Station Announcements

[D_Sims97]

Do you know when the announcements on some stattions go like
"District Line the train now approaching is to Upminster please stand back from the platform edge"
who is that?

also on the Edgware Road branch of the Circle & District line

there is an announcement that goes
"the next train to leave or arrive (one of those) Plaform 4 will arrive in 4 Minutes it will be a district line train calling all stations to Wimbledon

who is that also?
if anyone has any answers on their names that would be much appreciated!
Thanks!

 

[sharpinf]

Do you know when the announcements on some stattions go like
"District Line the train now approaching is to Upminster please stand back from the platform edge"
who is that?

also on the Edgware Road branch of the Circle & District line

there is an announcement that goes
"the next train to leave or arrive (one of those) Plaform 4 will arrive in 4 Minutes it will be a district line train calling all stations to Wimbledon

who is that also?
if anyone has any answers on their names that would be much appreciated!
Thanks!

Believe it is Elinor Hamilton for the 1st set at least, there are a sample of her annoucements here

Not familiar enough with Edgware Road but possibly Emma Hignett? Again a sample here

 

[D_Sims97]

Believe it is Elinor Hamilton for the 1st set at least, there are a sample of her annoucements here

Not familiar enough with Edgware Road but possibly Emma Hignett? Again a sample here

thanks! I'll take a look

 

[ken12345]

Good to know

 

[richardcoughla]

Believe it is Elinor Hamilton for the 1st set at least, there are a sample of her annoucements here

Not familiar enough with Edgware Road but possibly Emma Hignett? Again a sample here

Emma Hignett dose the announcements on the busses Overground and Elizabeth Line. I don't think she dose any for the underground.?

 

[BJames]

Do you know when the announcements on some stattions go like
"District Line the train now approaching is to Upminster please stand back from the platform edge"
who is that?

also on the Edgware Road branch of the Circle & District line

there is an announcement that goes
"the next train to leave or arrive (one of those) Plaform 4 will arrive in 4 Minutes it will be a district line train calling all stations to Wimbledon

who is that also?
if anyone has any answers on their names that would be much appreciated!
Thanks!

I believe the second example you give is also Elinor Hamilton but it is a newer version. See here:

 

[nationalrail]

All of the station platform announcements on the London Underground are voiced by Elinor Hamilton (except for the "Mind The Gap" announcements and various other safety announcements which Phil Sayer voices instead) but different stations have different scripts.

The stations that are managed by JNP use this format (voiced by Elinor Hamilton):

~Next Train Announcement~
• "Central Line. The next train to Epping will arrive in one minute."

~Approaching Train Announcement~
• "Central Line. The train now approaching is to Epping. Please stand back from the platform edge."

The stations that are managed by BCV and SSL use this format (voiced by Elinor Hamilton):

~Next Train Announcement~
• "The next train will arrive in one minute. It will be a Central Line service calling at all stations to Epping."

~Approaching Train Announcement~
• "The next train will be a Central Line service calling at all stations to Epping. Please stand behind the yellow line as the train approaches. Use the full length of the platform. And let customers off the train first."

So which format depends on the station but it is indeed Elinor Hamilton who voices both.

However up until 2018 there were two other voices.

Pauline Cavilla (who also did the Southeastern station announcements from the early 2000s until 2012) voiced the announcements at all Bakerloo Line and Central Line managed stations.

The scripts for her announcements were as follows:

~Next Train Announcement~
• "Ladies and gentlemen. The next train will arrive in one minute. It will be a Central Line service calling at all stations to Epping."

~Approaching Train Announcement~
• "Ladies and gentlemen. The next train will be a Central Line service calling at all stations to Epping. Ladies and gentlemen. Please stand behind the yellow line as the train approaches. Use the full length of the platform. And let customers off the train first."

I always really liked her announcements. She was my favourite announcer. I thought she had a good voice for announcements. When i lived next to a Southeastern station i used to hear her announcements a lot there too and always liked them. My guess is that TFL were not happy the "Ladies and gentleman" part of her automated announcements and rather than getting her to record new ones they just decided in 2018 to switch all of the Bakerloo Line and Central Line stations to Elinor Hamilton instead.

