Annoying jargon in railway announcements

urbophile · 22 Mar 2019

I'm sure this is a topic which keeps cropping up. But ever since passengers have been manipulated into being customers, the infiltration of commercial management-speak into official railway announcements seems to continue.

A common theme seems to be a denial that railways are railways. 'Airline' seating is an example. Another one that struck me today (but I have been aware of for some time) is the noun 'service' in place of 'train'. I mean the nonsense of 'the next service is out of service' . What on earth is wrong with saying 'the next train is out of service'?

RailUK Forums

Matt_pool · 22 Mar 2019

"The next station stop is..."

Dr_Paul · 22 Mar 2019

And I still consider myself a passenger, not a 'customer', as all railway companies seem to think we are.

LowLevel · 22 Mar 2019

If you want to go back to being passengers with no rights other than a vague promise you might get to where you're going at some stage in the future then crack on.

Being a customer doesn't prevent you from being a passenger *but* it is good at getting staff to focus a little more on looking after you rather than having you as an inconvenient distraction on board a train that will be travelling about with or without your presence.

swt_passenger · 22 Mar 2019

Airline (style) seating is a pretty long-standing thing from BR days. What’s the obvious alternative?

“Arriving into” really grinds my gears...

swt_passenger · 22 Mar 2019

Matt_pool said:
"The next station stop is..."

Or worse still “calling point” as someone noticed a few days ago at Waterloo...

306024 · 22 Mar 2019

‘Congestion’. Hate it. Just sounds like a more modern form of ‘operating difficulties’.

Mag_seven · 22 Mar 2019

"We are due to arrive at XXX at approximately 15.00".

No, there is no approximately about it, we are due to arrive there at exactly 15.00 as per the timetable!

bunnahabhain · 23 Mar 2019

I'm probably a little unusual by my announcements use "Guard" and not "Senior Conductor", and "Passenger" instead of "Customer". A friend was on my train the other day and commented when I used "Lancaster Castle" and "Carlisle Citadel" as well.

tom73 · 23 Mar 2019

A person intending to travel by train has to engage in a retail transaction in order to procure the documentation allowing him/her to use the train and is therefore a (paying) customer.
The Train Operating Company is providing a service in the form of a train. If said train is delayed/cancelled then the service being provided by the operator is delayed/cancelled.
The term "airline seat or seating" refers specifically to airline style seat or seating as in the type of row by row seating used on a commercial aircraft.
The term "station stop" refers to a scheduled stop at a station as opposed to any other kind of cessation of movement by the train operating the service which typically has several calling points.
"We are due to arrive at (destination) at approximately (time) is an honest statement that takes into account unexpected delay en route which may cause the train to be a little late at its destination. On my last southbound LNER journey, my journey was delayed by a late running slow moving Northern Rail service in front of us making my scheduled arrival time back in London no longer reasonably definite but approximate.
What is wrong with people on here? Seems this whole thread thus far is devoted to nit picking.

Master29 · 23 Mar 2019

See it. say it. sorted! seems a bit daft but I have to admit memorable as it should be so a bit of a paradox there.

Fred26 · 23 Mar 2019

Staff not using the 24-hour clock, either in announcements or when talking to passengers face-to-face.

pitdiver · 23 Mar 2019

What annoys me is the expression " Final Destination" The destination is always the last stop so why say final. Some TOCs use the expression final stop which mskes more sense to me anyway.,

Deafdoggie · 23 Mar 2019

tom73 said:
A person intending to travel by train has to engage in a retail transaction in order to procure the documentation allowing him/her to use the train and is therefore a (paying) customer.
The Train Operating Company is providing a service in the form of a train. If said train is delayed/cancelled then the service being provided by the operator is delayed/cancelled.
The term "airline seat or seating" refers specifically to airline style seat or seating as in the type of row by row seating used on a commercial aircraft.
The term "station stop" refers to a scheduled stop at a station as opposed to any other kind of cessation of movement by the train operating the service which typically has several calling points.
"We are due to arrive at (destination) at approximately (time) is an honest statement that takes into account unexpected delay en route which may cause the train to be a little late at its destination. On my last southbound LNER journey, my journey was delayed by a late running slow moving Northern Rail service in front of us making my scheduled arrival time back in London no longer reasonably definite but approximate.
What is wrong with people on here? Seems this whole thread thus far is devoted to nit picking.

