"Too much information?"

[Beveridges]

Trans Pennine are the worst around here. Their monotonous automated announcements do my head in. They go on way too much.

At least their trains only stop at a limited number of stops. Imagine if Northern had the same automated announcement system that went off every 5 minutes with all the stops they have, it would drive me really mad, as it would literally never shut up.

Give me a Northern 156 any day over a TPE 185. Much more pleasant journey, even though 156's have an incredibly loud thunderous engine, but thats a different topic altogether.

 

[455driver]

Once when I was a guard I made the safety announcement as-

"In the unlikely event of a serious incident please feel free to run round like a headless chicken totally ignoring the safety information you havent bothered to read, I know what to do, do you?"

Some passengers did say that it had prompted them to read the info for the first time ever but Management were not best pleased and I would have to stick to the script in future!

 

[Beveridges]

Some passengers did say that it had prompted them to read the info for the first time ever but Management were not best pleased and I would have to stick to the script in future!

Thats because more often than not management have no sense of humour at all

 

[jon0844]

I am sure some do have a sense of humour but there are strict rules on what has to be said in regards to safety announcements.

I suppose you'd need to do the required safety brief and could then add a remark afterwards? But then you'd be back to making it unnecessarily long!

 

[pinguini]

'Please familiarise yourself with the safety instructions found by the exits'. Yes, let's get the whole Pendolino stood up and go to the doors and read the safety instructions and surely that is not a safety hazard

 

[PHILIPE]

ATW have one that I have not heard from any other TOC. "Will customers please place litter in the bins provided on trains and stations". Tjhis is somewhat frustating when you hear it on approaching Cardiff Central - there are no bins there. A prime example of telling the terrorists you've got us worried. If a terrorist wanted to set off a bomb on a station they would find somewhere, bins or no bins. Bristol Temple Meads is still binless.
A couple of years agi, I was travelling back from West Wales to Cardiff on a Saturday when due to Engineering work taking place, buses were operating between Newport and Hereford. The on board system announced the train as a train to Newport but no mention of having to change to a bus for forward travel towards Manchester. This is the sort of thing passengers WANT to hear and of use to them. ATW assume that all passengers have checked their service through Journey Planner/Ticket purchse etc.

 

[tepr]

Class 458s Waterloo - Reading: "the door buttons are now activated". About five seconds after the doors are usually already open.

 

[PaxVobiscum]

Now that I come to think about it, I've never heard ANY announcements on the Caley Sleeper. I'm not even sure if it is wired up for PA.

Perhaps that's one of the reasons I like it - if the train staff want you to know something, one of them comes and tells you nicely in person.

 

[PHILIPE]

I should hope you don't hear them on the Caley Sleeper otherwisw it wouldn't be a Sleeper.

 

[jon0844]

'Please take the time to read the safety notices posted throughout the train' every 30 minutes would be slightly annoying on a sleeper.

 

[PR1Berske]

"Smoking is not permitted anywhere on this station, including platforms, toilets and the station forecourt. Anybody found smoking is liable to be fined."

It's scary I can type that from memory, having heard it so often. What's wrong, "...only" woman, with "Smoking is illegal anywhere on this station", I wonder?

 

[Flamingo]

Mind you, one very good reason to drop announcements is that nobody listens to them. Every time I am on a train that is either a "platform swap" from it's usual one leaving Paddington at peak time, or having "Not to call" orders issued for some reason, I run a mental sweepstake of how many people will have ignored the announcement and wonder why they have just gone through their station or on an unfamiliar line going in the wrong direction. Usually, it's in the vicinity of 1-2% (three to six on a full HST).

 

[Captain Chaos]

Mind you, one very good reason to drop announcements is that nobody listens to them. Every time I am on a train that is either a "platform swap" from it's usual one leaving Paddington at peak time, or having "Not to call" orders issued for some reason, I run a mental sweepstake of how many people will have ignored the announcement and wonder why they have just gone through their station or on an unfamiliar line going in the wrong direction. Usually, it's in the vicinity of 1-2% (three to six on a full HST).

And I'd wager at least 80% of them were listening to their music. As a woman once said to me when we ran non-stop once: 'I was listening to my iPod! I couldn't hear your announcement! You should have come up and told me! I'm going to be late now! I hold you completely responsible!'

