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passenger confusion over trains going to similar sounding destinations

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Western Lord

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The London Liverpool Street/Liverpool Lime Street situation could be quite easily resolved by just having a sign saying LONDON and another saying LIVERPOOL. I'm sure most people don't have any interest in the name of the station that they arrive at, especially as there is no choice of direct trains. The Norwich problem will soon be a thing of the past anyway with the withdrawal of trains to Liverpool.
 
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dk1

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Western Lord said:
The London Liverpool Street/Liverpool Lime Street situation could be quite easily resolved by just having a sign saying LONDON and another saying LIVERPOOL. I'm sure most people don't have any interest in the name of the station that they arrive at, especially as there is no choice of direct trains. The Norwich problem will soon be a thing of the past anyway with the withdrawal of trains to Liverpool.
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Everything has been tried in the last 34yrs that Liverpool has been served from the Norfolk capital including 'Merseyside' as a destination. Unfortunately though there is no accounting for stupid.
 
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DanTrain

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Spartacus said:
New Street used to famously have two departures to Glasgow Central at the same time, one WCML, one XC, frequently departing from adjacent platforms. Confusion was inevitable.
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https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/se...20/01/11/0000-2359?stp=WVS&show=all&order=wtt

Disappointingly these have been retimed, they were initially down to run this Autumn both as the 08:11 Edinburgh - Manchester Airport :lol:.

Also, unrelated to trains but this is quite amusing!
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uk...-Earls-daughter-to-wrong-Stamford-Bridge.html
 
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modernrail

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I do think it is generally a silly idea to have the name of a city within the name of a station in another city. You probably can't avoid it on the underground but maybe they should have renamed London Liverpool Street as London Broadgate when they closed Broadgate.

Same with Manchester Oxford Rd. Maybe Manchester Palace or Manchester Hacienda would be better, or Manchester Madforit.

I am sure that actual mistakes are rare but incidents of confusion caused might be higher.

I wonder if there are any continental examples.
 
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edwin_m

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Western Lord said:
The London Liverpool Street/Liverpool Lime Street situation could be quite easily resolved by just having a sign saying LONDON and another saying LIVERPOOL. I'm sure most people don't have any interest in the name of the station that they arrive at, especially as there is no choice of direct trains. The Norwich problem will soon be a thing of the past anyway with the withdrawal of trains to Liverpool.
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It was probably more of a problem when Cambridge had Liverpool trains, as that station also has trains to both Liverpool Street and Kings Cross and the London station is typically used to distinguish them - so dropping the "Liverpool Street" would have caused confusion for a different group of people. This issue remains at Ely where there are still trains to all of Liverpool, Liverpool Street and Kings Cross.
 
Terry Tait

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A couple of Christmases ago southeastern main line services were operating from Waterloo which meant that Ashford (Kent) and Ashford (Surrey) were both served by trains from Waterloo, someone must have done that wrong, lol.
 
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ElectroSoldier

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There seems to be a lot of talk about something similar in Liverpool at the minute with the proposed reinstatement of the St James station. People want it renamed to something else as it will be confused with James Street station.

Liverpool James St
Liverpool St James.
 
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urbophile

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duncanp said:
In London, it has been known for people to mistake Tottenham Hale with Tottenham Court Road, and Blackhorse Lane (Croydon Tramlink) with Blackhorse Road (Victoria Line)
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When we lived on the Wimbledon branch of the District Line, we advised a friend arriving in Euston to go to Euston Square station and change at Edgware Road. Instead she got the Northern Line to Edgware.
 
Spartacus

Spartacus

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Western Lord said:
The London Liverpool Street/Liverpool Lime Street situation could be quite easily resolved by just having a sign saying LONDON and another saying LIVERPOOL. I'm sure most people don't have any interest in the name of the station that they arrive at, especially as there is no choice of direct trains. The Norwich problem will soon be a thing of the past anyway with the withdrawal of trains to Liverpool.
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While many people might not have a great deal of interest in which station they’re going to, they’re likely to need to know when they’re coming home.....
 