I couldn't agree more! Some people just want to find fault with everything. I would rather be a customer than a passenger. It is called "Customer Service" for a reason. A passenger is just a statistic, "Passenger numbers are down". I too have never understood the annoyance of some people at using an approximate time for arrival. Until the train actually arrives, surely it can never been certain what exact time it will be. If anything is wrong, it is those who say "The train will be arriving at ..."

pitdiver said:
What annoys me is the expression " Final Destination" The destination is always the last stop so why say final. Some TOCs use the expression final stop which mskes more sense to me anyway.,

Not all destinations are final, some services operate a circular service, so the initial destination is not the final destination, as it loops round to head back a different way.

fairysdad · 23 Mar 2019

bunnahabhain said:
A friend was on my train the other day and commented when I used "Lancaster Castle" and "Carlisle Citadel" as well.

Arguably, that's just as bad given that those aren't the station names. Now, to be fair, it is probable that a lot of passengers will realise what you mean, but if you have somebody who isn't local, doesn't have knowledge of the local area or its history, have been told they need to alight your service at a station called 'Carlisle', and hear you announce 'Carlisle Citadel' - it's quite possible that they will assume that 'Carlisle Citadel' is a suburban station and thus miss their station (or be very close to it if, when you pull into the station, they notice that it's not a suburban station and the main one).

trentside · 23 Mar 2019

Fred26 said:
Staff not using the 24-hour clock, either in announcements or when talking to passengers face-to-face.

I always use the 24-hour clock in announcements, and try to when talking to passengers, but you’d be surprised how often people don’t understand it...

talltim · 23 Mar 2019

The time the train is due to arrive somewhere is fixed by the timetable. The time it is expected to arrive may vary according to circumstances and thus could be approximate.

bunnahabhain · 23 Mar 2019

fairysdad said:
Arguably, that's just as bad given that those aren't the station names. Now, to be fair, it is probable that a lot of passengers will realise what you mean, but if you have somebody who isn't local, doesn't have knowledge of the local area or its history, have been told they need to alight your service at a station called 'Carlisle', and hear you announce 'Carlisle Citadel' - it's quite possible that they will assume that 'Carlisle Citadel' is a suburban station and thus miss their station (or be very close to it if, when you pull into the station, they notice that it's not a suburban station and the main one).

Nobody can hear them anyway, the volume is bust and you only get a bing bong.

6Gman · 23 Mar 2019

bunnahabhain said:
I'm probably a little unusual by my announcements use "Guard" and not "Senior Conductor", and "Passenger" instead of "Customer". A friend was on my train the other day and commented when I used "Lancaster Castle" and "Carlisle Citadel" as well.

Ah, but did you use Preston North Union?

dtaylor84 · 23 Mar 2019

talltim said:
The time the train is due to arrive somewhere is fixed by the timetable. The time it is expected to arrive may vary according to circumstances and thus could be approximate.

Maybe it's due to arrive at 1459½ according to the working timetable, so "approximately 1500" would be correct.

westv · 23 Mar 2019

I've often heard "final approach" used when coming into Kings Cross. That's an aviation term.

urbophile · 23 Mar 2019

westv said:
I've often heard "final approach" used when coming into Kings Cross. That's an aviation term.

The best spoof of this sort of thing is the Merseyrail guard who will say things like 'our cruising altitude is approximately one metre'. Re airline seats, I suppose there are few alternatives to the term (except bus seats?), but it isn't very accurate since most actual airline seats face the direction of travel, rather than only 50%. I don't like them anyway.

atraindriver · 23 Mar 2019

LowLevel · 23 Mar 2019

atraindriver said:
A customer is someone who uses your business.
A passenger is a customer with specific additional legal rights over and above those any customer has.

The modern day passenger cum customer has far more rights than a BR era passenger ever did.

Consequently for me they are both. Unless you're Caledonian Sleeper who call them guests :lol:

atraindriver · 23 Mar 2019

andythebrave · 23 Mar 2019

bunnahabhain said:
I'm probably a little unusual by my announcements use "Guard" and not "Senior Conductor", and "Passenger" instead of "Customer". A friend was on my train the other day and commented when I used "Lancaster Castle" and "Carlisle Citadel" as well.

Good on you. Also the peated version of your username is a fine tipple.

LowLevel · 23 Mar 2019

atraindriver said:
Isn't that what I said?

Now I've re-read it properly, yes

atraindriver · 23 Mar 2019

eusd · 23 Mar 2019

Passenger is the old fashioned term. You are paying for the railway service, therefore you are a customer.
Whatever will people find to complain about next.

Brush 4 · 23 Mar 2019

All the non railway language criticisms are valid. We are passengers in trains stopping at stations. The arrival time is set in the timetable, no point in having it if that isn't the case. Railways and airlines are different. Also boarding passes are for planes, tickets are for trains, no need for both. The train terminates at a terminus, not a terminal, which are found at airports.

Annoying jargon in railway announcements

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