This is actually so poor on northern's part, they've missed a real trick. I'm from the theatre industry and I've worked with an abundance of wonderful newly graduated actors who have their own professional voice recording setups and are self represented. They all struggle to find work doing voiceovers and other things because people with more experience are always picked. It would be such a good idea to get people like that involved with the creation of the announcements. Not only because they will most likely have a northern accent of some description making the announcements more authentic but they will be able to properly launch their careers and use it as an example of work that they've done so they can continue to get more voice over work etc. I think that would also look good for northern as it shows that they are giving back to the community. It is honestly a real shame how hard it is to get an acting job especially hearing the stories of the people I've worked with and something like this could be a life changing opportunity that they need.
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Northern re-records 34 station name announcements with local pronunciation
- Thread starter Trackman
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RailUK Forums
The stress on "oz" I always thought, but I've never heard anyone say it. While some place names look difficult, other quite innocent-looking ones can trap the unwary, especially names of villages or suburbs which are rarely spoken outside the local area.
Sf9k
Member
Don't know about anywhere else, but I'm on 156454 at the moment and they've changed the announcements yet again
The poor cut-offs between phrases are still present, the mind the gap announcement no longer plays for each station and "The next station stop is" is now "We are now approaching"
Northern can't seem to make their mind up about announcements these days which is extremely funny
The poor cut-offs between phrases are still present, the mind the gap announcement no longer plays for each station and "The next station stop is" is now "We are now approaching"
Northern can't seem to make their mind up about announcements these days which is extremely funny
As I work for them......the other day I happened to be travelling pass and heard these updated announcements. What an absolute pile of nonsense....why on earth can't we just keep it simple.
ModernRailways
Established Member
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- 21 Apr 2011
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- 2,119
So many extra words that add nothing. Telling passengers to speak to the conductor if they require assistance as they pass through the train is bananas considering the CAF fleet doesn't have gangways and it might not be possible for the guard to get through on the numerous full and standing trains operated.
It comes across like whoever is doing this loves their voice and is making a job for themselves by making things worse and moreso with the more recent changes they just don’t want train crew to make any announcements, and so are putting in everything that might be said in a manual announcement.
If the train is delayed the auto announcement is also more irritating and is constantly reminding passengers they are delayed, when this doesn’t need to be the case and doesn’t provide any reasoning. A manual announcement comes across more genuine and can go a lot further with building rapport to avoid potential conflict etc
All the auto announcements need to be is ‘This is the Northern service to [Destination]. We will be calling at [Intermediate Stations] and [Destination].’ For major stations add ‘Please keep personal belongings with you at all times, and if you see anything suspicious, report it to a member of staff or text BTP on 61016. See it, say it, and we’ll sort it‘.
‘We will shortly be arriving at [Station].’ Maybe add in mind the gap, take bags with you but that’s it.
Ollie29
Member
Or when you're arriving at a station with no ticket barriers and the automatic announcement says " please keep your ticket with you as you may need it to exit this station"
Ant158
Member
- Joined
- 5 Apr 2013
- Messages
- 187
Travelling on a Class 150 with the updated announcements. Must say they sound cobbled together and just don’t flow.
Examples
‘This is the northern train to…(awkward pause while the station is selected) Clitheroe’
‘Keep your ticket handy!’
Also the announcements about way-finding are unnecessary, and Northern service sounded better than Northern train. One other annoying observation is that when stations are close together like Salford central and Manchester Victoria the announcements often begin then stop half way and announce the next station.
Examples
‘This is the northern train to…(awkward pause while the station is selected) Clitheroe’
‘Keep your ticket handy!’
Also the announcements about way-finding are unnecessary, and Northern service sounded better than Northern train. One other annoying observation is that when stations are close together like Salford central and Manchester Victoria the announcements often begin then stop half way and announce the next station.
Having travelled on several 150s and 170s in the Sheffield area recently, the announcements sound like they were recorded in an echo chamber or at least in a large empty room with very bad acoustics.
Has anyone else noticed this?
Has anyone else noticed this?
"Keep your ticket handy" or whatever seems like a particular waste of breath when probably 90% of passengers these days are keeping their ticket handy...as an electronic copy on their phone!
I've probably just given Northern the idea to record a pointless "Keep your phone charged up!" announcement...
I've probably just given Northern the idea to record a pointless "Keep your phone charged up!" announcement...
pokemonsuper9
Established Member
I've got a unit with the new announcements today
Wow that is a BIG gap before the station name, much bigger than I expected from that message.
