Announcements on new/refurbished trains can be too loud, frequent and distracting

J-2739 · 25 Oct 2019

Moderator note: Split from https://www.railforums.co.uk/thread...oduction-updates.128808/page-110#post-4261002

Flyingsprinter said:
...the speakers are loud, they need to turn the volume down, the point of the info screens is for the hard of hearing so why shout! Would give you a headache on a long service with frequent stops.

The voice artists are both dreadful sounding too.

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Bletchleyite · 25 Oct 2019

J-2739 said:
The voice artists are both dreadful sounding too.

I don't agree - they have a proper "gritty Northern" feel to them - they're almost an "audio brand".

Sleeperwaking · 25 Oct 2019

J-2739 said:
The voice artists are both dreadful sounding too.

I like the voice artists, it's nice to have local accents rather than the usual generic English one.

js1000 · 25 Oct 2019

J-2739 said:
The voice artists are both dreadful sounding too.

I find the slow, monotonous female voice (that is also across other Northern units such as the 319) irritating and patronising. The Geordie and the Yorkshire blokes are all right.

Was talking to a conductor today on way home as we were coming into the station. Sounded stressed out and said he "detested" these new trains. Too clever for their own good. Imagine there are a few nervous people at CAF right now with their hands full of teething problems.

J-2739 · 25 Oct 2019

Bletchleyite said:
I don't agree - they have a proper "gritty Northern" feel to them - they're almost an "audio brand".

Sleeperwaking said:
I like the voice artists, it's nice to have local accents rather than the usual generic English one.

Nothing wrong with a regional accent, but these two don't really sit. The woman sounds like she has no soul, whereas the man sounds as though he is trying to force feed the announcement down your throat. Very cringe.

js1000 said:
I find the slow, monotonous female voice (that is also across other Northern units such as the 319) irritating and patronising. The Geordie and the Yorkshire blokes are all right.

I agree with you about the female; why she feels the need to drag out that drone of a voice, I don't know. The bloke, I find very cringe, but at least he's a bit brief.

Not a personal attack, by the way. And as if I could do a better voice over! Can't wait for these units to come round my neck of the woods!

Grannyjoans · 26 Oct 2019

I find the slow, monotonous female voice (that is also across other Northern units such as the 319) irritating and patronising

Think how bad it is for the Driver. Wigan to Liverpool to Wigan to Liverpool to Wigan (all stops). Stuck in a cab, listening to that slow, monotonous, automated voice for 4 hours. It's just as loud in the cab as it is in the saloon.

I hate all these OTT automated announcements everywhere they feel like they're grinding me down day after day. Its got worse over the years and its reached the point that every working day is 7 to 9 hours listening to a constant stream of boring, monotonous robotic announcements.

superkev · 26 Oct 2019

Grannyjoans said:
Think how bad it is for the Driver. Wigan to Liverpool to Wigan to Liverpool to Wigan (all stops). Stuck in a cab, listening to that slow, monotonous, automated voice for 4 hours. It's just as loud in the cab as it is in the saloon.

I hate all these OTT automated announcements everywhere they feel like they're grinding me down day after day. 8 or 9 hours every working day listening to a constant stream of monotonous robotic announcements and its got worse and worse over the years. Moments of peace and quiet on the railway are now rare.

I too detest the wall of noise when riding on new trains. What happened to peace and quiet.
And, Bit off topic but with all this talk of Northern dialects try Roy Hudds Northern attempt on Youtube from my childhood. May make a smile.

There a pub in Blackpool called Albert and the Lion.
K

Grannyjoans · 26 Oct 2019

I too detest the wall of noise when riding on new trains. What happened to peace and quiet.

It's not just the new trains - the old 319's are amongst the worst offenders. Especially in the cab, where for some reason, there is a speaker built into the PIS control unit so the driver has to listen to all the robotic automated s***e as well.

All the stoppers that we have to do makes it worse because stopping at stations triggers most of the announcements. When it's a stop every 3 minutes, it's a never-ending monotonous voice from start to finish.

js1000 · 26 Oct 2019

Grannyjoans said:
It's not just the new trains - the old 319's are amongst the worst offenders. Especially in the cab, where for some reason, there is a speaker built into the PIS control unit so the driver has to listen to all the robotic automated s***e as well. All the stoppers that we have to do makes it worse because stopping at stations triggers most of the announcements. When it's a stop every 3 minutes, it's a never-ending monotonous voice from start to finish.