 

[Flamingo]

I'm sure I've mentioned the time I was dealing with somebody with the same complaint (Headphones on, missed stations he needed to change at despite announcements) who shouted at me -"I'm the customer here, are you trying to tell me this is MY fault?", to which my colleague placatingly replied "Of course not sir - we're just telling you it's not ours."

 

[PR1Berske]

I'm sure I've mentioned the time I was dealing with somebody with the same complaint (Headphones on, missed stations he needed to change at despite announcements) who shouted at me -"I'm the customer here, are you trying to tell me this is MY fault?", to which my colleague placatingly replied "Of course not sir - we're just telling you it's not ours."

Haha, that is quite good actually. Not often I support staff being sharp with passengers though

 

[PHILIPE]

"Smoking is not permitted anywhere on this station, including platforms, toilets and the station forecourt. Anybody found smoking is liable to be fined."

It's scary I can type that from memory, having heard it so often. What's wrong, "...only" woman, with "Smoking is illegal anywhere on this station", I wonder?

Not necessary, there are Notices displayed on stations and trains. This type of notice is good enough for anybody else except in the Railway Industry.

 

[Goatboy]

Not necessary, there are Notices displayed on stations and trains. This type of notice is good enough for anybody else except in the Railway Industry.

Why do we even need notices? It is a criminal offence to smoke in an enclosed public place. There are no signs saying 'Assault is not permitted on this train' nor are there signs advising people that theft isn't allowed either, so why constant smoking announcements?

 

[stourboy]

The most pointless bit has to be saying how many coaches every train has. Utterly redundant and pointless to every passenger; it gets so irritating especially at Stourbridge Junction where for every train to the Town it says "this train is formed of 1 coach"...everyone knows...no-one cares...

Which marketing graduate dreamt that one up at head office?

 

[maniacmartin]

Why do we even need notices? It is a criminal offence to smoke in an enclosed public place. There are no signs saying 'Assault is not permitted on this train' nor are there signs advising people that theft isn't allowed either, so why constant smoking announcements?

During the smoking legilstion introduced a few years ago, where smoking was banned in indoor public spaces, part of it made it a legal requirement for owners of restaurants, shops offices etc to display no smoking signs. (Crazy as it sounds - they also have to display a no smoking logo that conforms to certain colour and artistic requirements).

I believe that this legislation covers the railways too, and seem to recall that London Underground has an enshrined exemption to have No Smoking Roundels rather than the usual no smoking sign.

 

[tsr]

The most pointless bit has to be saying how many coaches every train has. Utterly redundant and pointless to every passenger; it gets so irritating especially at Stourbridge Junction where for every train to the Town it says "this train is formed of 1 coach"...everyone knows...no-one cares...

Which marketing graduate dreamt that one up at head office?

Welcome to the Forums!

It's not pointless at stations where there are various places where you may stand for trains of varying lengths. For example, trains at my local station may be anything from 2 to 12 coaches long (admittedly not all on the same route). Therefore, passengers know to stand all along the platform for a 12-coach train but not for a 4-coach one. It is also helpful to know where there may be coaches with added bike parking (on some trains), where there may be more room to sit, and so on. I will use an example which is local to me: on a 377, there is a bike parking area by the disabled toilet. If the train is 4 coaches long, there's just one of these. However, with 8 or 12 coaches, you'll find two further areas. Moving down the platform to a further part of the train would be useful to access these areas, but passengers shouldn't be made to rush down the platform with bikes when an 8-coach train pulls up at the last minute!

A Parry People Mover is obviously the only regular passenger stock on the Stourbridge Town branch, so the announcement is redundant there. However, there have been cases where trains have been reduced from as many as 10 coaches to as few as 1 coach in one go (this happened on a GA route recently), so some passengers may well want to know what class of train and what length to expect.

All in all, it's a useful announcement in many cases - just not for the PPMs at Stourbridge Junction!

 

[jon0844]

The most pointless bit has to be saying how many coaches every train has. Utterly redundant and pointless to every passenger; it gets so irritating especially at Stourbridge Junction where for every train to the Town it says "this train is formed of 1 coach"...everyone knows...no-one cares...

