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Post by Deleted on May 25, 2014 13:56:59 GMT
Why are they often deafeningly loud on the S stock? Surely its something that should be easy to get right? I recently gave up my London job for a local job and I do not miss the commute one bit!
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Post by domh245 on May 25, 2014 16:20:44 GMT
I personally do not think the announcements are that loud on the s stock, especially considering the possible track noise in places and/or passenger noise onboard. What does annoy me though is the way the woman 'hiccups' when doing announcements. This is a (.) district line train &c.
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Post by Deleted on May 25, 2014 16:25:41 GMT
I find the way she says "Hammersmith" very odd and I personally don't think splicing in the Mind the Gap announcement was for the better either, but on the whole I don't find them problematic. That said, does anyone know if they've fixed the announcement advising you that you can change for the Central line at Edgware Road?
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Post by Hassaan on May 26, 2014 7:00:43 GMT
The S Stock seem to have microphones which detect ambient noise, so say if the doors are open and a lot of noise is coming from outside then it will "shout". I don't have any problems with the announcements, apart from the male voice being used for the "mind the gap" announcement (what was wrong with the female one as I prefer that?)
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Post by superteacher on May 26, 2014 7:39:38 GMT
The S Stock seem to have microphones which detect ambient noise, so say if the doors are open and a lot of noise is coming from outside then it will "shout". I don't have any problems with the announcements, apart from the male voice being used for the "mind the gap" announcement (what was wrong with the female one as I prefer that?) I imagine the male voice was used to provide a contrast, so that the Mind the Gap announcement stands out more. |
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Post by Alight on May 26, 2014 21:44:24 GMT
That's exactly right, superteacher.
I have to agree with the original poster - the announcements do come across as rather loud on the S Stock. I don't think it's purely a matter of volume, I just think it's compounded by the S Stock acoustics.
I also agree with the comments RE: the overall quality of the announcements/phrasings. Despite using the same voice, the '09 stock ones sound superior both in terms of tone and phrasing. The greatest difference between the two is the way the stations are read out:
"This" .... "is Pimlico" (more natural)
"This is" .... "Great Portland Street!" (more robotic)
Subtle, but the former works best. Same with the D Stock announcements: "This is a District line train" .... "to Upminster" sounds more natural than the the S Stock's "This is a Hammersmith & City line train to" .... "Hammersmith!"
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Post by Deleted on May 26, 2014 22:40:42 GMT
I always loved the D stock's announcements where she says (for example, the actual destination isn't important): " This is South Kensington" The way the stress is laid on the word "this" makes it sound like she's unveiling her life's work, or the first ever lunar colony, I love it!  |
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Post by Deleted on May 27, 2014 15:44:19 GMT
They're always much louder at certain stations than others, seemingly noise has little to do with it - I'm assuming it's because the level of background noise is anticipated to be higher - e.g. at Farringdon on the westbound or Barbican on the eastbound, which was really loud on C stock due to the flange noise, but on S stocks you don't really hear it that much, so the announcement being louder is unnecessary. The same thing occurs on other lines, e.g. the 95TS at Elephant & Castle.
Out of curiosity, this has probably been answered before, but does anyone know why 'Please mind the gap between the train and the platform' was re-recorded with Phil Sayer instead of the original voice? The original recording sounded fine to me...
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Post by Deleted on May 27, 2014 15:56:49 GMT
Out of curiosity, this has probably been answered before, but does anyone know why 'Please mind the gap between the train and the platform' was re-recorded with Phil Sayer instead of the original voice? The original recording sounded fine to me... The S Stock seem to have microphones which detect ambient noise, so say if the doors are open and a lot of noise is coming from outside then it will "shout". I don't have any problems with the announcements, apart from the male voice being used for the "mind the gap" announcement (what was wrong with the female one as I prefer that?) I imagine the male voice was used to provide a contrast, so that the Mind the Gap announcement stands out more. |
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Post by t697 on May 27, 2014 20:11:01 GMT
That's exactly right, superteacher. I have to agree with the original poster - the announcements do come across as rather loud on the S Stock. I don't think it's purely a matter of volume, I just think it's compounded by the S Stock acoustics. I also agree with the comments RE: the overall quality of the announcements/phrasings. Despite using the same voice, the '09 stock ones sound superior both in terms of tone and phrasing. The greatest difference between the two is the way the stations are read out: " This" .... " is Pimlico" (more natural) "This is" .... "Great Portland Street!" (more robotic) Subtle, but the former works best. Same with the D Stock announcements: "This is a District line train" .... " to Upminster" sounds more natural than the the S Stock's "This is a Hammersmith & City line train to" .... "Hammersmith!" But then again, when D stock Refurb was new, there were those who felt its emphases were too robotic.... We can never please everyone! Or indeed the same person at different times  |
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Post by Deleted on May 29, 2014 18:25:02 GMT
I really like the announcements on the S Stock. I agree that they are a bit loud, but people with hearing impairment have to hear them too! And with all the surroundig sound that's sometimes difficult...
