Why do the London Underground station platform next train automated announcements rarely ever work?

[railwaytrack]

Why do the London Underground station platform announcements that announce the next train almost never work? Why are they so unreliable?

I am in London a couple of times every week and visit all different London Underground stations and there never seems to be more than about 10% of stations that are working at any time. Often it is as high as 90% of all the stations i visit are not working. The next train platform announcements rarely work. It is ridiculous for the capital city to have such a poor announcement system.

The various other announcements such as the Safety Announcements and Corona Virus Announcements and Customer Service Update Announcements normally seem to play fine and are far more reliable. But the actual platform announcements announcing the next train rarely work.

What is going on with these? Is there a serious reliability problem with these? If so why are TFL doing nothing about it as it has been going on for years? Or are staff just forgetting to switch on the systems?

Does anyone know what company exactly provides the London Underground CIS and announcements systems?

Also on another note i see they have replaced the Pauline Cavilla announcements at Bakerloo Line and Central Line stations (i think it happened in 2019 actually) with the standard Elinor Hamilton ones but they have kept the wording the same as the Pauline Cavilla ones before (except with "Ladies and Gentlemen" being removed) so it is now Elinor Hamilton but a completely different wording and format to the Elinor Hamilton announcements at the stations on the other lines.

So are the Bakerloo Line and Central Line stations CIS and announcements systems provided by a different company to all of the other lines?

I have written to TFL about the terrible unreliability of their next train announcements but of course i just get a standard reply apologising and nothing ever happens.

 

[Busaholic]

Why do the London Underground station platform announcements that announce the next train almost never work? Why are they so unreliable?

I am in London a couple of times every week and visit all different London Underground stations and there never seems to be more than about 10% of stations that are working at any time. Often it is as high as 90% of all the stations i visit are not working. The next train platform announcements rarely work. It is ridiculous for the capital city to have such a poor announcement system.

The various other announcements such as the Safety Announcements and Corona Virus Announcements and Customer Service Update Announcements normally seem to play fine and are far more reliable. But the actual platform announcements announcing the next train rarely work.

What is going on with these? Is there a serious reliability problem with these? If so why are TFL doing nothing about it as it has been going on for years? Or are staff just forgetting to switch on the systems?

Does anyone know what company exactly provides the London Underground CIS and announcements systems?

Also on another note i see they have replaced the Pauline Cavilla announcements at Bakerloo Line and Central Line stations (i think it happened in 2019 actually) with the standard Elinor Hamilton ones but they have kept the wording the same as the Pauline Cavilla ones before (except with "Ladies and Gentlemen" being removed) so it is now Elinor Hamilton but a completely different wording and format to the Elinor Hamilton announcements at the stations on the other lines.

So are the Bakerloo Line and Central Line stations CIS and announcements systems provided by a different company to all of the other lines?

I have written to TFL about the terrible unreliability of their next train announcements but of course i just get a standard reply apologising and nothing ever happens.

It's been a few years since I was in London, but are there not still Central London stations where manual announcements are made, particularly at busy times? I'm thinking more of the sub-surface lines, perhaps, but not exclusively e.g. the Central Line.

 

[railwaytrack]

It's been a few years since I was in London, but are there not still Central London stations where manual announcements are made, particularly at busy times? I'm thinking more of the sub-surface lines, perhaps, but not exclusively e.g. the Central Line.

Yes they sometimes have someone on the platforms making manual announcements. However even when i go at quiet times when there is nobody there making manuals announcements i find that the automated announcements still rarely work. Also i often go to quieter stations where there are never any manual announcers and they rarely work there either. I am wondering if perhaps at some busier stations they switch off the automated announcements system to make manual announcements instead and then they keep forgetting to switch it back on when they are done. Maybe that is what is happening at some stations. But that still does not explain the others.

 

[Mojo]

What exactly do you mean by not working? Of the stations that have them, I don't think I've ever noticed them not working before, and I visit numerous stations per day. The only exception being on the Central line, where the displays on the platforms are actually departure boards rather than arrival boards as on the rest of the network (excluding terminus stations), at White City in particular you may have a through service to West Ruislip closely in front of a terminating train, however because the train will be waiting in the platform a bit, it will announce the approaching train as a terminating when in fact it is to West Ruislip, because it is announcing the arrival time of the terminating train, but the departure time of the through train.

