Our new ticketing site is now live! Using either this or the original site (both powered by TrainSplit) helps support the running of the forum with every ticket purchase! Find out more and ask any questions/give us feedback in this thread!
Northern Line has always liked the original announcements, so clearly it was felt preferable to keep them. It certainly wasn’t the whole fleet that got them, only a couple of trains.
Do we know how long the couple of trains had them for? The aforementioned YouTube clip was uploaded in 2007, but that isn't to say it was recorded in that year.
The Northern line management must be very autonomous to have resisted standardised announcements from other parts of TfL. I cannot blame them for really wanting to retain the original; Celia MK1 is arguably one of the most concise, reliable and easy-on-the-ear set of announcements on the network. The 2009 stock announcements, for instance, just aren't the same; too verbose, too patronising.
== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: ==
Also, who does the Bakerloo Line approaching terminating announcement? for example " Ladies and Gentleman, this train terminates at the next station, please leave the train at the next station, taking your belongings with you! To me it sounds akin to Sarah Parnell. Why did it replace Emma Clarke initially?
Extra messages were added to try and mitigate against staff having to spend time tipping off passengers at Queen's Park and Stonebridge Park. Sarah Parnell was used due to Emma Clarke no longer being in contract. A male voice was also added to alert passengers to leave the train.
Thanks, I was genuinely unaware that one still remained!
As heard in the second half of this video, just the one 'Vera' lift with 'stand clear of the doors please' and the obstruct message mentioned earlier - none of the extra stuff found in the old Bakerloo lifts.
I did try to ask TfL many years ago if they had further information about, or indeed the original recordings of these messages, but alas they could find nothing as usual.
Given the Mornington Crescent lifts were installed around 1997, and that's also the same year VERA was introduced on the C and 1972mkII stocks, she must have been the voice of choice for that brief period. Somehow she didn't make it onto the Jubilee line trains; the disparity between line scripts and voices over the years has been largely due to a combination of different system suppliers, PPP fragmentation and autonomous line management.
There does seem to be a bit more central control over scripting and voices in recent years. Even the JNP lines with their separate supplier (Ketech) distinct from legacy Metronet lines (Global Radio Systems?) appear to be no longer immune from Sarah Parnell, if the recent Jubilee line recordings are anything to go by. I have every finger crossed Sarah Parnell is ditched for the upcoming London Overground line name changes, in favour of further streamlining to just Emma Hignet and Elinor Hamilton, or a new female voice entirely. Of course, in years to come it'll be TTS replacing "real" voices.
Sarah Parnell was only chosen to blend in with Emma Clarke, however she just sounds so at odds with the Jubilee line.
The 2024 stock for the Piccadilly does actually have TTS. You can just briefly hear the voice here: (A synthetic voice based on recordings by Elloise Carr - source: FOI). correction: not Elloise Carr, trying to find the source that said it’s called Elloise, and it may not be the voice in the video - see below
Will be sad to no longer hear Julie Berry’s ones
I get the impression that TfL moved on from Sarah Parnell to Emma Hignett (based on their focus groups) but I may be wrong.
Emma Hignett said in this interview that “I did the whole of the tube network too, in case they need them later”. (source)
I’m not sure which announcements she means, maybe she means “Change for: Central line” etc. It would seem odd (to me) for TfL to pay out for so many recordings without a clear prospect of using them.
You are right - I’ve heard a Sarah Parnell announcement at Gloucester Road I think (“Due to the weather conditions, surfaces may be slippery. Please take extra care!!!”)
The 2024 stock for the Piccadilly does actually have TTS. You can just briefly hear the voice here: (A synthetic voice based on recordings by Elloise Carr - source: FOI). Will be sad to no longer hear Julie Berry’s ones
She has probably most of the names and sentences readily available from her other modal recordings e.g. most LU station names have a bus stop associated with them, which would have been recorded for iBus. The interchanges from other rail modes e.g. Elizabeth line.
Do we know how long the couple of trains had them for? The aforementioned YouTube clip was uploaded in 2007, but that isn't to say it was recorded in that year.
The Northern line management must be very autonomous to have resisted standardised announcements from other parts of TfL. I cannot blame them for really wanting to retain the original; Celia MK1 is arguably one of the most concise, reliable and easy-on-the-ear set of announcements on the network. The 2009 stock announcements, for instance, just aren't the same; too verbose, too patronising.
== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: ==
Extra messages were added to try and mitigate against staff having to spend time tipping off passengers at Queen's Park and Stonebridge Park. Sarah Parnell was used due to Emma Clarke no longer being in contract. A male voice was also added to alert passengers to leave the train.
