When will excessive announcements cease?

[Malaxa]

Agreed. People being treated like mushrooms (ie kept in the dark and fed you know what) started with them and hasn’t really let up since they left office. I suppose keeping the population fearful and paranoid is attractive to politicians of all hues, as Covid has shown…

“See it. Say it. Sorted”.

It's all about being kept "safe" and malleable by the state. Even when there are no real dangers, the state will create some so that we can be herded and shepherded.
Who needs parents or even common sense when the state, aided by the station and on-board tannoy announcements will look after us? Just walking through Stratford station is to be immersed in this new religion.

 

[trainophile]

Covering their backs so they can't be sued for "well we weren't told".

 

[py_megapixel]

Yes that’s what I was referring to. I’ve no idea how it came to be, however it’s extremely useful.

I think part of the reason it exists is so that departure boards can be shown easily in e.g. pubs close to stations and all that's needed is a display connected to a basic computer with a web browser.

It's all about being kept "safe" and malleable by the state. Even when there are no real dangers, the state will create some so that we can be herded and shepherded.
Who needs parents or even common sense when the state, aided by the station and on-board tannoy announcements will look after us? Just walking through Stratford station is to be immersed in this new religion.

This seems excessively cynical to me. I see no evidence that the purpose of See it, Say it etc. is the same as any other visible police presence: to discourage crime and reassure the public that it is being dealt with (and that they can report it if needed). The announcement may be annoying when heard over and over again, but I don't think any tinfoil hats are needed.

Platform gaps and so forth are genuine dangers. Perhaps indiscriminate and repetitive announcements are not the best way of dealing with it - the ideal solution would be to have rolling stock with sliding steps and adjust platform heights across the country - but the sad reality is that this costs more than sticking an announcement on the system and set it to play a few times an hour, so we're pretty much stuck with it.

 

[bramling]

This seems excessively cynical to me.

One can *never* be too cynical, especially in relation to political institutions! Votes, power and money - three good reasons for cynicism there.

 

[GatwickDepress]

It's all about being kept "safe" and malleable by the state. Even when there are no real dangers, the state will create some so that we can be herded and shepherded.
Who needs parents or even common sense when the state, aided by the station and on-board tannoy announcements will look after us? Just walking through Stratford station is to be immersed in this new religion.

Reads a bit like something David Icke and his followers would spout, to be honest.

 

[bramling]

Reads a bit like something David Icke and his followers would spout, to be honest.

"It’s a communist one party state, we said. We couldn’t get away with it in Europe, we thought… and then Italy did it. And we realised we could."

 

[leytongabriel]

Recent fave - 'Please mind the gap between the gap and the train' Newcastle Central

 

[miklcct]

I'd say that the platform announcement can be as short as:

The [London Overground] train to [Clapham Junction] is approaching. Please stand behind the yellow line.

For reservable service, the train number is added after the world train, and if the train is not an all-station service, the calling points.

For example: The South Western Railway 9151 train to Weymouth & Bournemouth is approaching, calling at Basingstoke, Southampton Parkway and Southampton Central where this train will divide. The front 5 coaches continue to Brockenhurst, Bournemouth, Branksome, Parkstone, Poole, Hamworthy, Wareham, Wool, Dorchester South and Weymouth. The rear 5 coaches continue to Totton and all stations to Bournemouth. Please stand behind the yellow line.

 

[TUC]

There is no substitute for a live, human announcement where the member of staff is thinking what to say and putting intonations into their voice. The conductor on the Northern service I was on yesterday was making her own announcements, and her voice on issues such as warning passengers to take care disembarking at a particular station because 'there's a really big gap' was far more effective than automated announcements giving the message in an even flat voice

 

[Bogallan]

I always stop the infuriating "See it, Say it Etc..." if Digital Doris pipes up with it and I am within reach of a PA set, Well overdue for the chop that one. What is more important is the requirement to inform passengers in good time of platform alterations. I have delayed the train waiting for passengers to transfer from the slow to fast line platforms at Bletchley, Leighton Buzzard, Tring, Berkhamsted, Hemel etc. The automated PA does not able to cope with these alterationss giving passengers perhaps only a minute or so to change platforms. If I can, I try to ring ahead to the Booking Offices to tell them of our imminent arrival on the fast lines so they can make an announcement in good time.

 

[sheff1]

On a northboud Thameslink train today I heard "We are now approaching Redhill. Change here for other National Rail services". I was heading to Sheffield using a National Rail service, should I change at Redhill - of course not. The second sentence provides no useful information to anyone. The same thing happened again at East Croydon.