Which marketing graduate dreamt that one up at head office?

But at a station with 3, 4, 6, 8 or 12 car trains it is rather useful unless you want everyone standing at the same set of doors (which of course they will anyway!).

 

[corfield]

The constant XC in-train announcements about their food offerings are incredibly annoying. Far more so than the gentle and soothing sound and vibrations of the underfloor engines... :roll:

Especially as on the last one I went on, the girl/lady making them appeared to be either a) unable to read her script or b) unable to cuff it, with loads of corrections and pauses.

I also found East Coast constantly going on about validity of tickets on a (early afternoon) service to Grantham (disappointingly an HST, as never been on a Mk4 and hoped that trip would finally see me in one !) - which is fine except that appeared to be only about 5 of us on the entire train !


Today on LUL at High Street Kensington we had the genius of station announcements (at 1 to 1.5 min intervals) saying how apart from planned engineering work there were no absolutely no problems, the first one drowning out the train driver of my Circle (Westbound) line train explaining (after sitting in the station for several minutes longer than normal, and after very long dwell times at preceding stops) that "this line is now out of service" (sic "line", although I think he meant his particular train as that part of the Circle was otherwise OK I believe) and why, plus what to do (easy, give up on the blasted tube and walk !).

 

[dvboy]

Departure board at Stourbridge Town is two pages long and shows the next 6 trains to Stourbridge Junction, as "a London Midland service consisting of 1 coach", taking up three lines.

Surely all that station needs is a "All trains to Stourbridge Junction, next in X minutes" display?

 

[scotsman]

Having spent seven and a half hours on TPE today, can I just say that their announcement level is about spot on!

 

[LE Greys]

Departure board at Stourbridge Town is two pages long and shows the next 6 trains to Stourbridge Junction, as "a London Midland service consisting of 1 coach", taking up three lines.

Surely all that station needs is a "All trains to Stourbridge Junction, next in X minutes" display?

That's the problem with any 'one size fits all' system. This might have to cover Worcester Shrub Hill or Birmingham New Street (for all I know) and they just blithely tried to cover Stourbridge Town the same way. Lymington Pier has to use the same boards as Clapham Junction as well, and they have the same problem (with the possible exception of the last train of the day back to the depot).

 

[stourboy]

But at a station with 3, 4, 6, 8 or 12 car trains it is rather useful unless you want everyone standing at the same set of doors (which of course they will anyway!).

That was my point really; in my experience the general public do not take note or take any different action as a result of being told how many coaches the train has.

It is certainly redundant at Stourbridge Junction, but I will admit it is quite useful for the EMT and XC trains that I use that can vary from 9/10 to 4 coaches; so if I don't have a seat reservation I can then decide whether it is quite important or absolutely vital to guess where the doors will stop exactly when the train pulls in we of the forum might find it interesting/useful but I just don't think the general public will find it that informative.

 

[John07]

My pet hate is regarding the departure boards. They show the trains and platforms etc. But as you are taking in the information and working out which platform to go for, the information is replaced by a moronic message telling you to take all your possessions or similar. This message stays on the board for seemingly an eternity before the departure information returns. I missed a train at Motherwell last year because of this.

Keep the departure boards for departure information.

 

[Starmill]

My pet hate is regarding the departure boards. They show the trains and platforms etc. But as you are taking in the information and working out which platform to go for, the information is replaced by a moronic message telling you to take all your possessions or similar. This message stays on the board for seemingly an eternity before the departure information returns. I missed a train at Motherwell last year because of this.

Keep the departure boards for departure information.

Could not agree more. 'Special Notices' about doors closing and stuff are one annyoing thing to have covering up departures information - but in the case of Northern, where its marketing info in the way? Infuriating!!!

 

[dvboy]

I cant remember the last time i saw the arrivals board at WVH actually listing arrivals

 

[londonbridge]

I forget the reason but one of the funniest announcements I've ever heard was when I was waiting at Clapham Junction and the train was reduced to TWO coaches. As it came in the announcer said "I must apologise for the ridiculous length of this train which is due to...." He then went on to say that customers travelling to certain stations would probably find it easier to wait for the next train, but of course everyone tried to pile into the two coaches.