Given the Mornington Crescent lifts were installed around 1997, and that's also the same year VERA was introduced on the C and 1972mkII stocks, she must have been the voice of choice for that brief period. Somehow she didn't make it onto the Jubilee line trains; the disparity between line scripts and voices over the years has been largely due to a combination of different system suppliers, PPP fragmentation and autonomous line management.
There does seem to be a bit more central control over scripting and voices in recent years. Even the JNP lines with their separate supplier (Ketech) distinct from legacy Metronet lines (Global Radio Systems?) appear to be no longer immune from Sarah Parnell, if the recent Jubilee line recordings are anything to go by. I have every finger crossed Sarah Parnell is ditched for the upcoming London Overground line name changes, in favour of further streamlining to just Emma Hignet and Elinor Hamilton, or a new female voice entirely. Of course, in years to come it'll be TTS replacing "real" voices.
Sarah Parnell was only chosen to blend in with Emma Clarke, however she just sounds so at odds with the Jubilee line.
I was too young to remember VERA, even though I can recall specially tube journeys I took in that era, but I certainly grew up with whoever it was that voiced the “Stand clear, doors closing” in the lifts at Hampstead station. Was that VERA? From my memory it certainly sounded like her.
The Hampstead lifts had a very stern woman at one point so that is who you are probably thinking of because VERA says 'stand clear of the doors please". The stern woman has a very deep voice, sounding pretty similar to Dame Judi Dench if I were to use a comparison. I think survives in the Bank station Northern line lifts but has certainly been replaced at Hampstead in recent years. However, this old clip features her voice:
The Stern lady could be heard at Queensway, Lancaster Gate, Chalk Farm, Belsize Park and possibly others. She sounded especially fed up when saying "please do not obstruct the doors!" (Example here at Chalk Farm!) Not to mention her "you have now reached the lower landing, exit, turn left and take the stairs down to the platform level!"
Here's a clip of her at Belsize Park:
The voice heard in most LU lifts these days is still antiquated (even in lifts as new as the ones at Borough!), but more mother than grandmother! Example here at Tufnell Park:
The Hampstead lifts had a very stern woman at one point so that is who you are probably thinking of because VERA says 'stand clear of the doors please". The stern woman has a very deep voice, sounding pretty similar to Dame Judi Dench if I were to use a comparison. I think survives in the Bank station Northern line lifts but has certainly been replaced at Hampstead in recent years. However, this old clip features her voice:
The Stern lady could be heard at Queensway, Lancaster Gate, Chalk Farm, Belsize Park and possibly others. She sounded especially fed up when saying "please do not obstruct the doors!" (Example here at Chalk Farm!) Not to mention her "you have now reached the lower landing, exit, turn left and take the stairs down to the platform level!"
Here's a clip of her at Belsize Park:
The voice heard in most LU lifts these days is still antiquated (even in lifts as new as the ones at Borough!), but more mother than grandmother! Example here at Tufnell Park:
The Hampstead one isn’t the voice I remember. The script was “stand clear, doors closing” and “please do not obstruct the doors”. I’m pretty sure it was VERA, because it had the same very-slightly haunting timbre her voice had. It went when the lifts were replaced, I think, around 10 years ago. I remember being glad when the lifts were replaced because the old ones gave my stomach a terrible sinking sensation when they slowed down.
== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: ==
If anyone has got a copy of issue 385 of “Underground News” from 1997, it might say in there who VERA was. According to the index (link below) the circle lines new digitised announcements was discussed in issue 385.
The 2021 Northern Line announcement updates (Northern Line extension and Elizabeth Line related messages) believed until now to be a processed version of Elinor Hamilton's voice, are in fact the voice of Louisa Gummer. And she openly describes herself as 'the newest voice of the Northern Line'. This is not the first time that TfL have provided what can only be described as misinformation - the lack of fact checking is a really poor showing on their part.
I have listened to her "informative tone" demo and I agree, it is her. I wonder how her voice came about being selected in the first place when it is not as though she sounds that much like Celia... Don't get me wrong, I don't dislike her Northern line announcements and remain grateful for Sarah Parnell not being used, but it does make me wonder why they couldn't have selected someone a bit posher to blend in better with Celia's RP?
To be clear, they have selected an off-the-shelf TTS voice that sounds similar to Elloise, as opposed to producing a TTS using samples of her voice.
Yes a shame about Julie. Perhaps they could use her for the CLIP and 1972 refresh projects?
She has probably most of the names and sentences readily available from her other modal recordings e.g. most LU station names have a bus stop associated with them, which would have been recorded for iBus. The interchanges from other rail modes e.g. Elizabeth line.