 

[railwaytrack]

What exactly do you mean by not working? Of the stations that have them, I don't think I've ever noticed them not working before, and I visit numerous stations per day. The only exception being on the Central line, where the displays on the platforms are actually departure boards rather than arrival boards as on the rest of the network (excluding terminus stations), at White City in particular you may have a through service to West Ruislip closely in front of a terminating train, however because the train will be waiting in the platform a bit, it will announce the approaching train as a terminating when in fact it is to West Ruislip, because it is announcing the arrival time of the terminating train, but the departure time of the through train.

I mean that there is simply no next train announcements at all telling you when the next train is and where the train is going playing on the station platforms. The other announcements like the Safety Announcements and Corona Virus Announcements and Customer Service Update Announcements and Mind The Gap Announcements are far more more reliable and are normally working. But the actual useful announcements announcing the next train rarely work.

Announcements like these ones are suppose to play:

Examples of the, Circle, District, Hammersmith & City, Jubilee, Metropolitan, Northern, Piccadilly, Victoria, Waterloo & City, lines stations:

• "Northern Line. The next train to Morden will arrive in one minute. Next station Balham."

• "Northern Line. The train now approaching is to Morden. Please stand back from the platform edge."

Examples of the, Bakerloo, Central, lines stations:

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

• The next train will be a Central Line 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 passengers off the train first."

But these announcements rarely seem to actually work.

I am in London a few times a week and spend lots of time on the London Underground and lots of time at all different stations and on a good day 75% of stations i visit will have no next train announcements playing and on a bad day it is as high as 90% of stations i visit that are not playing. It is always different stations that are working or are not working.

On the National Rail network the station announcements only fail to play maybe 1% of the time so i have no idea why London Underground can not get their systems working properly. I feel sorry for blind people waiting on the platforms wondering when e the next train is going and how long until it arrives. The onboard automated announcements on London Underground are great and always work so i have idea why the fail to get their station platform ones working properly.

 

[londiscape]

Seems to be line or station dependent. At Tooting Bec both ways is pretty reliable, you always get the "next train to Edgware / High Barnet / Morden will arrive in 2 minutes" followed by the "the train now approaching is to..." etc etc.

But on my regular route from Tooting Bec to either Marylebone or Paddington, I get the Vic from Stockwell to Oxford Circ and often the audibles don't happen on the northbound Bakerloo at Ox Circ, you just get the "STAND BACK TRAIN APPROACHING" on the describers.

Doesn't bother me, but wouldn't be too good for people who can't see the indicators. Generally across TFL would be better if they ditched all the tannoy junk and concentrated instead on service info for benefit of people who can't see so well.

 

[Mojo]

But these announcements rarely seem to actually work.

Most stations don’t actually have this system fitted, as opposed to it not working.

 

[ta-toget]

In Paris, the announcements seem to come out of a metal tube:

 

[railwaytrack]

Seems to be line or station dependent. At Tooting Bec both ways is pretty reliable, you always get the "next train to Edgware / High Barnet / Morden will arrive in 2 minutes" followed by the "the train now approaching is to..." etc etc.

But on my regular route from Tooting Bec to either Marylebone or Paddington, I get the Vic from Stockwell to Oxford Circ and often the audibles don't happen on the northbound Bakerloo at Ox Circ, you just get the "STAND BACK TRAIN APPROACHING" on the describers.

Doesn't bother me, but wouldn't be too good for people who can't see the indicators. Generally across TFL would be better if they ditched all the tannoy junk and concentrated instead on service info for benefit of people who can't see so well.

Yes it seems to vary a lot by station. The screens always seem to work fine without fail. So i do not know why their automated announcements can not be just as reliable.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 20 May 2022 ==

Most stations don’t actually have this system fitted, as opposed to it not working.

Yes indeed i have noticed that many stations have no automated announcements system fitted at all. I think it is rather appalling for such a major transport system in such a major city. Every station should have them. But even the stations that do have them often do not work or are switched off.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 20 May 2022 ==

In Paris, the announcements seem to come out of a metal tube:

That is interesting to see. It must be to do with sound. Maybe putting the speakers in there makes it louder and easier to hear.

 

[LU_timetabler]

I don't think there are such announcements at most LU stations.

 

[urbophile]

I can't say that I have ever noticed the lack or presence of such announcements. Probably because I relay on the visual displays which are usually accurate. It's less of a problem if they don't happen (though still a problem for visually impaired passengers), than their happening but being wrong. Like the on-train recorded announcements on Merseyrail, which are quite unreliable.

If they were consistent, audible and reliable they would be a great help, especially on the lines like the Northern and Piccadilly with more than one branch. Less necessary on end to end lines like the Bakerloo or Victoria, and almost redundant on the Waterloo and City.