The other announcer who was used up until 2018 was Henrietta Bass who i also really liked. She had a good voice too. She was only heard at Victoria Line stations. Her announcements were never used anywhere other than the Victoria Line stations.

So after 2018 when they got rid of Pauline Cavilla and Henrietta Bass it is now just Elinor Hamilton at all of the stations.

Also at all stations from Queens Park and northwards the automated announcements are controlled by Arriva Rail London and is the standard Amey system used by London Overground which Emma Hignett voices.

 

[U-Bahnfreund]

What are the announcements like for Chiltern Railway services at Metropolitan Line stations?

 

[nationalrail]

What are the announcements like for Chiltern Railway services at Metropolitan Line stations?

There are no announcements for Chiltern Railways services at the Metropolitan Line stations (Harrow On The Hill / Rickmansworth / Chorleywood / Chalfont & Latimer / Amersham). Unfortunately the automated announcements system completely ignores these trains. There are not even any recording for "Chiltern Railways" or "Aylesbury" or "Aylesbury Vale Parkway" or "London Marylebone" etc on their Telent automated announcements system. It is ridiculous as TFL could easily get Elinor Hamilton to do these additional recordings so Chiltern Railways services can be announced. It seems that TFL do not really care as Chiltern Railways are nothing to do with them. I hope they update the system and add these trains eventually.

 

[bluegoblin7]

Bear in mind that at next train information at the top end of the Metropolitan line is a bit ‘finger in the air’ - it’s only relatively recently that there’s even been screens to show trains on. The legacy signalling systems are limited in what information they have and when it is displayed, and this is particularly an issue with Chiltern services - it can’t differentiate between train destinations, for instance.

 

[nationalrail]

Bear in mind that at next train information at the top end of the Metropolitan line is a bit ‘finger in the air’ - it’s only relatively recently that there’s even been screens to show trains on. The legacy signalling systems are limited in what information they have and when it is displayed, and this is particularly an issue with Chiltern services - it can’t differentiate between train destinations, for instance.

The next train information on the platforms of London Underground is very poor compared to National Rail stations. Another thing that i always notice is that the London Underground stations that have more than one platform will display the same trains on the screens of multiple platforms until about thirty seconds before the train arrives. So you do not know which platform the train will arrive at. Examples of this are at Harrow On The Hill where P3 and P4 show the exact same trains and P5 and P6 show the exact same trains. London Underground really needs to improve their information.

 

[rebmcr]

The next train information on the platforms of London Underground is very poor compared to National Rail stations. Another thing that i always notice is that the London Underground stations that have more than one platform will display the same trains on the screens of multiple platforms until about thirty seconds before the train arrives. So you do not know which platform the train will arrive at. Examples of this are at Harrow On The Hill where P3 and P4 show the exact same trains and P5 and P6 show the exact same trains. London Underground really needs to improve their information.

That information isn't available earlier, the signalling is set up to allow late decisions (whether by human or machine).

 

[Mojo]

The next train information on the platforms of London Underground is very poor compared to National Rail stations. Another thing that i always notice is that the London Underground stations that have more than one platform will display the same trains on the screens of multiple platforms until about thirty seconds before the train arrives. So you do not know which platform the train will arrive at. Examples of this are at Harrow On The Hill where P3 and P4 show the exact same trains and P5 and P6 show the exact same trains. London Underground really needs to improve their information.

In many locations service control staff don’t even know the exact position of the trains.

The majority of locations such as Harrow will be sorted when the new signalling system comes on-line.

 

[nationalrail]

That information isn't available earlier, the signalling is set up to allow late decisions (whether by human or machine).

In many locations service control staff don’t even know the exact position of the trains.

The majority of locations such as Harrow will be sorted when the new signalling system comes on-line.

In the working timetable it shows which train is booked in to which platform. So for example at Harrow On The Hill it shows whether a train is booked to use P3 or P4 or whether it is booked to use P5 or P6 etc. So surely they can just display the trains that are booked to use that platform. If it changes at the last minute they can move it to display on the other platform. Surely that would be better than the current system of displaying all of the same trains on different platforms. Good to hear it will be sorted with the new signalling system though.