Regarding 2024 stock, it's not an off-the-shelf voice as it has been developed by TfL/Acapela specifically for TfL. And also it is not Elloise Carr as some initially believed, this was publicly confirmed in a subsequent FOI.
Link - "none of the voices tested were selected to be the voice of the new Piccadilly line trains."
Surprised they don't just use AI generated voices. Would make it easier to "record" new updates Ignore that, missed the key word "TTS" in the previous posts!
Regarding 2024 stock, it's not an off-the-shelf voice as it has been developed by TfL/Acapela specifically for TfL. And also it is not Elloise Carr as some initially believed, this was publicly confirmed in a subsequent FOI.
Link - "none of the voices tested were selected to be the voice of the new Piccadilly line trains."
Ok, I think I'd misinterpreted it as they had done market research, found Elloise to be the favourite voice and then selected a TTS product that best matches her.
If you're saying they are developing an Acapela voice specifically for TfL from scratch, this would require a voiceover to create the various words as a starting point, from which they can lift the sounds to build new words so that the finish product can say anything you type. In other words synthesised speech is created from sounds. So if they are not using Elloise for this, who are they using, I wonder?
The 2024 stock for the Piccadilly does actually have TTS. You can just briefly hear the voice here: (A synthetic voice based on recordings by Elloise Carr - source: FOI). Will be sad to no longer hear Julie Berry’s ones
I get the impression that TfL moved on from Sarah Parnell to Emma Hignett (based on their focus groups) but I may be wrong.
Emma Hignett said in this interview that “I did the whole of the tube network too, in case they need them later”. (source)
I’m not sure which announcements she means, maybe she means “Change for: Central line” etc. It would seem odd (to me) for TfL to pay out for so many recordings without a clear prospect of using them.
You are right - I’ve heard a Sarah Parnell announcement at Gloucester Road I think (“Due to the weather conditions, surfaces may be slippery. Please take extra care!!!”)
Geoff's video doesn't actually show the new Elloise voice, that is another Acapela voice (Rachel(?)) as Elloise wasn't ready at the time of that recording!
== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: ==
Ok, I think I'd misinterpreted it as they had done market research, found Elloise to be the favourite voice and then selected a TTS product that best matches her.
If you're saying they are developing an Acapela voice specifically for TfL from scratch, this would require a voiceover to create the various words as a starting point, from which they can lift the sounds to build new words so that the finish product can say anything you type. In other words synthesised speech is created from sounds. So if they are not using Elloise for this, who are they using, I wonder?
The name hasn't been confirmed publicly, I guess TfL being able to disclose this information would depend on whether the contract with the voiceover is directly with Acapela as the voice 'creators' rather than TfL.
Digital voice announcements on the new ‘24 Tube Stock’ fleet for the Piccadilly line will use an artificial/synthetic voice called ‘Elloise’, we will not be using any existing announcements from Julie Berry or Adrian Hieatt.
I think the TfL FOI department have a lot to answer for! Separately, someone ought to write into them and correct their mistake regarding Elinor on the Northern line...
I think the TfL FOI department have a lot to answer for! Separately, someone ought to write into them and correct their mistake regarding Elinor on the Northern line...
Yeah it's worth a follow up/FOI imo to ensure they have the right info - I am sure they just got their facts mixed up/got the information from the wrong person. Perhaps there are complications around whether Alstom or TfL sourced this voice considering the trains are leased. Maybe TfL just specified the scripting and didn't even know who the voice was!
Yeah that sounds more likely, as the technology provider is KeTech for the JNP lines, so perhaps they source the voice.
The only anomaly seems to be that Sarah Parnell crept onto the recent Jubilee line updates, even though she was for the Global Radio Services contracts with the BCV/Sub-Surface lines. I am not quite sure how this was commissioned.
This is a long shot but I wonder if anyone has recordings of the anouncements that were played at Kennington and Tooting Broadway ont he Northern line when a train terminated there. Something like "This is Kennington, this train terminates here, all change please, all change" I believe it was started by the guard at the time using his key on boxes at the rear of the platform. From memory the voice sounded much like Oswald Lawrence of "Mind the Gap" fame
Can i ask where you found that information that she is the voice? So she is the new "Elloise" TTS voice that TFL have mentioned? I presume that means she is the voice that Acapela Group has used to create the new "Elloise" TTS voice?
Who exactly is she? Is she actually a professional voiceover artist? Or just some staff member they chose?
Searching for Emily Phipps online brings up very little results. I can not find a single voiceover artist under that name. Pretty much every voiceover artist has at least something online publicising themselves but when you search her name nothing comes up with any voiceover artist who has that name. So i can only presume that she must be a staff member. But it seems odd that TFL would choose a staff member to voice the main announcements for the new trains.