Dr_Paul

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modernrail said:
I do think it is generally a silly idea to have the name of a city within the name of a station in another city. You probably can't avoid it on the underground but maybe they should have renamed London Liverpool Street as London Broadgate when they closed Broadgate.
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Bishopsgate might be an idea, as it is the name of the street alongside Liverpool Street station. Or perhaps Norton Folgate, which is just up the road.
 
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duncanp

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I wonder if anyone with a really bad cold has ever asked for a ticket to Norwich and been sold one to Dorridge instead
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Or asked for a ticket to Nottingham, and been sold one to Mottingham instead.

It is not just on the railways, as the story below illustrates.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-birmingham-36150328

Someone who is not familiar with the geography of the United States may not realise there is a Birmingham in Alabama, and the three letter code (BHM) for the American airport is also the code for Birmingham New Street Station.

A woman booked a dream holiday to Las Vegas, only to discover when she and her boyfriend arrived at Birmingham Airport she had mistakenly booked to fly from Birmingham Alabama.

Richella Heekin saved for two years for a surprise £1,200 holiday for boyfriend Ben Marlow's 30th birthday last month.

But the excited couple arrived to find the airline's desk closed.

Staff confirmed the BHM airport code on their tickets meant Birmingham Alabama, not the UK's second city.

The airport code for the British Birmingham is BHX.

"Richella's face has just gone red and she's in tears," said Mr Marlow.

"I was like - we're not going to Vegas then.

"I was more gutted for Richella than myself because it was a surprise."
The couple thought they were flying from Birmingham - in the West Midlands - to Dallas and on to Las Vegas (above)
Ms Heekin revealed the surprise to her boyfriend at a party in front of family and friends, with those who knew they were due to head to the US giving dollars as a present.

But the couple, from Sutton Coldfield and both carers for children with special needs, were devastated when they turned up to see no flights on the board.

The couple thought they were flying from Birmingham - in the West Midlands - to Dallas and on to Las Vegas.

"I looked at the departure board and there's no flights," 26-year-old Ms Heekin said.

She said the error occurred after she spent time "doing a lot of clicking" on lastminute.com searching for flights, dates, prices and hotels.

"When I got my confirmation, I was checking my email. I checked the times and the code [BHM] was there," she said.

Ms Heekin said they contacted the website when at the airport, but the company said there was nothing that could be done.

Frustrated and with time booked off work, the couple used a new credit card to buy two late flights to Amsterdam instead - exchanging the gifted dollars for euros.

Lastminute.com said although it was not its error, the firm tried to find them alternative flights and contacted the airline and hotel for a refund, but one could not be provided.

Since attracting media attention, the couple have been offered a free five-day holiday to Las Vegas by Virgin Holidays.
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Dr_Paul

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David Emmott said:
When we lived on the Wimbledon branch of the District Line, we advised a friend arriving in Euston to go to Euston Square station and change at Edgware Road. Instead she got the Northern Line to Edgware.
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Was Aldersgate changed to Barbican because of possible confusion with Aldgate?
 
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edwin_m

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duncanp said:
Or asked for a ticket to Nottingham, and been sold one to Mottingham instead.

It is not just on the railways, as the story below illustrates.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-birmingham-36150328

Someone who is not familiar with the geography of the United States may not realise there is a Birmingham in Alabama, and the three letter code (BHM) for the American airport is also the code for Birmingham New Street Station.
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Many years ago I was trying to buy a ticket to Liss from a ticket clerk who was either rather dopey or having a very bad day. Amongst the three or four voided tickets for various reasons was one to Leeds.

Stories of people going to Birming-ham Alabama when they wanted Birmingum West Midlands or vice versa seem to crop up every few months. It's probably easier to make a mistake with airlines because airfares often bear little relation to distance and you get a choice of worldwide destinations that you may not even know exist. It's also difficult to hop off at the next station if you find you've made a mistake!
 
D6975

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Many years ago the GWR denamed a whole batch of steam locomotives. The reason - they were all named after places on the GWR network - Penzance for example.

The Southern however saw no problem having lots of locos named after West Country locations.
 