 

[Mojo]

In the working timetable it shows which train is booked in to which platform. So for example at Harrow On The Hill it shows whether a train is booked to use P3 or P4 or whether it is booked to use P5 or P6 etc. So surely they can just display the trains that are booked to use that platform. If it changes at the last minute they can move it to display on the other platform. Surely that would be better than the current system of displaying all of the same trains on different platforms. Good to hear it will be sorted with the new signalling system though.

Platform numbers are not guaranteed. As per the front of every WTT “Signal Operators can, however, vary routeing and platform working in the best interests of the service.”

It is only relatively recently that live information has become available widely across the sub-surface. Due to the cancellation of the original resignalling contracts and subsequent delays, internal programmers made use of the staff Trackernet system to provide live arrival boards at many stations to enhance information to customers. Due to the limitations of this system and what it was designed for vs what it is being used for now, it does not have details like platform numbers and indeed many trains may be shown that do not exist on the ground, and vice versa it may not show trains when there are trains!

 

[jamesst]

Yeah i have to agree. I've always been a big fan of LU and parts of it put National Rail to shame. Customer information though ie platform screens I've always found very very poor.

 

[bluegoblin7]

In the working timetable it shows which train is booked in to which platform. So for example at Harrow On The Hill it shows whether a train is booked to use P3 or P4 or whether it is booked to use P5 or P6 etc. So surely they can just display the trains that are booked to use that platform. If it changes at the last minute they can move it to display on the other platform. Surely that would be better than the current system of displaying all of the same trains on different platforms. Good to hear it will be sorted with the new signalling system though.

The old system was actually more reliable in this sense - trains wouldn't be shown at all until routed into a platform (or, in the case of trains ex-Uxbridge, once the signaller manually selected a train description). Indeed, this process still takes place to allow other systems to correctly function, but despite suggestions from service control and station staff to revert to the older method until the new signalling is more developed, others (think they) know better.

There is already an element of displaying the timetable on the Harrow DMIs, causing significant grief when a long-cancelled Chesham train (for example) is still being shown as approaching. Service control staff no longer have the ability to clear down the screens (see above) if there are other trains in the back end systems.

I think the best example to demonstrate the before and after is to consider Edgware Road prior to and since September 2019.

 

[xtmw]

Does anyone have any recordings of the voice perfect announcer? I note she is still at Barbican (I think!)

 

[D_Sims97]

thank you everyone for your superb questions and answers
it's really appreciated!

 

[A60stock]

There are no announcements for Chiltern Railways services at the Metropolitan Line stations (Harrow On The Hill / Rickmansworth / Chorleywood / Chalfont & Latimer / Amersham). Unfortunately the automated announcements system completely ignores these trains. There are not even any recording for "Chiltern Railways" or "Aylesbury" or "Aylesbury Vale Parkway" or "London Marylebone" etc on their Telent automated announcements system. It is ridiculous as TFL could easily get Elinor Hamilton to do these additional recordings so Chiltern Railways services can be announced. It seems that TFL do not really care as Chiltern Railways are nothing to do with them. I hope they update the system and add these trains eventually.

Unless something has changed relatively recently, I believe there are no voice announcements (to announce next or approaching trains) at all north of Harrow on the Hill. In fact, I think the first station going into London where trains are announced may actually be Wembley Park. Therefore on the section you reference which are shared with Chiltern, I am sure there are no announcements of Met Line trains either. The visual displays on the Northbound do tell you the destination of the train though. but going South, Chiltern trains are displayed as "Chiltern Railways"

It is rather odd how LU do not make much effort with National rail over their section yet vice versa where the Bakerloo and District run over NR tracks, a full effort is made to integrate LU services into announcements. However, whilst I agree that LU are nowhere near as good as NR with announcements, we must also remember that the Bakerloo and District run over LO territory, which is run by TFL from a visual perspective at least and it would be highly unlikely that announcements would not provide for all services. This means that the Met line is the only line that actually integrates with a "real"** National Rail service where the rolling stock used isn't even electric.