So i can only presume that she must be a staff member. But it seems odd that TFL would choose a staff member to voice the main announcements for the new trains.
As said before in-house announcements save money. I realise the information provided could be wrong, as I would have thought a professional artist would have voiced the trains, but I did want to just provide some context.
I have actually purchased a copy of Underground News, though not the specific issues highlighted above, therefore alas I am unable to reveal who the VERA voice actually was. Though I have a plethora of questions to ask regarding what I read in my 1994 edition in Issue 385: Apparently upon the advent of the 1992TS it was not uncommon to hear Waterloo & City line announcements on the Central and Vice Versa. Does this ever happen nowadays? As the 1992TS on the Central have the ability to show Waterloo on the external dot matrix indicators, therefore they must all have the same audio recordings as the former.
Another question of mine is the variation of "Mind The Gap" messages throughout the system in the post PPP era. Apart from the platform announcements (Which have already been discussed in this thread) The was a rather patronising woman on Metronet lines who if I am correct can no longer be heard on the stations were she was present. e.g. Bank (Central Line) and Piccadilly Circus (Bakerloo Line) and various on the Circle & District. The was also another woman who also featured on Metronet stations (albeit less common) who had a rather husky voice, while the latter tended to prolong her words and sounded rather amenable (not dissimilar to VERA in many ways). With all this talk of Metronet, who did the Mind the Gap messages on Tube Lines stations, as I am struggling to point a finger on what the voice they used sounded like?https://www.google.com/search?sca_e...ate=ive&vld=cid:ca2ac1e2,vid:mM41W9bHR4w,st:0https://www.google.com/s 1st voice highlighted
== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: ==
Also, am I correct in knowing that the 1992TS DVA at Liverpool Street is that of Janet Mayo? The interchange is Emma Clarke, though the actual "Liverpool Street" is a sample taken from the Janet Mayo recordings? If this is the case, why is that the only example of Janet Mayo still audible? And why didn't they just replace it with a new recording? Surely it would have been more practical to standardise the announcements?
I have actually purchased a copy of Underground News, though not the specific issues highlighted above, therefore alas I am unable to reveal who the VERA voice actually was. Though I have a plethora of questions to ask regarding what I read in my 1994 edition in Issue 385: Apparently upon the advent of the 1992TS it was not uncommon to hear Waterloo & City line announcements on the Central and Vice Versa. Does this ever happen nowadays? As the 1992TS on the Central have the ability to show Waterloo on the external dot matrix indicators, therefore they must all have the same audio recordings as the former.
Another question of mine is the variation of "Mind The Gap" messages throughout the system in the post PPP era. Apart from the platform announcements (Which have already been discussed in this thread) The was a rather patronising woman on Metronet lines who if I am correct can no longer be heard on the stations were she was present. e.g. Bank (Central Line) and Piccadilly Circus (Bakerloo Line) and various on the Circle & District. The was also another woman who also featured on Metronet stations (albeit less common) who had a rather husky voice, while the latter tended to prolong her words and sounded rather amenable (not dissimilar to VERA in many ways). With all this talk of Metronet, who did the Mind the Gap messages on Tube Lines stations, as I am struggling to point a finger on what the voice they used sounded like?https://www.google.com/search?sca_e...ate=ive&vld=cid:ca2ac1e2,vid:mM41W9bHR4w,st:0https://www.google.com/s 1st voice highlighted
== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: ==
Also, am I correct in knowing that the 1992TS DVA at Liverpool Street is that of Janet Mayo? The interchange is Emma Clarke, though the actual "Liverpool Street" is a sample taken from the Janet Mayo recordings? If this is the case, why is that the only example of Janet Mayo still audible? And why didn't they just replace it with a new recording? Surely it would have been more practical to standardise the announcements?
It is not Janet Mayo - all the original voice samples stored on EPROM chips were replaced in 2003, and TfL are not believed to hold a copy of those recordings. For many years there was an old computer in Ruislip depot which was said to hold a backup of them, but at some point in the early to mid 2010s it was removed and disposed of. I was once told that they had no way of retrieving the data from it. The Emma Clarke recordings that replaced these were however intentionally voiced to sound similar. In 2018, a number of messages were then updated with new Sarah Parnell recordings.
As far as the Waterloo & City is concerned, these specific messages are all manually triggered, but as all 92 stock trains contain the same announcement system, they are available for use on any unit. Central line station announcements cannot be selected in the same manner as far as I am aware.
Pauline Cavilla: she did some of the platform announcements on Metronet lines: example YouTube video.
