Information phrases which grate

[The exile]

“The next train at platform 1 is the 12:34 to xyz” when the staff info screens have clearly been showing that the route has been set into platform 2 for several minutes.

 

[norbitonflyer]

"Please stand clear, this train is not scheduled to stop here", when you know that the train IS scheduled to stop here, but is skip-stopping.

"This train is cancelled due to congestion", when the cancellation is causing the crowded platform you are waiting on to become even more congested.

(long list of stations, ending with) "due to arrive at [final station] at xx.xx". This suggests that the intermediate stations are an irrelevance, or even a nuisance, to the operators who just want to get the train from one end of the line to the other. (See also the practice of skipstopping busy stations to get to the terminus on time). The time of arrival of the terminus is particularly irrelevant on a stopping service on a line where there are faster trains to the same place-e.g the Waterloo-Guildford stoppers - any passenger for Guildford should be on a Portsmouth or Haslemere service. On leaving Waterloo, there should only be two people on the train who are going all the way to Guildford - one of them is making the announcement, and the other is driving the thing.

 

[Bob M]

"The next station is Southampton Airport Parkway. Change here for Southampton Airport."

Apart from the tautology, no, you get off and walk a few yards.

 

[317666]

"This service has been cancelled due to waiting for a train crew member."

It isn't waiting for them if it's been cancelled!

 

[davetheguard]

See it, say it, sorted.

You beat me to it.

Then there's "Please take care when stepping down from the train to the platform" - I always think: well, I managed to successfully get on board the train without an assisting announcement, why should getting off be any different?

Perhaps one of these days the Guard will helpfully add "and please don't forget to breathe."

 

[CaptainHaddock]

What a bunch of pedants we are!

The most grating one for me is "we are now approaching <whatever> station". as technically, unless the train has changed direction we have been approaching <whatever> station ever since we set off!

 

[The exile]

What a bunch of pedants we are!

The most grating one for me is "we are now approaching <whatever> station". as technically, unless the train has changed direction we have been approaching <whatever> station ever since we set off!

That had never occurred to me - but it will grate from now on!

 

[gg1]

Woking (again) during disruption. No trains, big crowds, information boards blank.

Voice gravitas on the PA "May I have your attention, please ".

The hubbub goes silent.

"... Please keep your belongings with you at ALL times ...".

Yes!

Similarly "This is an important announcement" followed by something which clearly isn't.

 

[Javelin_55]

Now that it's been mentioned above, one of mine is "skip stopping" (although not one usually heard by the public). It makes sense, but my brain won't let it go and insists on switching it around to "stop skipping".

Also, "due a problem currently under investigation". From a passenger point of view, not much more helpful than nothing in my opinion.

 

[Horizon22]

I used to hate it when they said "This is due to operating difficulties"

“Operational incident”.

I too am never a fan of this. However this is normally when a delay is caused essentially by someone seriously messing up - usually a driver (SPAD, stop short, wrong side door release etc.), or signaller (wrong routing etc.) Arguably you don’t want to broadcast “due to driver error” as that opens a whole can of worms!

You can adjust it slightly “signalling problems” or “a fault on the train” but it’s not exactly truthful or correct. Not sure what the best approach is other than keeping it deliberately vague.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 16 Dec 2021 ==

Also, "due a problem currently under investigation". From a passenger point of view, not much more helpful than nothing in my opinion.

Fine if it’s literally just happened and nobody is sure - worse if it’s still the delay reason 30 minutes later. That’s just laziness to update the delay reason.

 

[High Dyke]

The gripe I have is that frontline staff are trained in the phonetic alphabet and spoken numbers. So why do announcements about contacting BTP say "call six-one-(letter) O-one-six", instead of "six-one-zero-one-six"?

 

[Horizon22]

The gripe I have is that frontline staff are trained in the phonetic alphabet and spoken numbers. So why do announcements about contacting BTP say "call six-one-(letter) O-one-six", instead of "six-one-zero-one-six"?

