So many announcements, so few people taking them on board

[Mugby]

Up here in the middle of EMR and XC land it's become the norm to announce:

"The next station stop will be xxxx and the next stop after that will be yyyy"

 

[norbitonflyer]

I am perfectly capable of walking on most surfaces in wet weather so the slippy surface at Piccadilly caught me by surprise. The only other example of such a slippery platform I can think of is St Pancras South Eastern. The solution is to construct the platform of something which is not especially slippery. Most platforms already are.

Waterloo can be a real skid pan in wet weather. Terrazzo tiling again.

 

[ikcdab]

It's actually worse in Europe, certainly on the international trains, because all announcements have to be delivered in two or three languages. At least we don't have that pandering here....

 

[geoffk]

The safety record of the Dutch railways is very similar to the UK. How do they achieve that without relentless announcements?

And without lineside fencing. But that's going off at a tangent.

 

[dk1]

It's actually worse in Europe, certainly on the international trains, because all announcements have to be delivered in two or three languages. At least we don't have that pandering here....

Unless you are on Chiltern going to Bicester Village or maybe anywhere in Wales.

 

[geoffk]

Unless you are on Chiltern going to Bicester Village or maybe anywhere in Wales.

what language is spoken in Bicester?

 

[dk1]

what language is spoken in Bicester?

Mandarin.

 

[Fermiboson]

Mandarin.

Badly spoken Mandarin, I may add. The announcement pronounces "passengers" in such a way as to make it sound like "smelly guests".

 

[Recessio]

Badly spoken Mandarin, I may add. The announcement pronounces "passengers" in such a way as to make it sound like "smelly guests".

I've been on a few Night Tubes after the clubs kick out where that announcement might be appropriate...

 

[Buzby]

Just had a nice trip on a 77 First Bus between Glasgow Buchanan Bus Station and Glasgow Airport. As the bus pulled away (from EVERY stop) an announcement reminded all passengers that “unless exempt, masks must be worn at all times”.

This was on 5th February 2024. This has been ongoing for the last 4 years - it is little wonder ‘customers’ treat inappropriate messages like these with contempt- and ignore them.

 

[Towers]

Could be worse…

Conductor sings to passengers in Land of Song

Travellers laughed as he urged them to stay safe to the tune of Queen’s We Are The Champions.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[talldave]

Another quirky announcement from Saturday's travels was as our Thameslink train arrived at Farringdon. As we were disembarking, it started waffling about the next station (Amberley, I think) having a short platform and needing to be in the front 5 coaches.

I appreciate that that was most likely a location glitch but it was causing a few puzzled looks from passengers expecting St Pancras up next!

 

[Krokodil]

It's actually worse in Europe, certainly on the international trains, because all announcements have to be delivered in two or three languages.

They usually get more relevant information out in three languages faster than a British train can wibble on about "thank you for travelling..."

At least we don't have that pandering here....

You call it "pandering" to use the relevant language to the passengers travelling to that stop?

 

[43096]

It's actually worse in Europe, certainly on the international trains, because all announcements have to be delivered in two or three languages. At least we don't have that pandering here....

It’s not, because in places that do use three language announcements (such as Switzerland) they are clear, concise and necessary. The problem here is all the unnecessary piffle about “see it say it sort it”, holding handrails, guards duplicating what digital Doris has already said, slippery surfaces (yes, I know it is wet, and do something about the surfaces if they are slippery) and all the other white noise we get.

 

[Turtle]

It’s not, because in places that do use three language announcements (such as Switzerland) they are clear, concise and necessary. The problem here is all the unnecessary piffle about “see it say it sort it”, holding handrails, guards duplicating what digital Doris has already said, slippery surfaces (yes, I know it is wet, and do something about the surfaces if they are slippery) and all the other white noise we get.

Excellent summing up. I endorse your remarks regarding trans border trains in Europe. Had problems with quadruple announcements in French, Dutch, German and English.

 

[Fermiboson]

And of course, there are the Taiwanese metros, where simply an announcement of “the next station is xxx, doors will open on xxx, please do not force the doors” will take up almost the entire journey time from one station to another in the six languages the announcement needs to be in (Mandarin, English, Japanese, Korean, Taiwanese and Hokkien).