I think Pauline may have been replaced with Elinor Hamilton as I’ve heard Elinor’s voice saying the patterns that Pauline’s apparently used, e.g. at Victoria. (“the next train will arrive in: 2: minutes. It will be a: Victoria line: train to: Brixton”). however I may have misremembered all of this!
Henrietta Bass: she has a deep and mellow voice and I think she might be the voice of Hammersmith District station?
And I seem to remember that some 1992TS announcements were redone by Sarah Parnell (interchanges/Elizabeth line?)
I have actually purchased a copy of Underground News, though not the specific issues highlighted above, therefore alas I am unable to reveal who the VERA voice actually was.
I read somewhere on an old thread in the District Dave forum that the acronym VERA stood for "Very Erratic Repetitive Announcements"!
Speaking of the DD forum, this old thread is quite interesting re: the two variation of Celia at the time: https://districtdavesforum.co.uk/thread/6136/different-celias
The thread dates back to 2006, implying that "Celia Mk2" could still be heard on some trains even as late as then. Certainly this clip is the only one I know of to hear Celia MK2, which was uploaded in 2006. I assume the files were recorded during the same session as the Jubilee line announcements.
It is not Janet Mayo - all the original voice samples stored on EPROM chips were replaced in 2003, and TfL are not believed to hold a copy of those recordings. For many years there was an old computer in Ruislip depot which was said to hold a backup of them, but at some point in the early to mid 2010s it was removed and disposed of. I was once told that they had no way of retrieving the data from it. The Emma Clarke recordings that replaced these were however intentionally voiced to sound similar. In 2018, a number of messages were then updated with new Sarah Parnell recordings.
I had heard from a TfL colleague that the computer uses to update the Central line announcements burned in a fire and hence why they were stuck as they were so long until the 2018 Sarah Parnell update - by which point, they must have discovered a way to update them.
I read somewhere on an old thread in the District Dave forum that the acronym VERA stood for "Very Erratic Repetitive Announcements"!
Speaking of the DD forum, this old thread is quite interesting re: the two variation of Celia at the time: https://districtdavesforum.co.uk/thread/6136/different-celias
The thread dates back to 2006, implying that "Celia Mk2" could still be heard on some trains even as late as then. Certainly this clip is the only one I know of to hear Celia MK2, which was uploaded in 2006. I assume the files were recorded during the same session as the Jubilee line announcements.
I had heard from a TfL colleague that the computer uses to update the Central line announcements burned in a fire and hence why they were stuck as they were so long until the 2018 Sarah Parnell update - by which point, they must have discovered a way to update them.
There *could* be some truth to the fire theory, as there was a significant fire at the Telstar House offices in 2003, which certainly at one point housed the management for the Central Line.
I think the change from Janet to Emma happened around the same time, so it’s certainly possible that either the original Janet setup was affected, or the later Emma one.
I read somewhere on an old thread in the District Dave forum that the acronym VERA stood for "Very Erratic Repetitive Announcements"!
Speaking of the DD forum, this old thread is quite interesting re: the two variation of Celia at the time: https://districtdavesforum.co.uk/thread/6136/different-celias
The thread dates back to 2006, implying that "Celia Mk2" could still be heard on some trains even as late as then. Certainly this clip is the only one I know of to hear Celia MK2, which was uploaded in 2006. I assume the files were recorded during the same session as the Jubilee line announcements.
I had heard from a TfL colleague that the computer uses to update the Central line announcements burned in a fire and hence why they were stuck as they were so long until the 2018 Sarah Parnell update - by which point, they must have discovered a way to update them.
I have actually purchased a copy of Underground News, though not the specific issues highlighted above, therefore alas I am unable to reveal who the VERA voice actually was. Though I have a plethora of questions to ask regarding what I read in my 1994 edition in Issue 385: Apparently upon the advent of the 1992TS it was not uncommon to hear Waterloo & City line announcements on the Central and Vice Versa. Does this ever happen nowadays? As the 1992TS on the Central have the ability to show Waterloo on the external dot matrix indicators, therefore they must all have the same audio recordings as the former.
Another question of mine is the variation of "Mind The Gap" messages throughout the system in the post PPP era. Apart from the platform announcements (Which have already been discussed in this thread) The was a rather patronising woman on Metronet lines who if I am correct can no longer be heard on the stations were she was present. e.g. Bank (Central Line) and Piccadilly Circus (Bakerloo Line) and various on the Circle & District. The was also another woman who also featured on Metronet stations (albeit less common) who had a rather husky voice, while the latter tended to prolong her words and sounded rather amenable (not dissimilar to VERA in many ways). With all this talk of Metronet, who did the Mind the Gap messages on Tube Lines stations, as I am struggling to point a finger on what the voice they used sounded like?https://www.google.com/search?sca_e...ate=ive&vld=cid:ca2ac1e2,vid:mM41W9bHR4w,st:0https://www.google.com/s 1st voice highlighted
== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: ==
Also, am I correct in knowing that the 1992TS DVA at Liverpool Street is that of Janet Mayo? The interchange is Emma Clarke, though the actual "Liverpool Street" is a sample taken from the Janet Mayo recordings? If this is the case, why is that the only example of Janet Mayo still audible? And why didn't they just replace it with a new recording? Surely it would have been more practical to standardise the announcements?