 

[Mugby]

Sorting out some stuff at home, I came across a copy of 'Today's Railways' dated July 2008. Amongst the contents listed on the cover was an article:
"On-train Announcement Overload". Very interesting reading it was too with some observations which are still very pertinent today:

Please mind the gap between the train and platform edge - Isn't it reasonable to expect that if pax managed to get on safely, they should be able to get off similarly?
Please familiarise yourself with the safety notices at the ends of each coach. - Have you ever seen anyone get up, leave their seat and actually go and read such notices?
A list, sometimes a very long list, of all the places the train will stop at, often repeated twice. - If you are on the wrong train, isn't it a bit late after it's actually left the station?
Pseudo-safety, the "Well we did warn you" variety. Would such a contention really stand up in court?

This was fourteen years ago, when announcement overload was becoming apparent and we haven't got to grips with them yet - will we ever!

 

[CaptainHaddock]

With the advent of mobile technology surely it's not beyond the reach of the rail industry to come up with an app that, along with a set of headphones, visually impaired and nervous people can download to their phones that will enable them to hear all the announcements they need while the rest of us can enjoy our journey in blissful peace and quiet?

 

[D365]

I was on Great Northern's 387102 yesterday evening, the PIS seemed to get stuck north of Huntingdon. It told us three or four times in a row that this was the service to Peterborough.

 

[MadCommuter]

I notice there’s been an increase of announcements regarding the lack of tactile pacing at said (this) stations.

Never used to be any announcements regarding this.

Also at my local station. I'd estimate that there is longer length of station announcements than silence per hour.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 3 Nov 2022 ==

Announcements on trainstations remind me of that scene at the airport drop off in “Airplane”.

The constant noise on a tannoy at trainstations is quite stressful, theres no calm or tranquility. Has anyone done a study in to passenger behaviours at stations that are quieter from announcements ?

I'm sure that the more announcements there are, the less people listen. I think we've lost the balance.

 

[dosxuk]

There is no substitute for a live, human announcement where the member of staff is thinking what to say and putting intonations into their voice. The conductor on the Northern service I was on yesterday was making her own announcements, and her voice on issues such as warning passengers to take care disembarking at a particular station because 'there's a really big gap' was far more effective than automated announcements giving the message in an even flat voice

Unfortunately the vast majority of railway staff are not employed for their voice over skills, and as a result when they decide to make a manual announcement, shout into the microphone, stand in front of a speaker and don't work out what they're going to say until they've started speaking, and then stop to answer their colleagues questions mid announcement.

Add to that the number of stations where the speakers have been turned up to 25 (I suspect because it's cheaper to turn it up than fix the broken ones), which badly distort even the best recordings, and you end up with the audio equivalent of an entire pre-school group playing the drums on kitchen utensils. I suspect that many of the reports of recordings being overly-shouty are actually being caused by distortion in the PA system - which our brain interprets as being too loud - even if the actual message is cleanly recorded and at a sensible volume.

I always stop the infuriating "See it, Say it Etc..." if Digital Doris pipes up with it and I am within reach of a PA set

This is even more infuriating as a passenger - messages being interrupted either means something has broken or something more important is about to be announced. Whenever someone stops an automated announcement, my brain immediately wakes up and starts listening for something like my platform to be altered, my train to have been cancelled or the station needing to be evacuated. If the announcement is just left to play, I'd probably not even notice it.

 

[Mugby]

I'm sure that the more announcements there are, the less people listen. I think we've lost the balance.

Exactly.

I'd love to carry out a test on a random selection of people: Wait 15 seconds or so after the announcements have finished and then ask them to repeat what's been said.
I wonder if any one of them could remember even a single word!

 

[zwk500]

I'm sure that the more announcements there are, the less people listen. I think we've lost the balance.

It's similar to various trials where Road signs were totally removed on quiet country roads, and safety was found to increase as drivers had to actually pay attention and assess the circumstances

Exactly.

I'd love to carry out a test on a random selection of people: Wait 15 seconds or so after the announcements have finished and then ask them to repeat what's been said.
I wonder if any one of them could remember even a single word!

I find it interesting to look how many people take their earphones out or stop their conversation at the chimes. It's a very low number.

 

[miklcct]

On a northboud Thameslink train today I heard "We are now approaching Redhill. Change here for other National Rail services". I was heading to Sheffield using a National Rail service, should I change at Redhill - of course not. The second sentence provides no useful information to anyone. The same thing happened again at East Croydon.

And the "Change for National Rail" announcements on National Rail services operated by TfL where there are no other National Rail services to change to other than those sharing tracks! I can't remember which station it was, apart from that it was spoken on the West London Line where the only other service is the Southern service which also goes to Clapham Junction on the same track!

 

[Parjon]

The sound of that woman's awful fake-sympathetic voice instructing you to say "HI!" in the face of some random grumpy looking person is like nails down a chalkboard.

Also annoying are the on board guards that literally shout repeatedly regarding which tickets are and are NOT valid on this service. I repeat if you have a ticket for another train operating company it is NOT valid on this service and you WILL be required to purchase a new ticket and you WILL be shouted at repeatedly telling you this.

