passenger confusion over trains going to similar sounding destinations

[Spartacus]

I wonder whether any incoming airline passengers using Luton Airport Parkway have boarded a train shown as calling at Loughborough Junction, when they really wanted one going in the opposite direction to Loughborough?

(You could ask the same question about plain old Luton, but likely to be fewer overseas students or academics arriving for that conference at Loughborough University passing through LUT)

I don't know but a month or so ago someone who wanted Gatwick Airport ended up at Peterborough. I wouldn't have thought it enormously strange if they'd simply boarded a GTR going in the wrong direction, but they'd got on a Grand Central service at Kings Cross!

 

[johnnychips]

^ even more so as Grand Central don’t stop at Peterborough.

 

[PTR 444]

Shenfield & Sheffield?
By coincidence, both of these are served by trains going to the commonly mixed up terminals mentioned in the OP, Liverpool St and Lime St respectively.

 

[Spartacus]

^ even more so as Grand Central don’t stop at Peterborough.

Special Stop Order to prevent them ending up in Yorkshire.

 

[PeterC]

Shenfield & Sheffield?
By coincidence, both of these are served by trains going to the commonly mixed up terminals mentioned in the OP, Liverpool St and Lime St respectively.

When I was 9 I thought that the Sheffield was the place between Brentwood and Billericay. I did work out the difference for myself before I started using trains on my own at 11.

Anybody come up with Worcestershire Parkway and Worcester Park yet? I assume that the "shire" in the name is to try and avoid confusion but I am sure that it won't work for everybody.

 

[45669]

I haven't read every page in this thread, so I'm wondering whether Gillingham and Gillingham have been mentioned. If they haven't, they have now!

 

[PeterC]

I haven't read every page in this thread, so I'm wondering whether Gillingham and Gillingham have been mentioned. If they haven't, they have now!

As long as both you and the ticket clerk know how to pronounce them .........

 

[Clansman]

Carnoustie and Kingussie is a toxic one for a few tourists

 

[rower40]

It was probably more of a problem when Cambridge had Liverpool trains, as that station also has trains to both Liverpool Street and Kings Cross and the London station is typically used to distinguish them - so dropping the "Liverpool Street" would have caused confusion for a different group of people. This issue remains at Ely where there are still trains to all of Liverpool, Liverpool Street and Kings Cross.

My claim-to-fame: the only letter I've had published in The Times highlighted the then confusion at Cambridge between Kings Cross and Liverpool Street one way, and Kings Lynn and Liverpool Lime Street the other.

 

[rower40]

Not exactly confusion but I can't ever remember which of Willington or Wilnecote is closer to Derby (when looking out the window of an XC train).

Willington (according to Wikipedia) has had various names in its history. "Willington for Repton", and "Willington and Repton" are two that I recall. From a train slowing down to stop at Willington, you can see the power station cooling towers, and the spire of Repton St Wystan's church. From a train slowing down to stop at Wilnecote, you can see ... the sides of the cutting that the station is in.

<Goes off to set up a campaign for construction of a Willington to Repton branch line. I'm fed up with cycling the B5008 each morning and evening.>

 

[extendedpaul]

Southeastern HS1 from Rainham (Kent) to St Pancras gives a view of Rainham (Essex) C2C line station, on the high speed section between Ebbsfleet and Stratford International.

Is there a similar scenario anywhere else ?

 

[Kendalian]

Burnside and Burneside. Non locals don’t always realise the e is pronounced.
Or Lostock, Lostock Hall and Lostock Gralem!

 

[xotGD]

Burnside and Burneside. Non locals don’t always realise the e is pronounced.
Or Lostock, Lostock Hall and Lostock Gralem!

Lostock & Two Smoking Barrels.

(Sorry)

 

[Howardh]

Dunno if this has already been mentioned, but coach drivers (not trains!!) put "Leeds Castle" in their satnav and guess where they end up...

Meanwhile, wonder if any such drivers put "Gibraltar" in their satnav for a visit to The Point nature reserve in Lincolnshire - and end up six hours later wondering why they need a cross-channel ferry??

 

[johnnychips]

Burnside and Burneside. Non locals don’t always realise the e is pronounced.
Or Lostock, Lostock Hall and Lostock Gralem!

The TPE automatic announcer on the train knew it was pronounced ‘Bernyside’. Not sure about the replacement TOC.

 

[JBuchananGB]

Meanwhile, wonder if any such drivers put "Gibraltar" in their satnav for a visit to The Point nature reserve in Lincolnshire - and end up six hours later wondering why they need a cross-channel ferry??

It has reportedly happened the other Way round.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/7518493.stm

 

[45669]

As long as both you and the ticket clerk know how to pronounce them .........

Well I do, but I often wonder why they're different...

 

[45669]

Early in my train-spotting days I thought that the Redbridge Sleeper Depot was near Ilford in Essex!

 

[stut]

Outside the UK, one of the biggest confusions is in Northern Italy and Southern Switzerland. Why? Well, the Italian for Munich is 'Monaco'. You can figure out the rest.

(I believe they always use the native names of foreign stations in Italy, which avoids a good deal of the confusion.)

 

[CheekyBandit]

Asked the conductor for a ticket from Mansfield Woodhouse to Worksop a few years ago and he kept muttering "Woodhouse" to himself several times while trying to find the station on the ticket machine. Might have had a problem if I got a ticket from WDH.

