Are too loud and too many PRM alarms and announcements making travellers uptight.....

[PHILIPE]

This topic does come up from time to time on the Forum and there is a closed thread here which might be found useful in regard to previous discussion:-

http://www.railforums.co.uk/showthread.php?t=134877

Some couple of years ago, FGW (now GWR) announced a purge on the overdrive of unnecessary announcements

 

[Bletchleyite]

Many sounds are indeed far too loud.

As for "May I have your attention, please"; this precedes unimportant announcements. Regular commuters know to switch off listening at this point.

Same with "This is a special announcement" usually preceding one that is nothing of the sort. It's a bit like "the Democratic Republic of X" normally in actual fact being a military dictatorship.

Though I think one of the setups does do "May I have your attention please on platform N. We are sorry to announce that..." for a cancellation.

 

[TEW]

Reminds me of the "May i have your attention please, this is an important announcement about train services in and out of London Waterloo on Thursday 24th and Friday 25th August, around 25% of our normal timetable will run and services will be extremely busy", which all the guards took great pleasure in telling us, on one occasion this warning came whilst we were on one of the aforementioned trains on the aforementioned Thursday...

I don't think any of the guards took great pleasure in having to make that announcement non stop! It was forced upon them by the company with threats about what would happen if they didn't make them.

 

[xotGD]

Why do we get 'Due to today's inclement weather conditions...' announcements when there isn't a drop of rain?

 

[infobleep]

I have never understood why on Virgin EC we have to have the guard welcome passengers after EVERY station followed again by the head steward in the buffet car give the same welcome.
Surely the guard, after his welcome can simply remind new passengers that the buffet is open? We do not need to be welcomed twice !

Perhaps instead the steward could thank the guard for welcoming us! At least he hasn't welcomed us though!

 

[Paul Kelly]

Some couple of years ago, FGW (now GWR) announced a purge on the overdrive of unnecessary announcements

I think they must have forgotten about that. The Thames Turbos have very long winded announcements about not boarding the train when the doors are closing (since the incident at Hayes & Harlington), the Great Western electrification and how wires are now live and you should be careful when carrying long items, as well as all that See it Say it Sorted stuff, and it happens at virtually every station as far as I can think.

 

[BluePenguin]

Can guards override the automated audio announcements to disable some or all of them? Watched a clip on youtube the other day the PIS done an announcement, then the guard repeated a good chunk of the same information

A lot of the conductor on the southeastern trains seem to do this. I can't stand hearing all of the stations read out once by the recording and then the conductor several times. It is so unnecessary as people have had everything the recording has said and don't need it repeated. It didn't used too be bad a few years ago when I took the train to school. Back in those days when there were fast services, the announcements were of course shorter and I could easily have a phone call and not have to talk over the announcements constantly.

But now, as all services stop at every single station on the line the announcements seem to go on forever. Along with the announcements about reporting suspicious packages and not leaving anything on board, plus announcements about ticket checks which don't even happen it is a nightmare. It's just way too much.

 

[BluePenguin]

Thpical journey:

*get on train*

DING DONG

Welcome aboard this southeastern/southern service to Charing Cross/Victoria calling at: *procedes to announce 15-20 station names before London*

And then every few minutes

The next station is.....

We will shortly be arriving at/we are now approaching.....

We have now arrived at...... alight here for......

And then repeat the tourture again.... but with 1 less station.

Sometimes an extra few announcements about baggage and short platforms

Having all of the stations on the scrolling display at all times for people to look at if they need to, and only having an announcement of what the next station is would be sufficient

 

[rg177]

Having spent the day in Brussels yesterday, they seemed to have it about spot on.

On S Bahn style services, there was a chime followed by the station name, and any appropriate connections.

On IC services, the conductor would usually announce the next station, quite literally "Ladies and gentlemen, the next station is Brussels-Nord" which in the peaks was usually followed by "this train does not call at (eg) Leuven. This train is fast to x" and that was it.

On stations, trains were announced as usual, but anything not announcing a train was a platform alteration (done VERY clearly) eg. "The 12:16 to Brugge will now depart from Platform 5, and not Platform 7. Passengers on 5, please go to 7." There was the odd safety announcement, but I counted about three all day and they were usually "mind your bags"

Having spent every day on trains in the UK the past two weeks, there's only so many times you can be told to "tell the police if you see anything suspicious"

 

[GW43125]

I don't think any of the guards took great pleasure in having to make that announcement non stop! It was forced upon them by the company with threats about what would happen if they didn't make them.

But we were already on one of the affected trains! What's the bloody point?

It doesn't help that "may I have your attention please" is used for both the repetitive safety announcements etc and for the important platform alterations and corrections.