 

[Irascible]

This, of course, has had no impact whatsoever on the actual risk of someone falling from a platform edge. But it has reduced the theoretical risk of it happening and it means that if someone does fall from a platform edge in wet weather and sues the relevant company they can point to their risk assessment with it's control measure to show at the very least a reduced level of culpability. Of course in the real world the actual impact of telling people every five minutes that surfaces may be slippery is pretty much nil. But that's not what it's about.

It's really high time the ORR ran a human factors based investigation into the safety case and effectiveness of announcements on the UK rail network (including TfL routes). I would argue the frequency of announcements do indeed reduce the safety and usability of the network.

I do wonder if there'll be a court case after an accident at some point ( say, someone falling over due to slippery platforms ) & part of the argument for the prosecution will be precisely that. Overall more litigation is not what we need, but in the shorter term you might as well make it work for you.

Maybe someone can look at the research that lead up to sterile cockpit regulations in airliners ( and indeed there's been a huge amount of research about how humans blank out information when they're saturated in that industry ).

 

[CaptainHaddock]

At the end of the day we have guidelines to follow for the announcements and we do get marked down when being assessed if we don't announce at all or miss out bits of what is on the "script". So your grievance would be best aimed at the TOC itself and not its staff who are only following instructions!

So to sum up the whole crazy situation;

• Most passengers are fed up of having their journeys ruined by incessant announcements of information they don’t need to know.
• Train guards not only have to repeatedly play incessant announcements of information passengers don’t need to know but also have to repeat the same announcements themselves.
• TOCs employ assessors to make sure guards are not only repeatedly playing incessant announcements of information passengers don’t need to know but also repeating the same announcements themselves.
• The government monitors the assessors employed by TOCs to make sure they’re checking that guards are repeatedly playing incessant announcements of information passengers don’t need to know and also repeating the same announcements themselves.

And yet no-one, to the best of our knowledge, is checking whether anyone is actually listening to any of these announcements or how effective they are!

 

[physics34]

They should be looking to reduce announcements by about 50 Percent. One good example of over top announcements was the old caterham and Tattenham corner service on a Sunday running from London Bridge, which was split at purley, but at every single station you get the full calling pattern all the information about the split. Then youd get the short platform announcements for anerley and penge West, and then of course, you'd get the see it say it sorted ones too. it was ridiculously over the top. And I wish id recorded them.

 

[al78]

I tend to agree with the number of announcements being excessive, so excessive that sometimes they cut off one announcement to start another one. "The next station is" <break> "If you see something suspicious, report it to ..." If that is neccessary, they are trying to say too much and need to cut it down.

When it comes to announcements about slippery/icy platforms, are those announcement aimed to cover Network Rail against legal action if someone does slip? Otherwise, people should be able to use their initiative to deduce that if it is frosty outside, it may be a little slippy underfoot, and we don't have public announcements on the streets telling people the pavement might be wet/icy/slippy.

 

[Urban Gateline]

So to sum up the whole crazy situation;

• Most passengers are fed up of having their journeys ruined by incessant announcements of information they don’t need to know.
• Train guards not only have to repeatedly play incessant announcements of information passengers don’t need to know but also have to repeat the same announcements themselves.
• TOCs employ assessors to make sure guards are not only repeatedly playing incessant announcements of information passengers don’t need to know but also repeating the same announcements themselves.
• The government monitors the assessors employed by TOCs to make sure they’re checking that guards are repeatedly playing incessant announcements of information passengers don’t need to know and also repeating the same announcements themselves.

And yet no-one, to the best of our knowledge, is checking whether anyone is actually listening to any of these announcements or how effective they are!

Pretty much, but the "assessors" are not just that, they are Guards managers who have a variety of other duties, and the assessments are hardly focused on announcements, just a tiny portion but most is on the route/traction knowledge and safe working/dispatch of the train as well as visibility and customer service to passengers.

 

[Bikeman78]

When it comes to announcements about slippery/icy platforms, are those announcement aimed to cover Network Rail against legal action if someone does slip? Otherwise, people should be able to use their initiative to deduce that if it is frosty outside, it may be a little slippy underfoot, and we don't have public announcements on the streets telling people the pavement might be wet/icy/slippy.