I presume you mean manual announcements then? All the automated ones I’m fairly sure say “zero”

Edit: now that I’ve said both in my head you’ve really caused me to doubt myself!

 

[High Dyke]

I presume you mean manual announcements then? All the automated ones I’m fairly sure say “zero”

Some. The guard, of the train I'm currently on, has done the announcement both ways, so no consistency. I'm sure that LNER Azuma auto-announcements say the letter O and not zero.

 

[Horizon22]

“The next train at platform 1 is the 12:34 to xyz” when the staff info screens have clearly been showing that the route has been set into platform 2 for several minutes.

Until a train clears a certain berth / TD point, the CIS literally doesn’t know the platform will be changed from the base timetable. If it’s a station where somebody has access to the CIS then it can be done proactively. If not wait for “this is a platform alteration…”

 

[The exile]

Until a train clears a certain berth / TD point, the CIS literally doesn’t know the platform will be changed from the base timetable. If it’s a station where somebody has access to the CIS then it can be done proactively. If not wait for “this is a platform alteration…”

This prompts the question “why”. These staff info screens are in public view and there are plenty of people who use them - who are therefore slowly learning that the public information is not to be trusted.It’s even worse when two CIS screens on the same platform show contradictory information over a prolonged period of time ( ie not just the “refresh time lag “)

 

[Dai Corner]

I presume you mean manual announcements then? All the automated ones I’m fairly sure say “zero”

Edit: now that I’ve said both in my head you’ve really caused me to doubt myself!

It's always been 'oh' rather than 'zero' in the telephony world hasn't it?

Similarly, nobody says 'the zero five zero two train to .....'

 

[Horizon22]

This prompts the question “why”. These staff info screens are in public view and there are plenty of people who use them - who are therefore slowly learning that the public information is not to be trusted.It’s even worse when two CIS screens on the same platform show contradictory information over a prolonged period of time ( ie not just the “refresh time lag “)

Why? The CIS software is now fairly old and isn’t fully in sync with signalling software (other than the berths that I mentioned). It can do crude things like add delays if trains don’t move but routing isn’t a strong suit (nor something it was built for) - it needs manual intervention at that point.

What screens are you referring to, Tiger? Or some sort of track mapping? Ultimately a map will always be better than a CIS because you can see it in advance once a signaller has put a berth in and you can see trains “routed in”.

 

[Dai Corner]

Why? The CIS software is now fairly old and isn’t fully in sync with signalling software (other than the berths that I mentioned). It can do crude things like add delays if trains don’t move but routing isn’t a strong suit (nor something it was built for) - it needs manual intervention at that point.

What screens are you referring to, Tiger? Or some sort of track mapping? Ultimately a map will always be better than a CIS because you can see it in advance once a signaller has put a berth in and you can see trains “routed in”.

I remember on a previous commute the CIS announcing a platform alteration for a particular train every day. Presumably the CIS has been programmed (from timetable data?) for one platform and didn't realise until the signalling system told it that it would arrive at a different one. Regular travellers got used to it and avoided a last minute dash.

 

[Horizon22]

I remember on a previous commute the CIS announcing a platform alteration for a particular train every day. Presumably the CIS has been programmed (from timetable data?) for one platform and didn't realise until the signalling system told it that it would arrive at a different one. Regular travellers got used to it and avoided a last minute dash.

Pretty much. As I said above, unless it’s proactively changed then it will be last minute depending on where the arrival TD/berth is for the specific platform.

Larger multi-platforms will probably have someone who can oversee the CIS (although perhaps not all the time), whilst others don’t.

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

At least the railway doesn't use the deathless airline announcement for delay to your flight "due to the late arrival of the incoming aircraft".
Thus apparently giving you an "explanation" for the delay, but betraying no hint of the real reason, or any regret or liability.
But at least you have EC 261/2004 on your side (or UK equivalent) for extended delays.

 

[SargeNpton]

You beat me to it.