"Your attention please, this is a [platform alteration/correction]"-gets attention
"Your attention please, this is an important announcement"-makes everyone switch off.

Not ideal IMO.

 

[ComUtoR]

Remove the liability and they will all vanish overnight.

 

[physics34]

how can we get announcements and volume levels of alarms/alerts/'bing-bongs'/door chimes to be reduced..... a letter to the DfT will just get a standard response about PRM i presume......

A study needs to be performed.

 

[pdeaves]

Was on the Waterloo line. All disrupted, and there was a large crowd at Woking wanting to move westwards. The indicators were blank.

Suddenly the PA booms out, basso profundo, "May I have your attention, please". The crowd on the platforms suddenly go quiet to hear the news.

"Please keep your baggage with you at ALL times".

When there's disruption, passengers want information (obviously). It seems that if there is no update yet, someone, somewhere, thinks "we've got to put some noise into the silence" and gives an irrelevant announcement. Keep your baggage with you? Of course, no one's going anywhere.

 

[physics34]

When there's disruption, passengers want information (obviously). It seems that if there is no update yet, someone, somewhere, thinks "we've got to put some noise into the silence" and gives an irrelevant announcement. Keep your baggage with you? Of course, no one's going anywhere.

they are normally set automatically to play every x minutes..... pure laziness really that they are not stopped/altered during disruption to avoid passengers getting frustrated.

 

[Blindtraveler]

Speeking as a person for who the door chimes etc are intended, these chimes on upgraded stock and the 700s are indeed too loud and Id rather have something nicer and relaxing

Auto announcements on trains: see the 345s for IMO the coreect style and amount of info, I find even Scotrails OTT.

On Station: cut out the security/bad weather/barriers are in opperation/left luggage/see it say it etc and just announce things about trains! A regular departure announcement should have a chime in fron of it, cansilation or disruption should start with attention please.

Cut out the security waffle onboard too.

 

[physics34]

Speeking as a person for who the door chimes etc are intended, these chimes on upgraded stock and the 700s are indeed too loud and Id rather have something nicer and relaxing

Auto announcements on trains: see the 345s for IMO the coreect style and amount of info, I find even Scotrails OTT.

On Station: cut out the security/bad weather/barriers are in opperation/left luggage/see it say it etc and just announce things about trains! A regular departure announcement should have a chime in fron of it, cansilation or disruption should start with attention please.

Cut out the security waffle onboard too.

thanks for your input, and you views are interesting because its coming from someone who these are aimed at and even you think they are too loud and intrusive.

I really wonder what research was done.

 

[maire23]

I'm hard of hearing (wear 2 hearing aids) and I also have a physical disability which means that certain noises are painful to me.
9 times out of 10 I can't even hear the announcements. If I'm on one of my regular routes I'll ignore them anyway. Some of the door chime noises are, despite my lack of hearing too loud and they hurt!

 

[Mag_seven]

Same with "This is a special announcement" usually preceding one that is nothing of the sort. It's a bit like "the Democratic Republic of X" normally in actual fact being a military dictatorship.

That annoys me as well - there is nothing "special" about the announcement - its just a plain and simple announcement!

 

[trainophile]

Piccadilly has recently had a multi million pound PA system upgrade, so the announcement are much more noticeable.

Multi million? hock:

 

[Parallel]

That annoys me as well - there is nothing "special" about the announcement - its just a plain and simple announcement!

GWR do this - Announcements are like "MAY I HAVE YOUR ATTENTION PLEASE? Please mind the gap between the train and platform edge before boarding."or "MAY I HAVE YOUR ATTENTION PLEASE? Passengers are reminded not to board trains if they are not intended for travel."

The only one ATW use is "Your attention please, close circuit television and remote video monitoring is in use at this station..."

I can understand using something similar for the security messages (See It, Say It, Sorted)

 

[otomous]

looool...so crap and unprofessional though. Similar thing at london victoria recently..everything was at a stand no platforms being shown on the indicators...all you heard was the security and left luggage announcements for about 20 mins

Agreed. It's a common issue with society in general - a belief that "overwriting" everything makes it better. So instead of just "This is x," it has to be "Welcome aboard the x service to y. This train will be calling at." etc etc. That's fine on an inter city service with 5 stops - and slightly more "polite" PAs adds to the ambience. But when it's a metro service, 2 mins between stops, keep them simple. If I have to announce a changed stopping pattern or the like, I now feel the need to say "This is your driver, this is an important announcement" to get their attention, otherwise I run the risk of them tuning out and wondering why their train flew past their stop.

I suspect the difference in door open/close tones is a way of differentiating what the door is doing.