Regarding the "Mind The Gap" announcements at stations this is very complex. There have been lots of voices. I have no idea why there are so many as you would think they would just use the same recordings.
There seems to be two main voices that are still widely used these days:
1. Phil Sayer - "Mind The Gap Please" - He is used at about half of the stations that play this message. Initially he was only used at Tubelines stations but he has been rolled out to lots of Metronet stations now too. He can be heard here:
00:00:
00:04:
2. Unknown Male - "Mind The Gap Please" - He is used at about half of the stations that play this message. He seems to be only used at Metronet stations. He can be heard here:
00:34:
01:18:
These are the two main voices still used. They are both widely used at dozens of stations each. Notably they are the only two voices that say "please" so it makes me think they are newer and TFL updated their guidelines to require "please" to be added.
There are also at least five other older voices:
3. Oswald Laurence - He is the voice currently on P4 at Embankment station but he used to be used at dozens of LU stations in the past. You have probably seen lots of publicity about his voice and why they reinstalled him.
So there has been a lot of different voices used for Mind The Gap announcements at LU stations. At least seven voices that i was aware of. Also the second female you mentioned makes eight voices.
Regarding the unknown "Mind The Gap" voices a lot of names have come up of people who have said to have voiced "Mind The Gap" announcements at LU stations:
Ian Collington
Keith Wilson
Oswald Laurence
Peter Lodge
Phil Sayer
Stuart Organ
Tim Bentinck
But other than Oswald Laurence and Phil Sayer (who we already know) it is really impossible to find out who is who and which voice did which "Mind The Gap" announcement.
I had no idea about the second female voice. I know about the one linked above who you mentioned who was at Bank and Mansion House and various other stations but i did not know there was a second female too.
Do you remember what stations this second female was at and what era she was removed? I do not suppose you are aware of any Youtube videos where she can be heard?
Pauline Cavilla: she did some of the platform announcements on Metronet lines: example YouTube video.
I think Pauline may have been replaced with Elinor Hamilton as I’ve heard Elinor’s voice saying the patterns that Pauline’s apparently used, e.g. at Victoria. (“the next train will arrive in: 2: minutes. It will be a: Victoria line: train to: Brixton”). however I may have misremembered all of this!
Henrietta Bass: she has a deep and mellow voice and I think she might be the voice of Hammersmith District station?
And I seem to remember that some 1992TS announcements were redone by Sarah Parnell (interchanges/Elizabeth line?)
Yes you are correct about that and the recent history of the automated announcements at tube stations is very complex. Probably more so than the tube onboard announcements or the National Rail announcements. There has been a huge amount of systems and voices and different changes that have been made.
Regarding station announcements there are three main voices that have been used for the station automated announcements:
----
1. Elinor Hamilton - She was the voice rolled out by Tubelines in the late 2000s and initially only used at Tubelines managed stations. Since around 2018 she has started to be rolled out to Metronet managed stations too.
Her script at Tubelines stations is:
Next Train Announcement:
"Victoria Line. The next train to Brixton will arrive in one minute."
Approaching Train Announcement:
"Victoria Line. The train now approaching is to Brixton. Please stand back from the platform edge."
Elinor Hamilton announcement at Westminster and Victoria tube stations, on the Jubilee, District, Circle and Victoria lines. Plus a couple of Phil 'mind the ...
youtu.be
Her script at Metronet stations is:
Next Train Announcement:
"The next train will arrive in one minute. It will be a Victoria Line service calling at all stations to Brixton."
Approaching Train Announcement:
"The next train will be a Victoria Line service calling at all stations to Brixton. Please stand behind the yellow line as the train approaches, use the full length of the platform, and let customers off the train first."
Note that some announcements are difficult to hear because on one of the Subsurface Platforms (1 and 2 specifically), you can hear some announcements from th...
Elinor Hamilton announcement at Westminster and Victoria tube stations, on the Jubilee, District, Circle and Victoria lines. Plus a couple of Phil 'mind the ...
youtu.be
So even to this day both Tubelines stations (like Westminster for example) and Metronet stations (like Victoria for example) have a separate script. This makes me think that even to this day a lot of the systems at Tubelines stations and Metronet stations are probably separate.
