Victoria Line disruption announcements

[jamie_r]

Having spent some time going back and forth on the Victoria Line today, I heard plenty of announcements from the automated announcer about disruption across various bits of the network (and beyond!). However, having listened to the variety of disruption announcements given/shown on the PIS, it seems to me that the criteria for setting the automated announcer up to mention disruption is very vague, not consistently applied and also not always correct. So I was wondering who is control of it and why it isn’t getting things right?

For example, on my journey into the City today, for the first time I heard a ‘Stansted Airport is severely disrupted’ announcement on the approach to Tottenham Hale. However, having looked it up it doesn’t appear that there was any disruption at the airport today? The PIS also spelled Stansted incorrectly as ’Stanstead’. Meanwhile, there was no mention of the disruption to National Rail services due to today’s strike, including at Highbury & Islington, even though for the entire day there was no service on the Northern City line through that station to Moorgate. Incidentally, they don’t seem to announce that Northern City line services are suspended during weekend engineering work either - the train rolls into the platform and you can see the shutters across the cross-passages, but yet the announcer normally still parrots on about changing for National Rail!

On my way home, the disruption announcements were a bit more accurate but still not great. For example, at Seven Sisters and Tottenham Hale the auto-announcer confirmed that National Rail services were suspended (as it was after the end of services on the truncated strike timetable). However, there was still no reference to NR services from Highbury & Islington being suspended (nor King’s Cross St Pancras or Euston, for that matter). On the approach to Walthamstow, the announcements about changing for the Overground were also still there as normal, even though the last Overground trains of the day had already been and gone due to the disruption from the Network Rail element of the strike. And, throughout it all the announcer was still warning about disruption at Stansted Airport, which again doesn’t seem to have been the case!

Some of the disruption announcements from the auto-announcer can be a bit wordy, particularly some of the engineering works announcements at weekends. However, on the whole I think it’s a useful feature to have. It’s just a shame that it doesn’t seem that reliable?

 

[MCR247]

Another problem is that it can result in the announcements being longer than the dwell times so they end up getting cut off

 

[duncanp]

I remember travelling on a night tube from Walthamstow to St Pancras to catch an early morning Eurostar train.

The auto announcement said "International rail services from St Pancras are suspended"

"Oh <bleep>" I thought, but it turned out that was just an announcement that was played during the night after services had terminated, and before services had started for the next day.

When I arrived at St Pancras, check in was open as normal.

 

[Chris M]

The ones that annoy me the most are "London Overground is part suspended" (or has severe delays, etc) with no further detail. The Victoria line has interchanges with five or six different London Overground lines (depending how you count the routes out of Liverpool Street).
Interchanging at Bank once on the way to Euston to pick up the Watford DC I heard that exact announcement. Fortunately I decided to continue my journey as it turned out it was the Romford-Upminster shuttle that was suspended and all other parts of the Overground were operating a good service.

 

[Dstock7080]

So I was wondering who is control of it and why it isn’t getting things right?

Victoria Line Control Centre, Osborne House, Tottenham.

 

[jon81uk]

For example, on my journey into the City today, for the first time I heard a ‘Stansted Airport is severely disrupted’ announcement on the approach to Tottenham Hale. However, having looked it up it doesn’t appear that there was any disruption at the airport today? The PIS also spelled Stansted incorrectly as ’Stanstead’. Meanwhile, there was no mention of the disruption to National Rail services due to today’s strike

I expect the announcement was meant to be Trains to Stansted Aiport is severly disrupted and it was related to the strikes.

 

[leytongabriel]

For me the worst is when you get a whole list of problems reeled off at every station the train stops at even if there is no direct connection there

 

[BJames]

I think the premise of this is really useful - but in practice on days of heavy disruption it turns into pretty non-stop announcements in some places. I like the fact that e.g. if Circle/H&C/Met are all closed, then it removes that from the Kings X annoucement and actually just announces what is running. I have generally found it's quite accurate with what is and isn't running (but really good point raised above that London Overground, of all of them, must be specific).

The disruption annoucements are I think truncated at stations anyway (may be misremembering) but perhaps they should only play on approach and not when actually in the station. Removes issue in #2.