Then there's "Please take care when stepping down from the train to the platform" - I always think: well, I managed to successfully get on board the train without an assisting announcement, why should getting off be any different?

Perhaps one of these days the Guard will helpfully add "and please don't forget to breathe."

Useful warning though at those stations where the step down is excessive and the passenger might assume that the gap is the same as at the station where they boarded. Even more so if it's a badly-lit platform at night.

 

[wobman]

Useful warning though at those stations where the step down is excessive and the passenger might assume that the gap is the same as at the station where they boarded. Even more so if it's a badly-lit platform at night.

Especially useful at stations such a Earlestown, the gap between the train and platform is big.

 

[Gloster]

Back in the early days of my railway career in the late 1970s I had to do platform announcements at times. I was told always to give a reason for the delay, even if you had no idea if it was accurate, on the basis that passengers preferred it if they felt they were being kept informed, rather than just being told the train was late, full stop. Which was why one passenger might think the train was late due to a signalling problem and another that it was due to a staff shortage.

 

[Mat17]

"Station stop". One or the other, but not both, you bells.

I don't find that a problem. To my mind it simply means the next time the train stops and there's a station there. The train could of course get stopped before it gets into the station, signals, junctions etc. Which are stops, just not a station stop.

 

[SirAlf]

Can't let this thread go without the classic announcements heard by the great Reggie Perrin

11 minutes late, staff difficulties, Hampton Wick
11 minutes late, signal failure at Vauxhall
11 minutes late, staff shortages, Nine Elms
11 minutes late, derailment of container truck, Raynes Park
11 minutes late, seasonal manpower shortages, Clapham Junction
11 minutes late, defective junction box, New Malden
11 minutes late, overheated axle at Berrylands
11 minutes late, defective axle at Wandsworth
11 minutes late, somebody had stolen the lines at Surbiton
17 minutes late, defective bogey at Earlsfield
17 minutes late, water seeping through the cables at Effingham Junction – there was a lot of Effingham and a good deal of Blindingham!
22 minutes late, black ice at Norbiton
22 minutes late, obstacles on the line at Berrylands
22 minutes late, badger ate a junction box at New Malden
22 minutes late, fed up by train delays, came by bike. Slow puncture at Peckham
22 minutes late, escaped puma, Chessington North

If you don't understand these then you weren't brought up properly

 

[Horizon22]

Back in the early days of my railway career in the late 1970s I had to do platform announcements at times. I was told always to give a reason for the delay, even if you had no idea if it was accurate, on the basis that passengers preferred it if they felt they were being kept informed, rather than just being told the train was late, full stop. Which was why one passenger might think the train was late due to a signalling problem and another that it was due to a staff shortage.

That would be very much discouraged now; yes having a reason is better than not, but conversely making up an inaccurate/false reason is worse than not having one.

As an aside to the thread, in general this is an enthusiasts forum (in the main). Many more casual passengers find announcements that might appear mundane to be quite useful as well as assisting those with visual issues.

 

[davetheguard]

Especially useful at stations such a Earlestown, the gap between the train and platform is big.

I agree at stations were the gap or step is larger than normal. But at every station? I don't think so, it just adds to all the verbal diarrhea you have to put up with on a train journey these days, with the result that many just "switch off" and don't listen at all.

 

[ComUtoR]

I agree at stations were the gap or step is larger than normal. But at every station? I don't think so, it just adds to all the verbal diarrhea you have to put up with on a train journey these days, with the result that many just "switch off" and don't listen at all.

Maybe every station does have a larger gap ?

 

[GordonT]

Sometimes you can get several for the price of one. "We are now arriving into 'X'". " 'X' will be our next station stop". "Please remember to take all your *personal* belongings with you".

 

[O L Leigh]

The gripe I have is that frontline staff are trained in the phonetic alphabet and spoken numbers. So why do announcements about contacting BTP say "call six-one-(letter) O-one-six", instead of "six-one-zero-one-six"?

Oh lorks!!!

"You can contact the bravo tango papa"...? [facepalm]