Although they have slowly been converting some Metronet stations to the Tublines script. So noticeably at some places like Mile End you will hear Elinor Hamilton use the Tubelines script despite being a Metronet station.
Elinor Hamilton also does her long winded service update announcements too which play at both Metronet stations and Tubelines stations. Pauline and Henrietta both have much simpler shorter service update announcements. Bit with Elinor her version is always very long winded.
----
2. Pauline Cavilla - She was a voice rolled out by Metronet in the late 2000s and initially only used at Metronet managed stations. Unfortunately in 2018 she got removed as TFL decided to use Elinor Hamilton at all stations.
Her script is as follows:
Next Train Announcement:
"Ladies and gentlemen. The next train will arrive in one minute. It will be a Victoria Line service calling at all stations to Brixton."
Approaching Train Announcement:
"Ladies and gentlemen. The next train will be a Victoria Line service calling at all stations to Brixton. 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."
Both Notting Hill Gate and Bayswater stations have recently had their platform announcements by Pauline Cavilla re-introduced (by way of error) in place of E...
While on my way back home, I decided to make a stop off here!Bayswater is served by district and circle lines and has nice street views! Also, Kensington Pal...
Central line 1992 stock running from Epping to Ealing Broadway/West Ruislip observed at Shepherd's Bush station for 20 minutes.All if any music used is from ...
Back in 2018 they decided to replace Pauline Cavilla with Elinor Hamilton so she disappeared from all stations. This was a real shame as i thought the PUline Cavilla announcements were brilliant. I would have liked these to be rolled out to all stations.
However she has regularly reappeared. I think that whenever the system at Metronet stations gets reset it automatically reverts back to her. Bayswater and Notting Hill Gate in particular both seem to keep reverting back to her announcement. Just recently from late 2023 to early 2024 they bought back Pauline Cavilla at both stations for many months. But a few months ago around May 2024 it has reverted back to Elinor Hamilton again at these two stations.
So far both Bayswater and Notting Hill Gate have had:
• late 2012 to early 2018 - Pauline Cavilla
• early 2018 to late 2022 - Elinor Hamilton
• late 2022 to early 2023 - Pauline Cavilla
• early 2023 to late 2023 - Elinor Hamilton
• late 2023 to early 2024 - Pauline Cavilla
• early 2024 to currently - Elinor Hamilton
My only presumption is that these two stations keep having errors and the system is breaking so they reset it and Pauline Cavilla returns and then a few months later they realise and change it to Elinor Hamilton again. This adds up as every time before Pauline Cavilla comes back the announcements seem to stop working for a few weeks before. So it probably happens when they reset it.
----
3. Henrietta Bess - She was a voice rolled out by Metronet in the late 1990s or early 2000s. Her announcements are very old.
She does not announce trains. So she is unable to do next train announcements. But she does do service update announcements and a bunch of various safety announcements and generic announcements.
Some of her announcements include:
"Ladies and gentlemen. There is a good service on all London Underground lines." (or rather an alternative announcement telling you what lines are disrupted - but hers are more basic than the Elinor version - she can only give details for LU lines)
"Ladies and gentleman. Smoking is not permitted at any London Underground stations or London Regional Transport bus stations."
"Ladies and gentlemen. Please stand behind the yellow line on the platform at all times for your safety."
"Ladies and gentlemen. Please report any unattended articles to a member of staff immediately."
"Ladies and gentlemen. Please remember to keep all your belongings and luggage with you at all times when travelling on the London Underground."
"Ladies and gentlemen. To obtain the best fare all customers with oyster cards are reminded to touch in and out at the start and end of your journey when travelling on the London Underground and Docklands Light Railway."
"Ladies and gentleman. To save queuing and to save money as well London Underground season tickets can be purchased on a weekly and monthly basis. You can also buy a season ticket for any period between one month and one year. Please ask at the ticket office for a quotation."
They have been slowly removing the "ladies and gentlemen" part in recent months so most of her announcements no longer start with that. I think this is a shame as they sound better when you have the "ladies and gentlemen" prefix at the start.
filmed in October 2022High Street Kensington is a tube station on the Circle and District lines.The station opened on October 1, 1868.▪ Camera used: DJI Osmo...
So you lot seem to be loving the SWML Stations, as Wimbledon and Richmond were quite a hit!! I can't thank you all enough for the amazing support as always, ...
youtu.be
Her announcements only exist at Metronet stations which have never had next train announcements. She always get removed when a station has next train announcements installed. An example of this is Victoria which had Henrietta Bess removed as soon as Elinor was installed. She was also removed at stations that had Pauline installed. So she can only be heard at station with no next train announcements system fitted.