 

[Recessio]

I feel it could be fixed easily if they just combined announcements. So rather than:

"The Circle line is part suspended. The Hammersmith and City line is part suspended. The metropolitan line is part suspended. The circle line is operating with severe delays. London Overground is operating with severe delays between Stratford and Willesden Junction."

Instead combine and do

" The Circle, Hammersmith and City, and Metropolitan lines are part suspended. The circle line has severe delays. London Overground has severe delays between Stratford and Willesden Junction."

Its just a very inflexible system at the moment that with a bit of logic could provide much quicker announcements and get the same information across. Also, badly worded announcements. I don't need to know that it "is operating with severe delays", just say it "has severe delays".

Although of course Mayor Khan finally meeting one of his campaign promises to give the separate Overground routes names would also be a massive help!

 

[PeterY]

The ones that annoy me the most are "London Overground is part suspended" (or has severe delays, etc) with no further detail. The Victoria line has interchanges with five or six different London Overground lines (depending how you count the routes out of Liverpool Street).
Interchanging at Bank once on the way to Euston to pick up the Watford DC I heard that exact announcement. Fortunately I decided to continue my journey as it turned out it was the Romford-Upminster shuttle that was suspended and all other parts of the Overground were operating a good service.

I watch the Southeast news on the BBC in the morning. I find when they bring up the tube services. good service, part suspended etc extremely vague. With the The London Overground being quite vast now, it could mean any part of the LO system. So no useful information on the TV.

 

[leytongabriel]

Confusing us nicely this weekend annoucing that National Rail services from Seven Sisters are suspended ( are there any left at weekends normally anyway?) when they were really referring to the Overground services.

And the same from Walthamstow Central.

 

[bluegoblin7]

London Overground is National Rail.

 

[WizCastro197]

For me the worst is when you get a whole list of problems reeled off at every station the train stops at even if there is no direct connection there

What do you mean by this? Are you against being informed properly of whether an onward connection, that many others may be connecting to is delayed?

 

[Mojo]

What do you mean by this? Are you against being informed properly of whether an onward connection, that many others may be connecting to is delayed?

It was awful on Sunday morning. Every station on both the next station and station announcements “National Rail services from Euston are Suspended. National Rail services from Kings Cross St Pancras are Suspended. National Rail services from Tottenham Hale are Suspended. There is no interchange access to London Overground at Highbury & Islington.”

 

[WizCastro197]

It was awful on Sunday morning. Every station on both the next station and station announcements “National Rail services from Euston are Suspended. National Rail services from Kings Cross St Pancras are Suspended. National Rail services from Tottenham Hale are Suspended. There is no interchange access to London Overground at Highbury & Islington.”

I have done this one on a Victoria line like you, except on a strike day, every station was like your experience but everything was "severely disrupted". I think I find it annoying when you've past a station yet the disruption announcement continues, I vaguely remember this happening when I had passed Vauxhall going onto Stockwell and the announcement was still present. I was thinking when I made that post, along the lines of Brixton as that was the first thing that popped up in my mind.

 

[jamie_r]

Confusing us nicely this weekend annoucing that National Rail services from Seven Sisters are suspended ( are there any left at weekends normally anyway?) when they were really referring to the Overground services.

And the same from Walthamstow Central.

I know this is a whole can of worms for the pedants but I noticed this at the weekend too - the announcement shouldn’t really exist/be played for Walthamstow Central because the station is *only* served by London Overground, there are no National Rail services (you know what I mean) from the station and it’s not marked as an interchange for NR, only the Overground.

 

[MCR247]

I have done this one on a Victoria line like you, except on a strike day, every station was like your experience but everything was "severely disrupted". I think I find it annoying when you've past a station yet the disruption announcement continues, I vaguely remember this happening when I had passed Vauxhall going onto Stockwell and the announcement was still present. I was thinking when I made that post, along the lines of Brixton as that was the first thing that popped up in my mind.

Yes I believe the announcements will continue playing past departure if the driver doesn’t use the ‘please mind the doors’ announcement

 

[leytongabriel]

What do you mean by this? Are you against being informed properly of whether an onward connection, that many others may be connecting to is delayed?

Informed properly lol. They are a pretty muddled selection. Ever had to sit through them and looked at who is actually listening?

London Overground is National Rail.

