Luton Airport is completely ridiculous! As you say, they currently brand it as "LLA" - this to the extent that of you Google LLA, the Luton Airport site is top of the list with "Jobs at LLA" as a subheading, but before that it was branded as Luton International Airport and known as LIA. Then, when First Capital Connect (I think it was) took over the free shuttle bus and started charging a fare, Luton Airport received the station code LUA (Luton Airport parkway had already been given LTN). So we have, or have had, LLA, LIA, LUA and LTN for the airport and LTN for Luton Airport Parkway station.
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People Mis-Naming Railway Station/Companies - Habit?
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Luton Airport is completely ridiculous! As you say, they currently brand it as "LLA" - this to the extent that of you Google LLA, the Luton Airport site is top of the list with "Jobs at LLA" as a subheading, but before that it was branded as Luton International Airport and known as LIA. Then, when First Capital Connect (I think it was) took over the free shuttle bus and started charging a fare, Luton Airport received the station code LUA (Luton Airport parkway had already been given LTN). So we have, or have had, LLA, LIA, LUA and LTN for the airport and LTN for Luton Airport Parkway station.
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R
RailUK Forums
I agree with this. Given that I think airport Iata codes probably have quite good recognition by travellers (certainly better than CRS codes for railway stations), it doesn’t make very much sense for them to have made up an [incorrect] code for their airport given that one already exists.
Andy Pacer
Established Member
My local station, Syston, had the automated PA incorrectly announce the next station (Sileby) as 'Sillby'.
This has been rectified now - we no longer have automated announcements!
This has been rectified now - we no longer have automated announcements!
py_megapixel
Established Member
That's an interesting way to solve a problem...
Andy Pacer
Established Member
Indeed!That's an interesting way to solve a problem...
xotGD
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Syston - that's pronounced like 'Cistern' isn't it?
Andy Pacer
Established Member
Nope. Sigh-ston
I remember when there was a train company called “one train company” (what a silly name) the BBC South East morning news often used to say “One train company is reporting some delays this morning . . . “
My wife got quite angry when I screamed at the telly “Which one ? “. i need to know for my morning commute.
My wife got quite angry when I screamed at the telly “Which one ? “. i need to know for my morning commute.
Which has just reminded me that BBC Three Counties Radio used to insist on referring to our local train operating company at the time as "First Connect" and never anything else. At the time I recollect that Heathrow Connect was operated by First as well, and if they wanted to use two words "Capital Connect" would have been fine and listeners would have been certain of which of the two they were referring to what they made non-location based announcements. (They also used to refer to Wasps RFC as "Wycombe based Wasps" without exception, even when talking conversationally, as though it was the official name of the club, or they had some sort of contractual obligationto do so. I don't know if this was perpetuated until Wasps moved to Coventry as I had given up on 3CR well before then -maybe it became "Wycombe Based Wasps now located in Coventry").
Garmoran
Member
My Leicester born and brought up mother referred to it as "the Midland station" until the very end of her life in 1992.
A lot of people call any train that goes to London “The Virgin Train” and we still get a lot of “First Scotrail” too. There’s a surprising amount of people in my town who still refer to “British Rail”
To be fair while VTEC was a thing if you were getting an intercity train to London which wasn't a GWR it was probably a Virgin train.
VauxhallandI
Established Member
Ray90
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Some people (estate agents come to mind) referring to London Overground as 'Ginger Line'. This one annoys me the most by far.
Locals around Colchester - I've heard 'North Station' too, and although it's not the official name now, it is useful in conveying that the station isn't very near the town centre. The other one I don't think I've seen mentioned here is Colchester Town is often referred to as 'St Botolph's'.
During my time working at stations I heard the St Mary's Cray... I get that, like someone else said on here, St Paul's Cray is close to that station.
Shortening the name can be confusing: "I want to get to Wellin" = I thought it was Welling (nearby) but to the customer's dismay, they meant Welwyn Garden City! I also had a few tourists in my time who would ask for a ticket to e.g. Leicester or Worcester, for them to be outraged that a ticket to a tube station costs £90.
Holborn Viaduct - I understood what they meant fortunately, and the person told me it was their first train journey in 30 years. To be fair I only knew this as an enthusiast, and this sort of information should be provided in training.
I understand the use of British Rail/Railways to an extent, as well as "the Overground", "Tfl", "Network Rail", however in a customer service setting it definitely makes communication difficult to ensure everyone in the conversation understands what is being referred to. This is where I think it's best to stick with brand names. Ticket validity and stopping patterns, journey times can vary according to the TOC. It also creates confusion around complaints - I received a lot of complaints about other train companies' services or TfL issues that I literally physically couldn't resolve because "well, aren't you working for British Rail/Network Rail/TfL? Well what do you even do then?"
Locals around Colchester - I've heard 'North Station' too, and although it's not the official name now, it is useful in conveying that the station isn't very near the town centre. The other one I don't think I've seen mentioned here is Colchester Town is often referred to as 'St Botolph's'.
During my time working at stations I heard the St Mary's Cray... I get that, like someone else said on here, St Paul's Cray is close to that station.
Shortening the name can be confusing: "I want to get to Wellin" = I thought it was Welling (nearby) but to the customer's dismay, they meant Welwyn Garden City! I also had a few tourists in my time who would ask for a ticket to e.g. Leicester or Worcester, for them to be outraged that a ticket to a tube station costs £90.
Holborn Viaduct - I understood what they meant fortunately, and the person told me it was their first train journey in 30 years. To be fair I only knew this as an enthusiast, and this sort of information should be provided in training.
I understand the use of British Rail/Railways to an extent, as well as "the Overground", "Tfl", "Network Rail", however in a customer service setting it definitely makes communication difficult to ensure everyone in the conversation understands what is being referred to. This is where I think it's best to stick with brand names. Ticket validity and stopping patterns, journey times can vary according to the TOC. It also creates confusion around complaints - I received a lot of complaints about other train companies' services or TfL issues that I literally physically couldn't resolve because "well, aren't you working for British Rail/Network Rail/TfL? Well what do you even do then?"
Ray90
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I could never remember which shortcode was for each of the Luton stations when I worked in the ticket office!
Luckily usually the customer wanted a ticket to include the shuttle bus, for which the NLC was "3667".
tramdan
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I can never remember the difference between West Midlands Railway and London Northwestern Railway (yes, I know I could look it up) so find myself referring to them as "London Midland or whatever they're called this week." Much to the amusement of my friends.
ThameslinkUser
Member
Same company with different brands. West Midlands Railway is more metro based operations in the midlands and branding is chosen by Transport for West Midlands, as per Birmingham's bus and tram network. London Northwestern Railway is effectively everything on the WCML to London, including St Albans Abbey and Bedford services. This brand is controlled by Abellio (West Midlands Trains, the name of the actual company)
It's needlessly complicated.
tramdan
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Thanks, glad it's not just me that finds it so!
py_megapixel
Established Member
Honestly they should have stuck with London Midland, which is a pretty good description of what the franchise does (with the exception of the Liverpool service) but I appreciate that it's probably not possible because Govia own that brand.
West Midlands Railway would have likely stayed anyway as it was decided by TfWM (Transport for West Midlands) but I would have kept London Midland instead of West Midlands Trains (the name of the company which operates the brands) and London Northwestern Railway. However the branding is done now so I think they should ditch the "operated by West Midlands Trains" as this doesn't add much but confusion.
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