What's my point about whether its "real" NR or LO?.......Well, prior to LO taking over what was ex Silverlink, I do not believe there were any announcements at all for LU or Silverlink trains on the shared sections with the District or Bakerloo (although if there were, please do correct me). It could therefore be said that NR would also not be that bothered about anything which was TFL run****

I have used the section between Moor Park and Harrow my entire life and have never once heard any announcement to do with the next or approaching trains.

**Yes, I know LO is technically an NR service....
****I am aware that more recently, stations such as Richmond announce District line services (although only the destination). Not sure if there are any other examples where a NR station that is non LO owned station does this though.

 

[CarrotPie]

Believe it is Elinor Hamilton for the 1st set at least, there are a sample of her annoucements here

Not familiar enough with Edgware Road but possibly Emma Hignett? Again a sample here

6:44 first video

The Bakerloo line has platform edge doors?

 

[busestrains]

6:44 first video

The Bakerloo line has platform edge doors?

That is just a mistake. It is suppose to say "Please stand back from the platform edge." on all platforms except the Jubilee Line ones with the doors. Only the Jubilee Line ones with the doors are supposed to play "Please stand back from the platform edge doors." instead. So at London Waterloo they got the announcements for the Bakerloo Line and Jubilee Line platforms the wrong way round. I did report this to TFL many months ago so hopefully it is fixed now. I might check tomorrow if i have time as i will be going past there.

 

[busestrains]

All of the station platform announcements on the London Underground are voiced by Elinor Hamilton (except for the "Mind The Gap" announcements and various other safety announcements which Phil Sayer voices instead) but different stations have different scripts.

The stations that are managed by JNP use this format (voiced by Elinor Hamilton):

~Next Train Announcement~
• "Central Line. The next train to Epping will arrive in one minute."

~Approaching Train Announcement~
• "Central Line. The train now approaching is to Epping. Please stand back from the platform edge."

The stations that are managed by BCV and SSL use this format (voiced by Elinor Hamilton):

~Next Train Announcement~
• "The next train will arrive in one minute. It will be a Central Line service calling at all stations to Epping."

~Approaching Train Announcement~
• "The next train will be a Central Line service calling at all stations to Epping. Please stand behind the yellow line as the train approaches. Use the full length of the platform. And let customers off the train first."

So which format depends on the station but it is indeed Elinor Hamilton who voices both.

However up until 2018 there were two other voices.

Pauline Cavilla (who also did the Southeastern station announcements from the early 2000s until 2012) voiced the announcements at all Bakerloo Line and Central Line managed stations.

The scripts for her announcements were as follows:

~Next Train Announcement~
• "Ladies and gentlemen. The next train will arrive in one minute. It will be a Central Line service calling at all stations to Epping."

~Approaching Train Announcement~
• "Ladies and gentlemen. The next train will be a Central Line service calling at all stations to Epping. Ladies and gentlemen. Please stand behind the yellow line as the train approaches. Use the full length of the platform. And let customers off the train first."

I always really liked her announcements. She was my favourite announcer. I thought she had a good voice for announcements. When i lived next to a Southeastern station i used to hear her announcements a lot there too and always liked them. My guess is that TFL were not happy the "Ladies and gentleman" part of her automated announcements and rather than getting her to record new ones they just decided in 2018 to switch all of the Bakerloo Line and Central Line stations to Elinor Hamilton instead.

The other announcer who was used up until 2018 was Henrietta Bass who i also really liked. She had a good voice too. She was only heard at Victoria Line stations. Her announcements were never used anywhere other than the Victoria Line stations.

So after 2018 when they got rid of Pauline Cavilla and Henrietta Bass it is now just Elinor Hamilton at all of the stations.

Also at all stations from Queens Park and northwards the automated announcements are controlled by Arriva Rail London and is the standard Amey system used by London Overground which Emma Hignett voices.

If anyone is interested to know Pauline Cavilla has now reappeared at Notting Hill Gate station recently. She is announcing all the trains on all four platforms there now. Nice to see her announcements return. I suspect it is an error (probably they had updated the CIS system and it reverted back to the old ones) but hopefully TFL will not notice as it is nice to have a variety of announcements.

 

[MaidaVale]

Pretty much all recent announcement additions across TfL services are voiced by either Elinor Hamilton or Emma Hignett. Can't think of any other voiceover artists on any recent projects, apart from possibly the newer '61016' announcements on certain tube lines.

