it's possible to get stuck in a first class carriage. And ok you've reserved a seat but you're on the bloody train and can quite easily walk to find your carriage.

Going mad

I travel EMT regularly and you are right about the really long announcements. I don't see why they need to nanny people to retain their travel documents or look round for all their belongings either. On the other hand, it can be useful to remind passengers a few times about the next stop as the EMT stopping patterns on the midland main line can be irregular, and if a passenger dozes off they might not hear all the announcements anyway.

My gripe if that on some EM trains, the PA system doesn't seem to work very well anyway, and the announcement comes across as muffled, so you can't tell what they are saying.

 

[tractakid]

This is not an interchange station

Yes it is! Change for services to Bletchley. :P

 

[Yew]

I don't see why they need to nanny people to retain their travel documents

I can understand that one, as many parts of the EMT network are unstaffed, so people may be used to throwing their ticket in the bin on the way out the train. And despite the fact they have finished travelling on the railway, the law doesnt agree.

 

[AlexS]

I wouldn't recommend wearing earplugs to avoid announcements, even though I can appreciate they are annoying. You'll wind up missing something important like them telling you the train is changing it's stopping pattern.

I have people complaining they've missed their trains all the time because they have Ipods etc ratcheted right up and miss platform alteration announcements. Other than a direction to the next service they get no sympathy, particularly on advance tickets. The auto announcer will play it at least twice, we sometimes supplement with a manual announcement if there's someone in the office near the microphone and I walk up and down and shout a couple of times.

If someone is still sat there staring vacantly with music blasting out they get left to it.

 

[bunnahabhain]

Would anybody prefer the classic Central Trains style announcement of a very muffled, barely audible station name and nothing else as you grind to a halt? Sadly there are some people still present on the network who do this, it bugs me.

 

[Flamingo]

I'm sure I read that FGW are culling them, or reducing them at least.

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Yep, we've been told to cut them right back. It's great! "This is the train to Z, calling at X and Y", and "We are now arriving at X" pretty much sums it up these days, and the compulsory Transec announcements every 30 minutes (or ever second stop, on average).

 

[Mugby]

One thing I notice regularly with EMT on London trains awaiting departure from Sheffield is that the announcements always begin with a threat. Please ensure you have the correct ticket / reservation for this train otherwise you will have to pay again and you will be charged the full standard fare.

What a way to welcome passengers, EMT staff seem to do it with much more relish than other TOC's.

 

[stephy]

Yes it is! Change for services to Bletchley. :P

Lol ok
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

One thing I notice regularly with EMT on London trains awaiting departure from Sheffield is that the announcements always begin with a threat. Please ensure you have the correct ticket / reservation for this train otherwise you will have to pay again and you will be charged the full standard fare.

What a way to welcome passengers, EMT staff seem to do it with much more relish than other TOC's.

So true, they always say it a million times, also when the train has left! It just seems like a really smug service IMO. I do like them better than some but the announcements are out of control. I do not need to told 5 times that I can't sit on the seat in the aisle outside a 1st carriage 'as you will be charged a first class fare, ONCE AGAIN...'

 

[Goatboy]

Yep, we've been told to cut them right back. It's great! "This is the train to Z, calling at X and Y", and "We are now arriving at X" pretty much sums it up these days, and the compulsory Transec announcements every 30 minutes (or ever second stop, on average).

I don't really get the Transec thing. If they are compulsory (And I don't doubt thats what you've been told so don't worry, I'm not saying you are telling fibs!) why do XC not make them?

 

[Qwerty133]

I also don't need to be reminded that it is the train manager talking or what day of the week it is, and I definitely don't need to be told that the train is busy- I can work that, out myself.

 

[rmt4ever]

One good thing about DOO though. No announcements except auto ones (if turned on/installed)

Of course we have the other extreme too.. Chiltern who seem to have adopted the policy of scrapping announcements altogether, including letting people know what platform trains actually depart from

 

[bb21]

One thing I notice regularly with EMT on London trains awaiting departure from Sheffield is that the announcements always begin with a threat. Please ensure you have the correct ticket / reservation for this train otherwise you will have to pay again and you will be charged the full standard fare.

What a way to welcome passengers, EMT staff seem to do it with much more relish than other TOC's.

Maybe that's because they are required to do these announcements by the company rather than staff actually relishing in doing it?

 

[CallySleeper]

Would anybody prefer the classic Central Trains style announcement of a very muffled, barely audible station name and nothing else as you grind to a halt? Sadly there are some people still present on the network who do this, it bugs me.

This is still prevalent in old CT land, e.g. the Robin Hood and Grantham lines.

But seriously, somebody ship RJ into this thread!

 

[Kettledrum]

One thing I notice regularly with EMT on London trains awaiting departure from Sheffield is that the announcements always begin with a threat. Please ensure you have the correct ticket / reservation for this train otherwise you will have to pay again and you will be charged the full standard fare.

What a way to welcome passengers, EMT staff seem to do it with much more relish than other TOC's.

The presumption appears to be that all the customers are potential criminals and we'll treat you as such. My company regularly pay £150+ a trip for me to travel with East Midlands trains, but I am never made to feel like a valued customer.

 

[Starmill]

If you think you've got overkill, there is one Manchester Tram Driver - I'm convinced he's absconded from London Underground with his announcements, because he makes "Mind the closing doors please!" ones, and most of them have mic-phobia. It actually phases the passengers a bit, they must think the doors are broken or something! He also quotes the line colours which are not used by staff nor passengers anywhere, ever, except this one driver. He's one step away from "Mind the gap!" when there isn't one!!!

 

[Lockwood]

I miss the good old days of announcements...
"This service is for *muffled*. The next station will be *muffled*"

 

[northwichcat]

Saw 'Mock The Week: Travel' the other week when they had a topic of things you wouldn't hear at a railway station. One response was:

"I'm about to get off the train. Now should I take my personal possessions with me or leave them on the train? If only there was an announcement to tell me."

 

[Tibbs]

Maybe that's because they are required to do these announcements by the company rather than staff actually relishing in doing it?

It's not so much what they say as the way they say it. I travelled on EMT a few times last year and whilst they all did the announcements, one guard did the announcement with some obvious relish that anyone without the right ticket woud be charged an anytime fare.

Maybe he was behind on his rent?

 

[asylumxl]

To the original poster, one day you'll be wearing headphones or simply phase out the announcements and I for one won't be sympathetic when you end up locked in a train at Derby Etches Park :P.

 

[stephy]

that's never going to happen, im not against announcements per se im against the unnecessary ones while we're dwelling, and when we've just left. and just all the bumpf!