Dr_Paul

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D6975 said:
Many years ago the GWR denamed a whole batch of steam locomotives. The reason - they were all named after places on the GWR network - Penzance for example. The Southern however saw no problem having lots of locos named after West Country locations.
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I've heard that the LBSCR removed the London place-names from their Terrier tank locomotives on South London commuter trains because passengers thought that a loco called Stepney was actually going there. I do not know if this is true or is one of those mythical tales that have been accepted as true.
 
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bunnahabhain

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Whenever I'm announcing at Norwich I always say "Lime Street, Liverpool Merseyside" to emphasise the point. People still don't listen though, and it's not unusual to have at least one person on the wrong train who realises before or after departure. The furthest I've known somebody reach on my train is Manchester Piccadilly, they'd been advised to alight at Ely and "didn't understand what the guard meant" and became confused when they were still on the train a few hours after it should have arrived in London.
 
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urbophile

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bunnahabhain said:
they'd been advised to alight at Ely and "didn't understand what the guard meant" and became confused when they were still on the train a few hours after it should have arrived in London.
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That's another bit of rail jargon that annoys me. 'Alight' in normal English (especially to a foreigner) means if anything something to do with flames and burning. The word is never used in ordinary speech to mean 'get off', 'leave' either of which would be preferable. (The phrase 'when exiting the station' is perhaps less ambiguous but nevertheless annoying: why not say 'leaving'?)
 
30907

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southernyoshi said:
I really really hope the old story about the American couple turning up to Leeds (Yorkshire) station & asking directions to the castle (in Leeds, Kent) was true :p
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Maybe. A clerk at the SR Central Telephone Enquiry Bureau certainly once took a call enquiring for trains to Leeds - the caller, with a transatlantic accent, was sure they ran from Victoria not Kings Cross and it was a while before they mentioned the castle (in those days we ran a combined train-and-bus trip out of Victoria...).

BTW in case you think I should have realised from the mention of Victoria, back in the 70s people thought trains to anywhere and everywhere ran from there, because NX coaches did.
 
61653 HTAFC

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DanTrain said:
Paris gare de Lyon...not much confusion there though as trains go to Lyon...kind of logical :)
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I did see a news story about a football supporter from Spain (or maybe Italy) who wanted to see his team play Eintracht Frankfurt... but put "Frankfurt" in his satnav and followed it to Frankfurt an der Oder instead of Frankfurt am Main.
 
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Antman

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On the tube I heard a tale of somebody arriving at Mornington Crescent and asking for directions to the sorting office. Turned out he wanted Mount Pleasant which does sound similar.

Tonbridge and Tunbridge Wells understandly get some people confused although they're not far apart.
 
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Ianno87

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CaptainHaddock said:
I wonder if anyone with a really bad cold has ever asked for a ticket to Norwich and been sold one to Dorridge instead?
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Or Horwich (Parkway).

A friend coming to visit me at Lostock once got sold a ticket to Lowestoft...
 
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etr221

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Pluto said:
Tonbridge and Tunbridge Wells understandly get some people confused although they're not far apart.
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My understanding is that the difference in spelling (Ton~ v Tun~) was introduced by the Victorian Post Office to make them more distinguishable (they were previously both Tun~)
 
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Chris M

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When I was at university I had a very dyslexic friend who attempted to make a journey from Swindon to Bexhill avoiding London. Things were fine until Reading where instead of a train to Redhill (Surrey) he boarded one to Redruth (Cornwall) - first stop Taunton. He got there several hours later than planned, but not financially worse off as it was a genuine mistake.

duncanp said:
I hope the excellent National Rail Enquiries website doesn't confuse either of these with St James Street station in London, which of course is served by trains from...... Liverpool Street.
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Not forgetting St James Park in Exeter, St. James's Park in central London, St James in Newcastle, and Paisley St. James in Scotland.
 
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naverag

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I know someone who was trying to get to Haddenham & Thame Parkway, asked a member of staff at Birmingham New Street for help, but was misheard and was directed onto a train for Tame Bridge Parkway!

(In addition to being a fairly easy mishearing - Thame and Tame being pronounced essentially the same - there are direct trains from New Street to Tame Bridge Parkway whereas trains to Haddenham & Thame Parkway go from Moor Street)
 
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