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The one that peeves me is Yorton. While waiting recently at Wem, Shropshire, an automated voice with a strong Welsh accent announced that the next train was for Shrewsbury, calling at Eerrton.
Let's be clear about this; the village is called Yorton, its pronounced as it's spelled. It doesn't need to be Welshified. It's not even in Wales.
The new announcements are quite frankly ‘interesting’. It’s very poor: I was told the reason for the change was that Peter Corley was no longer willing to take any more announcements on, and the manager of the voiceover team (someone please correct me on the role name!) had decided to use his voice for it.
I don’t have an issue with the voice, but the quality is extremely low. I’ve noticed volumes vary due to the echoes that sometimes happen when announcing a station.
Additionally, there doesn’t seem to be a flow with what the announcements say. We are now approaching Station, keep your tickets handy!’ And a few seconds later, ‘The next station is, Station!’.
Quite frankly, the announcements originally voiced by Trisha whilst out of date were of much better quality. If the announcements didn’t change so often and stuck to a script that didn’t change in every voice or at different stations, as well as much better quality recordings with minimal echoey, this would make a much better experience for the passenger!
Definitely don’t think it’s a good impression…
Rant over!
Appreciate some may not agree, but does anyone feel the same way?
The new announcements are quite frankly ‘interesting’. It’s very poor: I was told the reason for the change was that Peter Corley was no longer willing to take any more announcements on, and the manager of the voiceover team (someone please correct me on the role name!) had decided to use his voice for it.
I don’t have an issue with the voice, but the quality is extremely low. I’ve noticed volumes vary due to the echoes that sometimes happen when announcing a station.
Additionally, there doesn’t seem to be a flow with what the announcements say. We are now approaching Station, keep your tickets handy!’ And a few seconds later, ‘The next station is, Station!’.
Quite frankly, the announcements originally voiced by Trisha whilst out of date were of much better quality. If the announcements didn’t change so often and stuck to a script that didn’t change in every voice or at different stations, as well as much better quality recordings with minimal echoey, this would make a much better experience for the passenger!
Definitely don’t think it’s a good impression…
Rant over!
Appreciate some may not agree, but does anyone feel the same way?
I don’t understand why Northern need to change their scripts so often. Some other TOCs have used the same scripts for years, and the even the TOCs that do change their scripts semi-regularly such as GWR still manage to use the same voice over artist(s). I don’t see why they couldn’t continue using Trisha for the bits that needed updating. I suspect changing the announcements so often gives a ‘purpose’, which acts as justification for the job, which another poster mentioned earlier. Either way, the number of pointless changes to the wording for Northern suggests a rather inefficient use of resource.
I don’t understand why Northern need to change their scripts so often. Some other TOCs have used the same scripts for years, and the even the TOCs that do change their scripts semi-regularly such as GWR still manage to use the same voice over artist(s). I don’t see why they couldn’t continue using Trisha for the bits that needed updating. I suspect changing the announcements so often gives a ‘purpose’, which acts as justification for the job, which another poster mentioned earlier. Either way, the number of pointless changes to the wording for Northern suggests a rather inefficient use of resource.
Out of the geographical area but someone couldn't cope with stations with three words when they recorded the original announcements. So we ended up with: -
Bletchley (correct)
Milton Keynes (erm?)
Central Wolverton (so that's where the rest of MKC went)
I've known "Keithley" for a good number of years now, though when I was growing up I did think it was "Kayleigh", admittedly. I've never lived in, or near, the area, to be fair.
== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: ==
As an aside I always wonder about whether the American namesake towns copy our pronunciation where this is unusual.
For example is Leominster, MA "Lemster" like ours, or is it "Leo-minster" ?
Sometimes they re-spell them to match the pronunciation, e.g. Guilford, CT; Barnstable, MA.
Back to English places, is the Gloucestershire town pronounced "TEWkesbury" or is it "Chooksbury" (to rhyme with "took")? A B&B owner in the Cleeve Hill area was firm about it being the latter, and as they were a local, presumably they would know.
Evening all. My post about the TPE announcements wasn’t to do with the automated voice but the fact that there is nothing wrong with north east platforms - it is their trains which have higher steps then normal - I assume perhaps because these trains weren’t designed for UK use? Can anyone enlighten us?
This has always confused me as well. I presume that on the Liverpool-Newcastle run there are some stations west of Leeds that do have lower platforms, but the announcement simply activates for all stations. There are certainly none on the ECML, or certainly none that LNER feels the need to point out on its basically identical 5-car Azumas! I can't remember if the same announcement is used on the 185s on the Redcar workings.
If it's also the case on Hull Trains, perhaps it's just a Class 802 thing.
Interesting, the B&B owner was adamant that it was "Chooksbury" (rhyming with "took") and corrected me every time I pronounced it the most obvious way.
Yes i am aware that Onboard Systems Service Delivery Manager is his official title. But i call him the PIS manager as that is one of the main parts of his job and he does most of what the PIS manager does at other operators that employ someone with this title. It seems these days they just love useing fancy long job titles for everyone.
Slightly unrelated but still on the theme of Northern's PIS systems.
I've noticed that Northern have removed the date and time from the interior screens on the 195s (and I assume 331s) earlier this week. I'd consider time pretty important when on a train, especially if you have a connection. It's not like it's been replaced by something else, so I'm puzzled as to why they'd remove this.
Slightly unrelated but still on the theme of Northern's PIS systems.
I've noticed that Northern have removed the date and time from the interior screens on the 195s (and I assume 331s) earlier this week. I'd consider time pretty important when on a train, especially if you have a connection. It's not like it's been replaced by something else, so I'm puzzled as to why they'd remove this.
Hmm, that's one way to "fix" it. I only experienced that bug at the start of journeys before (and sometimes just after) setting off and it would soon rectify itself. I'd much rather have that bug than no time at all.
Hmm, that's one way to "fix" it. I only experienced that bug at the start of journeys before (and sometimes just after) setting off and it would soon rectify itself. I'd much rather have that bug than no time at all.
Was on a 333 with a bit of an issue yesterday, all stations on DON-LDS had an additional "the" in front of their names on arriving; The South Elmsall, The Fitzwilliam, etc ... the most disappointing Glastonbury line-up ever!
Was on a 333 with a bit of an issue yesterday, all stations on DON-LDS had an additional "the" in front of their names on arriving; The South Elmsall, The Fitzwilliam, etc ... the most disappointing Glastonbury line-up ever!
The one that peeves me is Yorton. While waiting recently at Wem, Shropshire, an automated voice with a strong Welsh accent announced that the next train was for Shrewsbury, calling at Eerrton.
Let's be clear about this; the village is called Yorton, its pronounced as it's spelled. It doesn't need to be Welshified. It's not even in Wales.
Given that virtually all the stations served by TfW are in Wales, and their services are provided mainly for welsh citizens, then as Hereford station is managed by TfW, the default order is best maintained.
Given that virtually all the stations served by TfW are in Wales, and their services are provided mainly for welsh citizens, then as Hereford station is managed by TfW, the default order is best maintained.
Still very much a minority of recorded announcements and there are probably a significant number of welsh passengers there. Just what harm does it cause if passengers have to wait (mostly) less than a minute more to get an english announcement?
Still very much a minority of recorded announcements and there are probably a significant number of welsh passengers there. Just what harm does it cause if passengers have to wait (mostly) less than a minute more to get an english announcement?
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