Guards have to listen to that automated woman with her monotonous, patronising voice reading War and Peace at every stop on the 319s too? Any Northern guard on the Liverpool to Crewe 319 stoppers having to listen that 30 times in little over 2 hours must be being punished for some offence in a previous life! The 195/331s announcements are much better with a mix of female/male voices.

Grannyjoans · 26 Oct 2019

Guards have to listen to that automated woman with her monotonous, patronising voice reading War and Peace at every stop on the 319s too?

Guards and Drivers

Any Northern guard on the Liverpool to Crewe 319 stoppers having to listen that 30 times in little over 2 hours must be being punished for some offence in a previous life!

Try Wigan to Liverpool to Wigan four times in one day. Listening to that 96 times in 8 hours. Many Guards have had to do that!

It's a right old slog this job for both members of train crew, the constant stops properly grind you down and theres nothing you can do about it...

Neptune · 26 Oct 2019

I just turn Train FX off. I’m not listening to that barrage of noise for 9 hours a day. Destination on the screens and manual announcements including Transec. That’s more than enough.

Killingworth · 26 Oct 2019

As a passenger uncertain of location the recorded announcements generally come over better than many that get rushed in a frantic effort to get it over with and back to collecting a few fares. Recently I was in a refurbished 150 that had to stop again at Grindleford after setting off for no more than 5 yards. That threw the machine which seemed to have assumed it had just stopped at Hathersage and announced the next station would be Bamford.

Strangers to the North may wonder where Manchester Pick might be. The site where they're building 15 /16? Surely the recording could cope with Piccadilly?

driver_m · 26 Oct 2019

Grannyjoans said:
It's not just the new trains - the old 319's are amongst the worst offenders. Especially in the cab, where for some reason, there is a speaker built into the PIS control unit so the driver has to listen to all the robotic automated s***e as well.

All the stoppers that we have to do makes it worse because stopping at stations triggers most of the announcements. When it's a stop every 3 minutes, it's a never-ending monotonous voice from start to finish.

you should report that as a distraction. They’d soon isolate it if it caused an incident.

CHAPS2034 · 26 Oct 2019

As a mere punter, the continual announcements are annoying but there again there will be people on the train that need them.

What I don't understand is why the drivers need to hear them all the time. Could someone explain please?

And if there is a valid reason why drivers need to hear them, why isn't there a volume control so you can adjust it to be less obtrusive?

While I am at it, I find it amazing that drivers cannot find out when this 26 hour check (mentioned up thread ) is required.

Were not the cab design and controls etc discussed with the Unions first to see what was required?

darloscott · 26 Oct 2019

To be honest as a bus driver (who helped launch the Sapphire brand at Arriva) I found we zoned out to all the announcements after a month or so, just became part of the background noise and I didn't really notice them. Certainly no need to be playing them in a train cab, can that speaker not be isolated (if that's possible?)

Llama · 26 Oct 2019

The speaker can't be isolated, no. Personally I'm lucky enough to be able to just 'blinker it out' most of the time.

If the guards do a manual announcement (or any other interaction with the TrainFX) then the screen on it shines brightly right in the driver's line of sight.

driver_m · 26 Oct 2019

Llama said:
The speaker can't be isolated, no. Personally I'm lucky enough to be able to just 'blinker it out' most of the time.

If the guards do a manual announcement (or any other interaction with the TrainFX) then the screen on it shines brightly right in the driver's line of sight.

you shouldn’t stand for that. I remember us getting a PA light dimmed as it was a distraction so I can just imagine what our union reps would be like if that was foisted upon us. I atually can’t believe your union reps haven’t pulled that..

Llama · 26 Oct 2019

It was raised by at least one H&S rep, over three years ago when they started putting TrainFX on the diesel units. And our H&S rep is good at what he does. However there are a lot of deadlegs higher up on the union side of things though. Not all, but enough strategically kept in their place (such as the so-called 'cab improvements group' - one look at the legacy fleet cabs would tell you all you need to know about their work ethic and, surprise surprise, the same faces have been on that jolly for over a decade) that trying to get anything done through the machinery is just soul destroying.

jfowkes · 26 Oct 2019

I'm sure passengers unfamiliar with the route appreciate announcements for the next station call.