 

[AlbertBeale]

Outside the UK, one of the biggest confusions is in Northern Italy and Southern Switzerland. Why? Well, the Italian for Munich is 'Monaco'. You can figure out the rest.

(I believe they always use the native names of foreign stations in Italy, which avoids a good deal of the confusion.)

Luckily, that's almost nowhere in Italy whence there are currently direct trains to both (except perhaps Verona if you count the weekly Moscow-Nice sleeper)? (Munich is frequently referred to in Italian as Monaco di Baviera [Italian for what in English is called Bavaria], which avoids confusion.)

And yes - the standard in most countries is to use the indigenous name for stations in other countries when showing destinations; but it's not universal. Also, some journey/ticket search engines work better than others. In one good case I found that if I put in Monaco as a destination (whether or not from an Italian origin) it offered Monaco di Baviera and Monaco-Monte-Carlo; if I chose the former it then put Munich or Munchen in the search box.

 

[Ianno87]

Southeastern HS1 from Rainham (Kent) to St Pancras gives a view of Rainham (Essex) C2C line station, on the high speed section between Ebbsfleet and Stratford International.

Is there a similar scenario anywhere else ?

Trains from Cambridge to Liverpool Street pass Cambridge Heath non-stop.

 

[duncanp]

Outside the UK, one of the biggest confusions is in Northern Italy and Southern Switzerland. Why? Well, the Italian for Munich is 'Monaco'. You can figure out the rest.

I suppose in France if someone asked for Gare De Lyon you would have to check whether they meant the terminus in Paris, or one of the two stations actually in the city of Lyon.

In Belgium it has been know for tourists to end up in Ostend when they wanted Bruges because they did not realise that the station is called Brugge in Dutch and this is the only name that appears on the station nameboards.

You could have a separate thread about the difference between the French and Dutch names for places in Belgium.

 

[amateur]

Liverpool fans miss Champions League win over Genk after travelling to Ghent

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/50166371[/SIZE]

Two Liverpool fans missed their side's Champions League win over Belgian side Genk on Wednesday - because they travelled to Ghent by mistake.

Rob, from London, and Lee, from Leicester, spent around £200 each on train and match tickets only to mistakenly end up 95 miles from where the match was being played.

"When we arrived we didn't see any Liverpool supporters, which kind of aroused our suspicions," Rob told BBC Sport.

 

[duncanp]

The Dutch version of the name for Ghent is Gent, which is easy to confuse with Genk, especially if you don't know that Gent and Genk are two completely different places.

 

[maxbarnish]

I haven't read every page in this thread, so I'm wondering whether Gillingham and Gillingham have been mentioned. If they haven't, they have now!

Yes, I was on a replacement bus from Andover to Gillingham Dorset the other week, and at Salisbury on boarding someone asked the driver 'Is this the bus to Gillingham', pronouncing it like the Medway town. The correct answer I suppose would have been 'No', but it may have been confusing - he just replied 'Gillingham' pronounced correctly - I suppose there's little chance she was actually intending to go to the Medway one...

 

[duncanp]

In Kent you have Chartham and Chatham.

Whilst they are pronounced differently, a simple typo in an online journey planner could easily have you going to the wrong station, especially as they are both served by direct trains from London Victoria.

Also in Kent you have Charing, which some people might confuse with Charing Cross (London) or even Charing Cross (Glasgow)

 

[PTR 444]

Liverpool fans miss Champions League win over Genk after travelling to Ghent

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/50166371[/SIZE]

Reminds me very much of this:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/snooker/49944958

World Open: Neil Robertson drives to wrong Barnsley and forfeits qualifier

Former world champion Neil Robertson had to forfeit his World Open qualifier on Friday - because he drove to the wrong Barnsley.

The Australian, who lives in Cambridge, accidentally set his sat-nav for the village of Barnsley in Gloucestershire.

However, the qualifiers were being held at the Barnsley Metrodome in the Yorkshire town - 170 miles away.

By the time he realised his error, it was too late and Robertson called to withdraw, sending Ian Burns through.

"Hopefully I'll be able to either play or complete a match this season," said Robertson on social media.

Robertson, 37, also had to withdraw from the Riga Masters in Latvia in July after a cancelled flight left him and several other players stranded at Luton airport.

When asked on Twitter how he had forgotten the location of an event he has played in before, Robertson replied: "A friend always drives me to qualifiers but he selfishly entered a Challenge Tour event this weekend."

Englishman Burns, 34, will now play in the final stages of the tournament in Yushan, China later in October.

According to the most recent UK census in 2011, Barnsley in Gloucestershire has a population of 209, compared with 91,297 in the more well known Barnsley in South Yorkshire.

https://twitter.com/nr147/status/1180223441301102592

 

[PeterC]

Well I do, but I often wonder why they're different...

Not as confusing as Mildenhall and Mildenhall. At least one never had a station and the other is closed now.

 

[PeterC]

The Dutch version of the name for Ghent is Gent, which is easy to confuse with Genk, especially if you don't know that Gent and Genk are two completely different places.

When travelling regularly on the North London Line in the 80s I used to see trains of containers from Ford's factory at Genk . It was quite a while before I realised that I had been misreading the name as Ghent.