 

[busestrains]

Pretty much all recent announcement additions across TfL services are voiced by either Elinor Hamilton or Emma Hignett. Can't think of any other voiceover artists on any recent projects, apart from possibly the newer '61016' announcements on certain tube lines.

It is mostly Elinor Hamilton and Emma Hignett but there are a few others. Sarah Parnell has recently done the new announcements on the Jubilee Line 1996 stock for Canning Town and North Greenwich stations. Some of the London Overground stations have switched from Emma Hignett to Anne Jermy recently as a result of moving from the Amey system to the Worldline system.

 

[MaidaVale]

Sarah Parnell! I knew I had one missing but for some reason my mind went blank. Yeah the new Jubilee announcements weren't taken too well by some people as they don't fit in at all with the others.

 

[busestrains]

Sarah Parnell! I knew I had one missing but for some reason my mind went blank. Yeah the new Jubilee announcements weren't taken too well by some people as they don't fit in at all with the others.

I am not sure why they did not just get Elinor Hamilton to record them and then modify them to sound more similar to Celia Drummond just like they did with the Northern Line 1995 stock when Battersea Power Station and Nine Elms opened. Although it is not perfect those announcements sound more similar to Celia Drummond than these ones. Sarah Parnell has a very different voice to Celia Drummond so it is more difficult to make those ones sound similar. Both the 1995 stock and 1996 stock use a mixture of so many different voices now so i do wonder if TFL will eventually get someone to record new announcements for these stocks so there is a standard voice for all announcements.

 

[MaidaVale]

I am not sure why they did not just get Elinor Hamilton to record them and then modify them to sound more similar to Celia Drummond just like they did with the Northern Line 1995 stock when Battersea Power Station and Nine Elms opened. Although it is not perfect those announcements sound more similar to Celia Drummond than these ones. Sarah Parnell has a very different voice to Celia Drummond so it is more difficult to make those ones sound similar. Both the 1995 stock and 1996 stock use a mixture of so many different voices now so i do wonder if TFL will eventually get someone to record new announcements for these stocks so there is a standard voice for all announcements.

To be honest as much as I like the Celia announcements a lot, I do think that a complete re-record of the announcements on the Northern, Jubilee, Bakerloo and Central would be very beneficial as it would cut down on mismatched recordings.

On another point, I have just remembered that Julie Berry has recently been used for re-recordings on the Piccadilly line involving Elizabeth Line connections.

 

[busestrains]

To be honest as much as I like the Celia announcements a lot, I do think that a complete re-record of the announcements on the Northern, Jubilee, Bakerloo and Central would be very beneficial as it would cut down on mismatched recordings.

On another point, I have just remembered that Julie Berry has recently been used for re-recordings on the Piccadilly line involving Elizabeth Line connections.

The trains on the Bakerloo and Central lines are all being replaced in the near future so i doubt they will bother to do brand new recordings for those. But the Jubilee and Northern lines ones will last for a while longer so maybe they will redo those. I really like Celia Drummond too and think that she has a great voice for announcements so it would a shame for her voice to go.

It will be interesting to see who they use for the new Piccadilly line trains ones they roll out in a few years. Hopefully they keep Julie Berry and use her on the new ones. Her voice has become well known on this line and she has a good voice for trains.

 

[MaidaVale]

The trains on the Bakerloo and Central lines are all being replaced in the near future so i doubt they will bother to do brand new recordings for those. But the Jubilee and Northern lines ones will last for a while longer so maybe they will redo those. I really like Celia Drummond too and think that she has a great voice for announcements so it would a shame for her voice to go.

It will be interesting to see who they use for the new Piccadilly line trains ones they roll out in a few years. Hopefully they keep Julie Berry and use her on the new ones. Her voice has become well known on this line and she has a good voice for trains.

I'm hoping for Julie Berry, I'm a big advocate for the Piccadilly Line announcements on the 73 stock. As much as I like the Sarah Parnell announcements on the Vic & Sub Surface lines, I'm hoping they don't go for Parnell on the new Picc units as it'll just feel off, Julie Berry is quite relaxed wheras Parnell is quite energetic.