She can still be heard at lots of stations. Surprisingly her announcements have lasted for a very long time. These stations all definitely still currently have her:
Ealing Broadway
Hammersmith (Circle/H&C)
Hammersmith (District/Piccadilly)
High Street Kensington
Highbury & Islington
Ladbroke Grove
Mansion House
Pimlico
Temple
Vauxhall
She is probably at lots of other stations too.
She is probably still at others too. She is only at stations that never had Elinor Hamilton or Pauline Cavilla installed. Whatever system she is used on seems to be a much older system. She even says "London Regional Transport" in some of her announcements.
----
It is worth noting that many stations (both Metronet stations and Tubelines stations) still have no automated announcements at all. I did a detailed post recently in the announcements section on the exact situation and which stations have which. But around 30% of stations still have nothing.
----
One other thing. At lots of Piccadilly Line stations in the late 1990s and early 2000s they had a very old announcement system that played when the train stopped on the platform.
It was very basic with a script like this:
"This is Leicester Square. Change here for the Northern Line. The next station is Covent Garden. Please stand clear of the closing doors."
I attached some of these in post #11 of this thread
This system about five or six different voices. Different stations and different platforms at the same station used different voices. For example at Covent Garden you had a female voice on the Eastbound platform and a male voice on the Westbound platform. Julie Berry was one of the voices but i am not sure on who all of the others are.
----
Lastly still on the subject of station announcements there are also the Inspector Sands and evacuation announcements. Multiple different voices have done them in the past but currently there are only two voices. Phil Sayer at some stations and Mark Stutter at other stations.
Phil Sayer is used at: Earls Court, Euston, London Bridge, Paddington, Piccadilly Circus, Stratford, Victoria, Westminster, and others. He can be heard here:
Check out my website and join my mailing list today for new videos and channel updates! http://techandtrains101.ukTwitter: https://twitter.com/omari_antonyTo...
youtu.be
Mark Stutter is used at: Baker Street, Blackfriars, Bond Street, Hammersmith, Holborn, Oxford Circus, Seven Sisters, Tottenham Court Road, Wanstead, and others. He can be heard here:
This was a test trill which they had done at Bond Street. Recorded this some time back but never really got around to uploading it.
youtu.be
It seems roughly half have Phil Sayer and roughly half have Mark Stutter so i am not sure how they decided which voices would be used where. I have a feeling that Mark Stutter was the Metronet voice and Phil Sayer was the Tubelines voice. But it seems that Phil Sayer has recently been rolled out to some Metronet stations too.
Sorry for such a long post! But that should answer a few things about the station voices!
I read somewhere on an old thread in the District Dave forum that the acronym VERA stood for "Very Erratic Repetitive Announcements"!
Speaking of the DD forum, this old thread is quite interesting re: the two variation of Celia at the time: https://districtdavesforum.co.uk/thread/6136/different-celias
The thread dates back to 2006, implying that "Celia Mk2" could still be heard on some trains even as late as then. Certainly this clip is the only one I know of to hear Celia MK2, which was uploaded in 2006. I assume the files were recorded during the same session as the Jubilee line announcements.
I had heard from a TfL colleague that the computer uses to update the Central line announcements burned in a fire and hence why they were stuck as they were so long until the 2018 Sarah Parnell update - by which point, they must have discovered a way to update them.
I always wonder why TFL throught it was necessary to get Celia Drummond to record all the Northern Line announcements again considering her original ones were fine. I presume you are right and they were recorded at the same time as her Jubilee Line ones but it seems odd that they wanted her to record them again. In the end they never seemed to really use them other than installing them on a few trains for a short period and then removing them so it seemed like a waste.
Interestingly one post on that thread says that there were three Northern Line trains delivered later with newer software which is why they have the Jubilee Line style announcements. But that does not make much sense to me as normally new announcements would not be recorded just because trains had newer software. I suspect the voice was just a trial.
Another thing i have always wondered is whether the difference between Celia MK1 (Northern) and Celia MK2 (Jubilee) was just simply a result of her voice changing over time or if TFL requested her to speak in a different tone. With her National Rail announcements the only real noticeable difference was the "New Celia" announcements recorded in the late 2010s (trialled by Amey at a few SWT stations in 2016/2017/2018 and on the 442s and 484s and 701s too) but before then most of her recordings sounded pretty much the same. So it makes me wonder if TFL requested her to use a different style or if it was just her voice naturally changing over time.
RailUK was launched on 6th June 2005 - so we've hit 20 years being the UK's most popular railway community! Read more and celebrate this milestone with us in this thread!