How can other operators get it right and Northern get it so wrong. I use a lot of trains with automated announcements and they sound professional, why, why, why is everything done on the cheap up north.
RailWonderer
Established Member
'Please remember to keep your phone fully charged up, as it may run out of battery before a member of staff can inspect it. Failure to present a paper ticket or e ticket will result in a penalty fare and criminal prosecution....'
It has to be as long, unnecessary and tedious as possible to be a proper modern British railway announcement. The voice has to be robotic and stiff as well, and the stronger the dialect, the better.
As Scotrail have done!
railrambler
Member
I’ts amazing that all stations served by TPE trains in the North East have lower platforms than normal - if you know where I’m coming from
When the CAF trains were introduced in July 2019 they had a professional voiceover doing the station announcements (not sure but recognise from the Jet2 adverts). It was absolutely fine and better than the robotic ones on the 319/323 sets. Then Northern decided it was a good idea getting some amateurs to do some jarring announcements? Frustrating.
Trisha Jarman was the previous voice. She was on almost all Northern trains until 2023 when David Curtis was then hired as the PIS manager and decided to start messing around with voices. First he got another staff member (Peter Corley) to record them and now he (David Curtis) voices them himself. They sound so amateur and cheap now. Trisha Jarman was excellent. She had the perfect voice for announcements. It was so stupid to get rid of her announcements and replace them with this shoddy mess.
Bertie the bus
Established Member
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- 15 Aug 2014
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- 3,041
That's what happens when you employ a PIS manager. They're not going to say everything is just fine as it is or any sensible employer would get rid of them as a needless expense, so they will make endless pointless changes just to justify their salary.
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Must be a TPE controlled thing, Hull Trains units do it for every station aswell, both have the same voice, an ex TPE guard who is now a Driver for Hull Trains
Purple Train
Established Member
He has an excellent voice, and would be perfect for Northern if they do desire a male voice with a northern accent. Joined-up railway...
railrambler
Member
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?
I was on a 170 today between York and Hammerton and the announcements are much worse than Peter Corley's.
Firstly there is a lack of flow between each recording with large gaps of silence and the fact that the way that they just don't fit together right.
Then there is the amount of echo and distortion on some of the clips for example Cattal sounds like caaaaal because of the amount of echo on the recording.
Then there is the unnecessary information on the PIS screens which is so vast that the message cuts off when it talks about CCTV because it prioritises stopping the conductor (do we even call them that anymore??) to ask for help.
My final gripe with these announcements is the fact that they've got some pronunciations wrong that the Peter Corely announcements fixed making these announcements an utter waste of time and make Northern look shoddy and unprofessional.
I have recorded better announcements for a theatre using a phone in my car as a last resort - Northern do better!
Firstly there is a lack of flow between each recording with large gaps of silence and the fact that the way that they just don't fit together right.
Then there is the amount of echo and distortion on some of the clips for example Cattal sounds like caaaaal because of the amount of echo on the recording.
Then there is the unnecessary information on the PIS screens which is so vast that the message cuts off when it talks about CCTV because it prioritises stopping the conductor (do we even call them that anymore??) to ask for help.
My final gripe with these announcements is the fact that they've got some pronunciations wrong that the Peter Corely announcements fixed making these announcements an utter waste of time and make Northern look shoddy and unprofessional.
I have recorded better announcements for a theatre using a phone in my car as a last resort - Northern do better!
Yes at Northern they are conductors (although some do call themselves guards).
webbfan
Member
Trainfx doesn't require changing SD cards just for audio updates. Audio files sent at any time day or night. Often have poor connections at night/early morning depending on where unit is stabled, so can be updated when running a route.
If TrainFX doesn't require changing SD cards for new announcements, then why does this video show otherwise?
The Basic Early version? What do you mean?
Are there any Northern units that still have the old version?
webbfan
Member
Must admit had to think about that one. It's a complete refresh not an update so may require change of configuration. Also would be a large file transfer, can take a long time to complete but trains do not hang around long enough where there are good mobile connections. Yes comms could be made better but such need may be once every 10 years.
Suspect version that doesn't update remotely would have been in storage for at least 10 years.
When it was first fitted it has a huge list of codes with nearly all the stopping patterns for the services across the northern network and we just input that for the auto announcement and the next station was triggered by the doors closing. Then when headcode input was activated on it it became a live system with times displayed and auto updating for delays with expected arrival times and any changes to the stopping pattern.