London overground station announcer change

[A60stock]

I've noticed a couple of stations on the Watford DC line and West London line which have switched over from the London overground tfl style announcer (female) to the announcer heard across the UK (Anne), which also announces all stations on route, (although the London overground style announcer also did that at some stations)

Is there a reason they are being changed?

To clarify, it was Emma doing the announcements before

 

[jamieh27]

London Overground Stations are switching from Emma to Worldline Atos using Anne. Anne is already at Lea Valley stations and Upminster line. They replaced Emma in May 2022-September 2022 on the GOBLIN line when Barking Riverside opened and Emma hasn't recorded Barking Riverside because of high cost from Amey (The supplier used to voice Emma) when Southern used Amey it costed 6K to record two words "Mitcham Eastfields". Stratford P1 and 2 Elizabeth line took over the CIS there which they already use Anne. Most likely the reason they are replacing is because of high cost from Ditra/Amey and some have been used for 22 years

 

[A60stock]

I would be very interested to see how Anne is used for making bakerloo line announcements on the Watford DC line where the stations are shared. I noticed these stations have not yet switched over

 

[jamieh27]

It would be, Anne does announcements for District line at Richmond station. The rest of the stations will be replaced sometime in 2024 according to Wiki Fandom.

 

[A60stock]

Yes, she does do the District line at Richmond, however, she does not announce the stations called at, as is done with London Overground/SWR at the same station.

 

[Skoodle]

It changed over on the East London Line between Dalston and Surrey Quays about 2 years ago. Still Emma at other ELL stations south of NXG.

 

[abn444]

Amazing how TfL complain about lack of money yet they've got the money for this

 

[py_megapixel]

Amazing how TfL complain about lack of money yet they've got the money for this

If maintenance of the information system is subcontracted - which it might well be - then the new system could cost less than keeping the old one would have.

 

[Sad Sprinter]

If maintenance of the information system is subcontracted - which it might well be - then the new system could cost less than keeping the old one would have.

Is this why Southern and South Western got rid of Celia a few years ago even though they managed to splice together "South Western Railway" from existing audio files?

 

[Pdf]

Is the high cost why south London line stations run by Southern that only have an occasional service to Highbury and Islington still don't know how to say it (or Canonbury).

 

[Horizon22]

Amazing how TfL complain about lack of money yet they've got the money for this

A drop in the ocean of overall costs.

Is this why Southern and South Western got rid of Celia a few years ago even though they managed to splice together "South Western Railway" from existing audio files?

I thought it was more the voice artist had sadly passed away?

 

[louis97]

The Amey system on Overground is end of life and is on a maintenance only contract. As such Overground are replacing it. This is why Overground replaced the system on the Barking to Gospel Oak line when Barking Riverside opened.

Is this why Southern and South Western got rid of Celia a few years ago even though they managed to splice together "South Western Railway" from existing audio files?

The Amey system (as previously used by Southern and South Western) didn't interface with Darwin as well as the system that replaced it. This would likely have factored in to the decision to replace it. Although it is likely the contract in the future would have been a maintenance only, as on the Overground, obviously this was no good for an operation like this.

 

[Class15]

Have noticed it on the North London. It’s a pity really, while I found the LO announcements irritating they were less so than “ATOS Anne”. Were they the same ones as the announcements on the 378s, which retain them!

 

[abn444]

A drop in the ocean of overall costs.

But so is £40m but it didn't stop them threatening to withdraw the travelcard.

If maintenance of the information system is subcontracted - which it might well be - then the new system could cost less than keeping the old one would have.

I bet the new worldline system is the cheapest (although still expensive) given how much technology has supposedly got better over the years yet atos/worldline sounds so much worse, much more robotic and rough

 

[Horizon22]

But so is £40m but it didn't stop them threatening to withdraw the travelcard.

Which is not on the same scale as changing the information system at a few stations (which was becoming prohibitively expensive without being changed anyway).

 

[Parallel]

I would be very interested to see how Anne is used for making bakerloo line announcements on the Watford DC line where the stations are shared. I noticed these stations have not yet switched over

Willesden Junction has changed over. She says ‘Platform x for the 12:33 service to Elephant & Castle. Calling at: Kensal Green, Queen’s Park and Elephant & Castle.’

The screens just show ‘Calling at: Elephant & C Und only’ which caused some confusion.

The good news is they haven’t clogged the new system up with lots of (badly) manually pre-recorded announcements by staff, as they have done with the Amey system.

 

[A60stock]

Its really silly that they don't announce the stations between Queens Park and E&C

Ideally, you need to either just say it calls at All stations to E&C or list every station it calls at