NO Not for the people listening to the announcements - the customers /passengers it isn't. London Overground has been conceived, developed, marketed, branded, signed, mapped and ticketed as a separate entity for the public, and very successfully too. Who owns most of the track is not the issue if you are talking about services running or not.

In any case, why are Blackhorse Rd and Highbury + Islington announced as London Overground but Seven Sisters and Walthamstow Central announced as National Rail?

Sorry this is just another example of poor quality, long-winded Victoria line announcements.

 

[Acton1991]

Travelled on the Victoria line this weekend and the constant disruption announcements are extremely annoying - and not needed!

 

[WizCastro197]

Informed properly lol. They are a pretty muddled selection. Ever had to sit through them and looked at who is actually listening?

Those who aren't got their AirPods/other headphones in, may well be listening but not completely consciously. What does listening look like to you?

 

[leytongabriel]

Nice one today

'London Overground Services are suspeneded betweeen Surrey Quays and New Cross
London Overground serrvices are suspended between ............and .............
London Overgrtound services are suspended between Gospel Oak and Highbury and Islington
London Overground services are suspended between Willesden Junction and Gospel Oak'

Any suggestions (on a postcard to Tfl Victoria Line) as to how to make it a wee bit shorter?

To make quite sure, we got the whole caboodle twice between each each stop - after the 'This is ....' annoucement when the train doors are closing and then after the 'The next station is ....' . So on short journey you might get it 8 -10 times.

To add to the merriment, the information didn't seem to be quite the same as on the Tfl website.

 

[Chris M]

It's always going to be complicated when there are both multiple sets of engineering works closures and unplanned closures (in today's case due to a points failure at New Cross Gate I believe)

Any suggestions (on a postcard to Tfl Victoria Line) as to how to make it a wee bit shorter?

Giving each line it's own name may not make it shorter, but will make it less confusing.
One way of actually making it shorter would be only include the most revelevant closures, so on a northbound journey from Finsbury Park that would not include the East London line or the North London line. However do include some mention that other closures are in place that may affect return journeys and to see publicity on the website or at stations for details.

 

[hermit]

Nice one today

'London Overground Services are suspeneded betweeen Surrey Quays and New Cross
London Overground serrvices are suspended between ............and .............
London Overgrtound services are suspended between Gospel Oak and Highbury and Islington
London Overground services are suspended between Willesden Junction and Gospel Oak'

Any suggestions (on a postcard to Tfl Victoria Line) as to how to make it a wee bit shorter?

To make quite sure, we got the whole caboodle twice between each each stop - after the 'This is ....' annoucement when the train doors are closing and then after the 'The next station is ....' . So on short journey you might get it 8 -10 times.

To add to the merriment, the information didn't seem to be quite the same as on the Tfl website.

I agree - I was on the Victoria Line on Saturday. The specific announcements about individual LO closures (which even then didn’t cover all the lines that were closed) were then followed by a generic ‘London Overground is part suspended’ announcement. Repeated throughout a longish journey the messages drive you nuts, and I can’t believe were of much practical use to more than a tiny fraction of passengers.

Why not cut out the announcements and just have the rolling text on the carriage displays?

 

[Chris M]

Why not cut out the announcements and just have the rolling text on the carriage displays?

Accessibility. Not everybody can see/read displays and not everybody can hear/understand the audio announcements so (wherever possible) information must be given both visually and audibly.

 

[hermit]

Accessibility. Not everybody can see/read displays and not everybody can hear/understand the audio announcements so (wherever possible) information must be given both visually and audibly.

I understand that. But there’s a distinction between information which it’s essential to get across - ‘The next station is x’ or ’this train terminates here’ - and rather random information on far-flung lines on the other side of town.

 

[Chris M]

AIUI the law does not make any such distinction - if the information is given in one form it must, if possible, also be given in the other.

To my mind the problem isn't so much that the information isn't relevant per se, it's that it's presented in a way/at a time that doesn't make it useful. "London Overground is part suspended, there is no service between Gospel Oak and South Tottenham." is less useful than "London Overground is suspended between Gospel Oak and South Tottenham" for example.

 

[rebmcr]

To my mind the problem isn't so much that the information isn't relevant per se, it's that it's presented in a way/at a time that doesn't make it useful.

Indeed, the wording could also be combined in a way that leads to less repetition, eg:

"Overground is suspended between X and Y, between Z and W, between U and V, and between S and T."