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Post by Deleted on May 29, 2014 20:40:20 GMT
I really like the announcements on the S Stock. I agree that they are a bit loud, but people with hearing impairment have to hear them too! And with all the surroundig sound that's sometimes difficult... At my station (Southfields) on the C Stock there's an announcement... "The next station is Southfields. Alight here for Wimbledon Lawn Tennis." For some reason there's no such announcement on D Stock. I e-mailed TFL months ago to ask them if they'd incorporate this announcement on the new S Stock; they replied that they'd consider it, but there was the possibility of ..."too much information" with announcements. It turns out that there's no announcement on the new trains of Wimbledon Tennis Club, which disappoints me and I think is an omission, since it is the premier tennis venue in the world, with many visitors to the tournament (obviously) and also the Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Museum. I'd like to know who would have made the decision in this case. It would be very helpful to so many international visitors, yet someone decides it's not necessary! |
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Post by domh245 on May 29, 2014 21:08:16 GMT
To be fair though, if it is mid-January morning, there isn't much need to announce the tennis (and croquet) club. It's not difficult to miss though, with all the fake grass and adverts, and even if they end up going to Wimbledon (proper) then it is just a short shuttle-bus ride away
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Post by Dstock7080 on May 29, 2014 21:17:12 GMT
For some reason there's no such announcement on D Stock. There is a hidden driver operated code menu that if operated correctly will give an announcement like: "alight at the next staion for the Wimbedon tennis championships" available on D Stock. |
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Post by Deleted on May 29, 2014 22:17:09 GMT
To be fair though, if it is mid-January morning, there isn't much need to announce the tennis (and croquet) club. It's not difficult to miss though, with all the fake grass and adverts, and even if they end up going to Wimbledon (proper) then it is just a short shuttle-bus ride away The fake grass etc you refer to is there for the 2-3 weeks of the Championships. I disagree with you on the statement that there is little need for information on a mid January morning. There are many visitors to the Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Museum in winter, as evidenced by the numerous times I've been asked for directions whilst on Wimbledon Park Road in the winter season, and other times of the year! Those who ask me for directions are invariably foreign tourists who need information such as an announcement on the train. Why should visitors be inconvenienced by having to go to Wimbledon Station instead of using the correct exit station (Southfields) for the sake of a simple recorded announcement? |
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Post by Deleted on May 29, 2014 22:26:01 GMT
For some reason there's no such announcement on D Stock. There is a hidden driver operated code menu that if operated correctly will give an announcement like: "alight at the next staion for the Wimbedon tennis championships" available on D Stock. It's interesting to read that. I've yet to hear such an announcement whilst on D Stock. I wasn't aware of that option, and I didn't know the driver operated the announcements; I thought they were automatically programmed according to where the train was situated. |
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Post by Deleted on May 29, 2014 22:45:53 GMT
Well it's like the S stock doesn't play the full announcement at King's Cross during the rush hour. For a lot of people it's too much information, too much noise. A lot of people don't listen to them anyway. I've lost count of the number of people I've seen who seem amazed to discover at Woodford the news that the train they're on is terminating and they need to stop being on it quite quickly. My favourite is part closures. Oh! I can remember when the Central was shut down west of Bethnal Green one time. Bethnal Green on the boards on the platforms, Bethnal Green on the front of the train, Sonia announcing 'this is a Central line train to Bethnal Green' at every station, announcements by the T/Op, repeated announcements at Mile End and it still took members of staff going carriage to carriage, I vividly recall, making sure everyone knew it was going no further than Bethnal Green. Plenty of people got off only when a member of staff actually went into the carriage and repeated the message... The thing is, most stations in central London have points of interest, but you can't really get into making this a regular part of the announcements. Sometimes it's a good idea, like having an announcement for the Royal National Institute of Blind People. There are plenty of others on the District line of course, I think the announcement at Embankment takes about five minutes to complete at this stage!! But people just stop paying attention and the announcement won't have time to complete at some stations with short dwell times before you're off again. I would say it's not always clear what should go in the announcement and what shouldn't but, by and large, I think points of interest should go on posters, interchange should go in announcements. |
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Post by wimblephil on May 30, 2014 7:24:19 GMT
I think I remember reading once that the Drivers had the ability to switch the announcments to 'Tourist' or 'Commuter' mode so that less information could be displayed during peak times. Is that correct? (Perhaps it was line specific, I think I was reading about the Pic or Jub at the time). Are the S-Stock fitted with any such feature?
Also, something else I'm curious about (although I think we've moved well away from the Metropolitan line at this point!); the 09 Stock on the Vic has the ability to make announcements during times of works or service disruption, eg. 'the Jubilee line is part suspended between Stanmore and Willlesdon Green' or 'there is no interchange access at Victoria to the Circle and District lines due to planned engineering works'. Are any other lines/stock capable of this as I've only noticed it on the Vic. Also, the Vic is the only line to announce which side the doors will open on. This feature doesn't seem to have been brought accross to the S-Stock. Why is this?