If we could turn off the aircon maintaining 15 second door close on metro services it would be a great help as then the wretched doors wouldn't keep closing one after the other, with resultant tones, when a train is laid over at Victoria.

 

[TUC]

I must admit I prefer "silent terminal" airports than ones that have the AviaVox Dutch woman wibbling on, provided there are screens visible from any point in the terminal. Manc Picc was for a bit a silent station - it was bliss. Nothing was announced except serious out of course running.

We must be reaching the point that some kind of mobile device could be provided to blind people to allow them to hear personalised detail in the context of where they are rather than everyone else being subjected to the waffle.

Mobile phones have their own set of accessibility issues if you can't see.

But that aside this isn't just an issue for visually impaired people. Audible announcements that you're approaching a station are much easier than having to constantly be looking up at a screen

 

[Sunset route]

It seams that Southerns new OBSs love their PA system even if that don't have a clue what to say and need to read the script from their fancy tablets they have now.

A few weeks back whilst waiting at a Junction (arrived early as most do and so has to wait for the correct path) to join the mainline. The OBS was straight on to the PA system apologising for the DELAY to this service and that we are waiting for the signal onto the mainline and we will be here for a few minutes as we have arrived EARLY.

1, you can't be delayed if your early
2, why do they feel that they have to announce something every signal check

It really is becoming a form of noise pollution.

 

[trainophile]

Waiting on Hereford station this morning and twice within half an hour a lilting Welsh female voice announced "your attention please... this platform slopes towards the edge, if you have a push chair or wheelchair please ensure the brakes are applied ". Not a sign of either at any stage, so presumably it must have been run randomly because the staff were fed up with the peace!

 

[plymothian]

It seams that Southerns new OBSs love their PA system even if that don't have a clue what to say and need to read the script from their fancy tablets they have now.

A few weeks back whilst waiting at a Junction (arrived early as most do and so has to wait for the correct path) to join the mainline. The OBS was straight on to the PA system apologising for the DELAY to this service and that we are waiting for the signal onto the mainline and we will be here for a few minutes as we have arrived EARLY.

1, you can't be delayed if your early
2, why do they feel that they have to announce something every signal check

It really is becoming a form of noise pollution.

This is because people complain they are never told anything when something happens.
Someone somewhere has now decreed that within x minutes of the train stopping outwith a station - an announcement must be made. That way no one can complain about being uninformed.

It's even worse on TfL, the train stops for 1 second, the driver apologises and almost immediately the signal clears and the train proceeds - what's the point?

The trouble is, it's when things go drastically wrong is when people want the information and that's when it's not so forthcoming, mainly because no one actually knows.

 

[Bertie the bus]

They announce “delays” because it’s good customer service. It is one of the only good things that has been introduced by the railway in recent years. Some people might travel around with one eye on the WTT and the other on their watch but most don’t so if a train stops anywhere other than a station a short, informative announcement can put people’s mind at rest.

They’ve been doing it on the Leeds – Doncaster stoppers for years. It nearly always stops awaiting a path on the ECML at Marshgate Junction and when it does the guard often makes an announcement despite it being on time. It will reassure anybody wanting to catch a connection at Doncaster.

 

[Via Bank]

It's even worse on TfL, the train stops for 1 second, the driver apologises and almost immediately the signal clears and the train proceeds - what's the point?

The trouble is, it's when things go drastically wrong is when people want the information and that's when it's not so forthcoming, mainly because no one actually knows.

I was under the impression that it was in light of 7/7 that these guidelines were introduced. If a train stops suddenly in a tunnel where a more inexperienced or anxious passenger wouldn’t expect it to, an announcement may help to reassure them that everything is fine (or that any problem is under control and being dealt with.)

 

[goblinuser]

I often find that the door sounds and announcements on class 172s, 378s and S Stock (Most stock from the 00s and later) to be so loud that it hurts my ears. However, I understand people with very poor hearing might think it is a normal volume.

 

[Bertie the bus]

I thought the PIS was for people with hearing problems. I don’t know about you but when I go into a shop I don’t want the shop assistant shouting at me just on the off chance I might be partially deaf so why do we have to put up with too loud bongs, screeches and announcements on the railway when there are other systems in place for people who need them?

 

[Parallel]

Waiting on Hereford station this morning and twice within half an hour a lilting Welsh female voice announced "your attention please... this platform slopes towards the edge, if you have a push chair or wheelchair please ensure the brakes are applied ". Not a sign of either at any stage, so presumably it must have been run randomly because the staff were fed up with the peace!

I believe she's fully automated and ATW put her on to play at set times. Depending where you are, she also does one for 'buy before you board' and 'see it, say it, sorted' too. Annoying, and her voice sticks out like a sore thumb - If these HAVE to be played, can ATW just get their regular announces to record?