Say it once, fine. But otherwise it's chippy, un-necessary and generally sets the tone for the journey!

 

[185143]

I was at York yesterday briefly and the PA never, literally never, stopped. There were quite a few delayed trains but it seemed to just be constantly reeling off the list, and then repeating it.

And when I was at Exeter on Tuesday, there was an announcement that "This platform has no tactile paving..." on platform 5 as the Paddington train approached. Just one problem... it does!

 

[Parjon]

I wonder if saying a platform doesn't have tactile pavement when it does might also risk causing accidents, by misdescribing the environment.

 

[Parallel]

GWR have got rid of a few announcements. Their stations no longer play the unattended luggage announcements, and at the start of the journey they no longer reel off every safety message known to man via the TrainFX system. Unfortunately the annoying tactile paving announcement I believe was mandated by the DfT. SWR play it every half an hour at their stations, whereas GWR, GN etc play it after every train announcement, which is definitely excessive imo.

 

[leytongabriel]

Ah yes and those annoucements on the Elizabeth line @ Paddington telling your to stand back from the platform edge when you can't get near it.

 

[TUC]

With the advent of mobile technology surely it's not beyond the reach of the rail industry to come up with an app that, along with a set of headphones, visually impaired and nervous people can download to their phones that will enable them to hear all the announcements they need while the rest of us can enjoy our journey in blissful peace and quiet?

If you can't see, why should you be obligated to wear headphones that cut off sound as well as vision just to know when you're approaching your station? If people want total quiet, drive a car. Public transport means being part of the public and so needing to interact with, and take account of, the needs of others.

 

[londonmidland]

With the advent of mobile technology surely it's not beyond the reach of the rail industry to come up with an app that, along with a set of headphones, visually impaired and nervous people can download to their phones that will enable them to hear all the announcements they need while the rest of us can enjoy our journey in blissful peace and quiet?

If this was ever a thing, how would it work?

Like, would it only be accessible if you're within a certain range of a station or would the user be able to access it wherever they are via a radio 'channel' and drop down list, selecting their relevant station?

Lastly, is it even possible to link the P.A system up with a broadcast that everyone can access on their smartphones?

 

[bramling]

Unfortunately the vast majority of railway staff are not employed for their voice over skills, and as a result when they decide to make a manual announcement, shout into the microphone, stand in front of a speaker and don't work out what they're going to say until they've started speaking, and then stop to answer their colleagues questions mid announcement.

Add to that the number of stations where the speakers have been turned up to 25 (I suspect because it's cheaper to turn it up than fix the broken ones), which badly distort even the best recordings, and you end up with the audio equivalent of an entire pre-school group playing the drums on kitchen utensils. I suspect that many of the reports of recordings being overly-shouty are actually being caused by distortion in the PA system - which our brain interprets as being too loud - even if the actual message is cleanly recorded and at a sensible volume.



This is even more infuriating as a passenger - messages being interrupted either means something has broken or something more important is about to be announced. Whenever someone stops an automated announcement, my brain immediately wakes up and starts listening for something like my platform to be altered, my train to have been cancelled or the station needing to be evacuated. If the announcement is just left to play, I'd probably not even notice it.

There’s a fair few LU drivers who press the PA button when the latest DFT see it say it sorted message plays. Well done to them I say.

 

[Via Bank]

GWR have got rid of a few announcements. Their stations no longer play the unattended luggage announcements, and at the start of the journey they no longer reel off every safety message known to man via the TrainFX system. Unfortunately the annoying tactile paving announcement I believe was mandated by the DfT. SWR play it every half an hour at their stations, whereas GWR, GN etc play it after every train announcement, which is definitely excessive imo.

Depressingly predictable that DfT’s answer to missing tactile paving is “play an announcement about missing tactile paving” rather than “install tactile paving,” but oh well.

 

[TUC]

Depressingly predictable that DfT’s answer to missing tactile paving is “play an announcement about missing tactile paving” rather than “install tactile paving,” but oh well.

I agree and also it is the worst of tokenism to give a generic announcement about some platforms not having tactile paving without saying which thry are. It is the art being able to pretend one is doing something about an issue by making n announcement when actually nothing is being done at all.

 

[Neptune]

I was at York yesterday briefly and the PA never, literally never, stopped. There were quite a few delayed trains but it seemed to just be constantly reeling off the list, and then repeating it.

I’m guessing context may well be needed here.

Was this by any chance in the afternoon when there was massive disruption on all but the Harrogate route due to the fatality at Copmanthorpe?

I think during this sort of disruption it’s reasonable to have constant announcements telling people what’s happening as there are people arriving at a station like York for trains all the time.

If it was happening at Church Fenton which was affected by the same disruption at the same time it would be overkill as it’s much quieter there with a much lower amount of passengers arriving at the station.