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Post by Deleted on May 30, 2014 9:27:10 GMT
The option to switch the announcments to Commuter or Tourist can be found on the Piccadilly Line
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Post by domh245 on May 30, 2014 9:57:57 GMT
To be fair though, if it is mid-January morning, there isn't much need to announce the tennis (and croquet) club. It's not difficult to miss though, with all the fake grass and adverts, and even if they end up going to Wimbledon (proper) then it is just a short shuttle-bus ride away The fake grass etc you refer to is there for the 2-3 weeks of the Championships. I disagree with you on the statement that there is little need for information on a mid January morning. There are many visitors to the Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Museum in winter, as evidenced by the numerous times I've been asked for directions whilst on Wimbledon Park Road in the winter season, and other times of the year! Those who ask me for directions are invariably foreign tourists who need information such as an announcement on the train. Why should visitors be inconvenienced by having to go to Wimbledon Station instead of using the correct exit station (Southfields) for the sake of a simple recorded announcement? As tut pointed out, Verbal Overload is something to be avoided. For example, at 8AM in the morning, outside of the championship fortnight, how many people need to be informed that this is the station for the club. Unfortunately, it just isn't necessary for 95% of the time. Ideally, during championship week, the S stock would announce that this is the station for the tennis, but usually the dwell times are longer, and there are SAs on the platform going over the PA saying to alight for the tennis. If you're coming in from the city, its fine as you can get off then, and If you are coming from Wimbledon, then you probably know already that this is the station you need to get off at. |
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Post by southfieldschris on May 30, 2014 10:37:28 GMT
The fake grass etc you refer to is there for the 2-3 weeks of the Championships. I disagree with you on the statement that there is little need for information on a mid January morning. There are many visitors to the Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Museum in winter, as evidenced by the numerous times I've been asked for directions whilst on Wimbledon Park Road in the winter season, and other times of the year! Those who ask me for directions are invariably foreign tourists who need information such as an announcement on the train. Why should visitors be inconvenienced by having to go to Wimbledon Station instead of using the correct exit station (Southfields) for the sake of a simple recorded announcement? As tut pointed out, Verbal Overload is something to be avoided. For example, at 8AM in the morning, outside of the championship fortnight, how many people need to be informed that this is the station for the club. Unfortunately, it just isn't necessary for 95% of the time. Ideally, during championship week, the S stock would announce that this is the station for the tennis, but usually the dwell times are longer, and there are SAs on the platform going over the PA saying to alight for the tennis. If you're coming in from the city, its fine as you can get off then, and If you are coming from Wimbledon, then you probably know already that this is the station you need to get off at.
Also, and no doubt very tediously since I have mentioned this on here before, the current announcement refers to the "Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Club" which is actually a different club on the opposite side of the road to the All England Club, where the Championships are held and to which everyone is going. A small point but it has annoyed me for years!
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Post by Deleted on May 30, 2014 10:51:46 GMT
That's really weird indeed. You should think that they should refer to the stadium where the Championships are held.
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Post by Deleted on May 30, 2014 13:08:17 GMT
I think I remember reading once that the Drivers had the ability to switch the announcments to 'Tourist' or 'Commuter' mode so that less information could be displayed during peak times. Is that correct? (Perhaps it was line specific, I think I was reading about the Pic or Jub at the time). Are the S-Stock fitted with any such feature? Also, something else I'm curious about (although I think we've moved well away from the Metropolitan line at this point!); the 09 Stock on the Vic has the ability to make announcements during times of works or service disruption, eg. 'the Jubilee line is part suspended between Stanmore and Willlesdon Green' or 'there is no interchange access at Victoria to the Circle and District lines due to planned engineering works'. Are any other lines/stock capable of this as I've only noticed it on the Vic. Also, the Vic is the only line to announce which side the doors will open on. This feature doesn't seem to have been brought accross to the S-Stock. Why is this? I'm pretty sure the ability to switch from 'tourist' to 'commuter' is available on the S stock, or it does it automatically, as I've definitely hear a long and short version of the announcement for King's X. I'm sure the short one doesn't mention the British Library, quite probably among other things. I'm sure I can remember the S stock announcing service disruption on the Met at one point. Possibly it can only do the sub-surface lines, but I'd imagine something could be set up for planned engineering work and disruptions and things. It's usually trivial for the T/Op to get on the PA though. Mind you I know a lot of people get fed up with LIS and constantly being requested to update passengers on delays which may be happening nowhere near them. |
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Post by domh245 on May 30, 2014 13:34:21 GMT
I think there was a trail a while back, where the S8s on the Met would give service status updates, when triggered by control. I think that it was deemed a success, but they weren't going to roll it out across the SSL just yet
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