What we don't need is :
- To be told to keep our belongings safe
- To be told to look out for suspicious peeps and report them (one day someone will hear "see it say it sorted" one too many times and it will cause an incident itself!)
- To be told that the buffet sells food and drink.

All these extra announcements just distract from the important stuff, especially if your English isn't great.

Geeves · 27 Oct 2019

I remember the user groups on items as simple as (you would think) having a bin in the cab, so when it comes to anything electrical in there I think you are fighting a losing battle!

AMD · 27 Oct 2019

The long overdue upgrade to TrainFX, which comes with headcode input, will bring two major improvements - the system will no longer play the announcements through the handset units and the leading cab unit will no longer light up when another handset is in use. As to when the rollout is going to happen, I don't know as it should have started by now....

Llama · 27 Oct 2019

I've had two units with headcode enablement. One was well over a year ago, the other was a couple of weeks ago.

Knowing how spectacularly unreliable the kit is (constant repair book entries about it playing auto and manual announcements in the cab but not the saloon, constant 'route aborted', 'please wait' (forever), 'unable to load route' errors) you'll have to forgive me for being sceptical. The whole system feels like some sixth-form project.

fgwrich · 27 Oct 2019

J-2739 said:
Nothing wrong with a regional accent, but these two don't really sit. The woman sounds like she has no soul, whereas the man sounds as though he is trying to force feed the announcement down your throat. Very cringe.

I agree with you about the female; why she feels the need to drag out that drone of a voice, I don't know. The bloke, I find very cringe, but at least he's a bit brief.

Not a personal attack, by the way. And as if I could do a better voice over! Can't wait for these units to come round my neck of the woods!

Who does the voiceover work for the Northern stock? It can't be as bad as two First Group operations in my opinion though - The deadpan First TransPennine Express person, and the ever irritating "Great Wessssstern Railwayssss" person.

TT-ONR-NRN · 28 Oct 2019

fgwrich said:
Who does the voiceover work for the Northern stock? It can't be as bad as two First Group operations in my opinion though - The deadpan First TransPennine Express person, and the ever irritating "Great Wessssstern Railwayssss" person.

Indeed, the Northern 195s do have irritating announcement but the sarcastic torture Neil Rudd bestows on TransPennine Express 185s is beyond worse. So just be happy 195s don’t have his voice, people.

J-2739 · 28 Oct 2019

fgwrich said:
Who does the voiceover work for the Northern stock? It can't be as bad as two First Group operations in my opinion though - The deadpan First TransPennine Express person, and the ever irritating "Great Wessssstern Railwayssss" person.

Not sure, but I'm guessing they work for Northern?

That TPE woman sounds very dull, yes, but I don't really mind the GWR woman. She's a bit cringe, but she sounds like she enjoys her job, and with every destination she reads out, she's almost trying to make them sound like exciting tourist attractions!

There are many tourists hotspots in the North; why can't the Northern woman sound even a bit interested when announcing them?

Philip · 28 Oct 2019

fgwrich said:
Who does the voiceover work for the Northern stock? It can't be as bad as two First Group operations in my opinion though - The deadpan First TransPennine Express person, and the ever irritating "Great Wessssstern Railwayssss" person.

Don't mind the First ones. The TPE woman might sound bland but she is at least to the point without sounding patronising and like talking to a small child like the Northern woman does. I found the FNW/FGW woman used on the 175s and 180s in earlier years quite pleasant to listen to.

Prestige15 · 28 Oct 2019

The woman that announce on Southern/Thameslink is by far the best in my opinion, Plesent, smoothing and relaxing to listen to

The worse is gotta be Northern's 195/331, Sounds like some chav's dad from middleton

NoOnesFool · 28 Oct 2019

The woman on Northern's class 321/2s sounds awful.

NoOnesFool · 28 Oct 2019

On London Midland 350s, a professional voice over artist called Celia Drummond is used and I find her voice less grating.

J-2739 · 28 Oct 2019

NoOnesFool said:
On London Midland 350s, a professional voice over artist called Celia Drummond is used and I find her voice less grating.

Is it not Julie Berry on the LNWR 350s?

Announcements on new/refurbished trains can be too loud, frequent and distracting

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