That's a good point. Do people sue the council if they slip on a snow covered pavement or crash their car on a snowy or icy road? Some roads get gritted but pavements are never cleared unless homeowners do it themselves. As for wet, if the platform is dangerously slippery in wet weather then the surface needs changing. When out on the street I walk or cycle at the same speed in wet or dry weather.

 

[Krokodil]

Pretty much, but the "assessors" are not just that, they are Guards managers who have a variety of other duties, and the assessments are hardly focused on announcements, just a tiny portion but most is on the route/traction knowledge and safe working/dispatch of the train as well as visibility and customer service to passengers.

It's not just Guard Managers/Instructors doing ride-outs, it's mystery shoppers.

 

[GardenRail]

Found this rather amusing tonight on the last SWR train from Guildford to Waterloo. At every single station the same announcement would be repeated "Make sure you're in the front 8 carriages for Wimbledon and Clapham junction as these stations have short platforms". With so many stops it almost got annoying.

And of course as we arrive at Wimbledon, almost half of carriage 9 stood up to get off and wondered why the door wouldn't open (I was surprised at how many people were getting off there which further shows how ridiculous it is that swr don't normally stop any mainline services there given how well connected it is). I had to usher them down to the next carriage...

At Clapham junction there were less people but still some that tried to alight from carriage 9 despite repeated announcements as we pulled in...

I just found it amusing mostly, the announcements were non stop but a significant amount of people paid zero attention. And then when we arrived at Waterloo many people moved down, I will assume they were just in a hurry but I fear some had seen what had gone down at the last two stations and assumed the doors were broken or something

Too many announcements. It becomes white noise. Worst when they have automated announcements, and then the guard wants to put his voice in the mix too.

Always amazes me, how airports are so quiet with regards announcements, almost none. But on the 0815 from Bobbletown to Pickleville or whatever, we need announcements about, see it say it sorted, do not bring scooters on the train, it's raining go careful, the next stop is, I'm the guard and I'm called..... ( nobody cares)

 

[Enthusiast]

I travelled into Charing Cross today,. The usual announcements were made: “The next station will be London Bridge; we are now approaching London Bridge; this is London Bridge” (or roughly that). Repeated for Waterloo East. Then “We are now approaching Charing Cross, which is our final destination.” Stopped on the bridge. Pleasant and courteous announcement from the driver: “Apologies for the slight delay. Just waiting for a free platform in Charing Cross. Should be under way shortly.” Under way. “We are now arriving at Charing Cross which is our final destination. Please make sure you take all your belongings…” etc.

Stood up to leave the train. Young lady across the aisle (who had been on the train longer than me) tore her eyes away from the screen of her phone, glanced out the window, turned to me and asked “Is this War-er-loo or Charing Cross?”

 

[CHESHIRECAT]

Northern today.. Still announcing about strike action 31 January to 6 February and the usual 61016 drivel.. 3 times before we even left originating station

 

[ainsworth74]

Northern today.. Still announcing about strike action 31 January to 6 February and the usual 61016 drivel.. 3 times before we even left originating station

Oh that's typical around the network as far as I can tell. I don't know how this works under the hood but there forever seems to be announcements or screens with out of date information. I'd have assumed that you'd be able to set it to display with date/time bounds but I can only assume its entirely manual so they just keep playing/displaying until someone has chance to remove them!

 

[rdevz]

If I never again in my life hear the "recorded by children to make them stand out more" automated announcements at St. Pancras about using the lifts or staying back from the platform edge, it will be too soon. Having a four year old tell me how to not die getting onto a train a bunch of times while I wait for EMR to let me onto the platform gets old fast.

 

[Horizon22]

That's a good point. Do people sue the council if they slip on a snow covered pavement or crash their car on a snowy or icy road?

Yes they do.

 

[Bikeman78]

Yes they do.

Do they win? If so, how come the councils don't make any effort to clear the pavements? Perhaps paying out the occasional lawsuit is cheaper than doing so? But this just shows how ridiculous the world has become. Even a small child understands that ice is slippery.