New DMI/platform announcements

Aren't TFL supposed to be getting away from "Ladies and Gentlemen" (well, officially anyway)?

As an aside at Neasden southbound (Jubilee) they play the "The train approaching......stand away from the platform edge" announcement when the trains has almost fully berthed; I've even heard it at Waterloo despite the platform doors.

I not infrequently alight at Canary Wharf JLE during the peaks and sometimes you do have to be quite forceful to ensure you are let off the train first and that once you have alighted the train that you can then make your way to the exit.

There's no 'supposed to be' about it.

It's happening, it's a policy, and it's staying whether certain staff who are stuck in the 1800s like it or not.

If people have a problem with it they can take their employment elsewhere.

Part of the PA changes taking place on the Central line (and others) are directly related to this, as it is cheaper to get announcements re-recorded for one system than for multiple systems.



If I recall the only reason the discussion was ended was because certain members were becoming increasingly offensive.

As one of the members of TfL staff directly involved with making this happen it's not really something up for discussion anyway. Don't like it? Tough.

Pauline Cavilla was the voice and only seemed to be at select stations managed under the BCV group.

As someone else has already alluded to, TfL are now going over to one system, which happens to be the legacy Tubelines system voiced by Elinor Hamilton. I have to say I was not impressed by their decision to replace the other system we haven't mentioned yet known as 'Voice Perfect' (voiced by Henrietta Bass) at stations where the system was fine as it was. For instance, Voice Perfect at Victoria was replaced with the legacy Tubelines one upon opening the new Cardinal Place entrance and it just sounds so unnatural on the inflections and cobbled together. The only stations where they seem to have retained Voice Perfect along that stretch of the Victoria line are Vauxhall and Pimlico but I suspect it is only a matter of time...

I like the accouterments, I always try record them.

When are they gonna fix this?

Personally I am not fussed if voice announcements are shorter. Indeed if we dump "ladies and Gentlemen" the remaining content of the message still appears to convey the information required.

I would hate to live in very close proximity to any above ground tube station relentlessly playing basically similar messages from before dawn to gone midnight. I used to live almost 1/2 mile from Wembley Park although very near the lines and when the wind was in the right direction and I had windows open I could hear the station announcements regardless of whether I wanted to or not.

Thankfully I live a fair bit further away now. I rather like the terse announcements by SBB - the next station is xxx . No prior salutation, no unnecessary padding, just preceded by a quiet chime at which point noisy conversations in the carriage seem to magically stop. I doubt any of the TFL automated safety announcements really have great impact except full blown emergency evacuation messages.

Certainly the other day in Oxford Circus - regular requests to stay behind the yellow line - prompted no visible action by anyone on a far from heaving platform which was seemingly full of people fixated on their mobile phones. I rather suspect these messages are only being done to minimise/mitigate potential insurance claims rather than deliver any discernible improvement in safety. (a bit like the ubiquitous yellow slippery floor warning cone which now seem to infest virtually every restaurant in the capital).

Strangely enough I managed to commute without any incident for decades into various offices around Whitehall without these safety announcements. Indeed only might conclude that TFL has determined that London is now so full of total idiots, that we all need to be treated like 5 year olds and repeatedly told not to do patently stupid things.

Oh well after one last look at the 172s, its cabin crew arm doors and cross check and off to the Alps for me - drones permitting that is.

It’s a different culture of safety that now presides over our rail network in this country. The rafts of legislation that have come into force since the early 2000’s have made the railway a safer environment for all of us even if many people myself included may say, “well we got by fine without a yellow line”. Whilst that is true, that’s not to say accidents didn’t happen and there were some truly horrific ones which are definitely more of a rarity today due greater awareness in general but also the subtle features that are now built in to or part of the railway environment.

alpinejohn , I agree with your points with announcements. Before the new roster systems for stations came into place, it would be exceptionally rare to hear announcements on the Uxbridge branch when everything was running smoothly which meant that when announcements were made people actually looked up.

Most Metropolitan line drivers usually speak verbally when a train changes destination or calling pattern instead of letting the automated announcements do the talking which works because it gets most people’s attention when there’s a break to the routine.

I wonder if people would actually look up now upon noticing a silent platform.

I do exactly what you mention ad1992. I have a set of noise cancelling headphones I purchased for overnight long haul flights that now use daily with the noise cancelling on but often no music.
Some stations and platforms are becoming unbearable due to repeated high volume announcements of the obvious by platform announcers. Canary Wharf of an evening and Westminster jubilee eastbound of an early morning are my two most annoying. In the latter case the platform was not even attended for decades.

It's not about what's being asked.

It's fairly obvious that changes are going to happen from time to time, and there are always going to be some staff that are less happy about the changes than others.

If you look at what I underlined - which provided the context for the comment - it's the aggressive and bullying tone that I found offensive.

If this is how LU speak to and about their staff at the rail face, is it any wonder that we have see almost weekly parade of possible strike alerts?


ETA I have no idea what the removal of "ladies and gentlemen" has to do with being representative. I'd assumed that it was being removed to get rid of audio clutter, as, as has been mentioned earlier, there is so much repeated twittering that many people are becoming deaf to announcements - even if they are not wearing earbuds.