Are there any male automated announcements on trains?

[AJDesiro]

Virgin trains used to have the middle part of the automated announcement on arriving at a station as a male voice, which said something like "When leaving us here, please remember to take all your belongings with you, and take care when you step down onto the platform." Can't recall if Avanti retained it as it's been a while since I last used them.

It’s still there on the 390s, the 221s have a completely different announcement package.

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

TPE use a male voice for most (all?) automated announcements (at least on the 397’s which I use).

On all TPE stock I think (certainly 802 and 185).
Avanti has a 2-voice setup on 390s, one male, one female, which give different parts of the announcement. 221s have a female voice.
The Northern voice, on 195s at least, is male, but on 319s was female.
TfW bores you rigid with dual announcements on all their new trains, in Welsh (always first) by a male voice and in English by a female voice.
175s still have the original English female voice from their first days with FNW, and no Welsh (although the PIS displays are dual-language).

 

[Thirteen]

I'm not keen on the female voice of the London Trams, it doesn't sound like a real person and that's also true for the DLR which I know is using text to speech. Will be interesting to see what voice they use for the B23s, I'd probably stick with whoever does the voice of the Class 710s and 345s.

 

[Royston Vasey]

Northern 195s and 331s seem to have swapped to a Yorkshire man

"Welcome aboard this northern service t'Manchester Airport"

Preferred the previous woman

I spent a lot of time on 195s last week and was struck by the powerful Yorkshire accent and the fact he doesn't say "To Leeds" but "TER... LEEEEDS"!

Grand Central also have some male Yorkshire accented announcements, the ones about luggage IIRC

 

[dub]

TER... LEEEEDS

Pahaha I was heading to Leeds at the weekend and heard this for the first time. The four of us all sat round a table were repeating LEEEEEEDS to each other by the time we pulled in.

 

[Railcar]

The Thameslink automated voice (aproaching Finsbury Park Northbound and St Pancras Southbound) talks in a voice reminicent of Michael Palin's 'Mr Pither'. and witters on about 'Not all tickets are valid, etc please look at the diagrams above the doors etc

 

[Krokodil]

TfW bores you rigid with dual announcements on all their new trains, in Welsh (always first) by a male voice and in English by a female voice.

Pointlessly welcoming you aboard whenever the train accelerates away from a signal stop, a PSR, or a request stop even if the train didn't call. Also waffles on about picking up one's belongings at every single stop.

The long pause between announcements lulls you into a false sense of security too.

Contrast with the Rhätische Bahn in Switzerland that manages to announce in three languages in less time than a 197 announces in one.

 

[6Gman]

Very simply, it's biology. The female voice is pitched higher than the male and is usually easier
to understand.

And, unfortunately, more difficult to understand for people with the commonest form of hearing loss.

 

[Bartsimho]

Pahaha I was heading to Leeds at the weekend and heard this for the first time. The four of us all sat round a table were repeating LEEEEEEDS to each other by the time we pulled in.

All operators should have the station announcements in a strong regional voice. Just makes it all more interesting

 

[Basil Jet]

I believe TfL's standard was that the habitual announcements, such as next station name, all used a female voice, and the announcements of surprising information all used a male voice.

 

[londonbridge]

Can’t remember who it is but I know the male voice on London tramlink is a former newsreader.

 

[Parallel]

The on train announcements about which station the train will stop at on the Cotswold Line include a man's voice for Worcestershire Parkway - and it's much quieter than the woman's voice used for the rest of the announcement.

This caught me off guard - it’s very strange and really should be updated seeing as GWR’s voice artist has recorded Marsh Barton and Reading Green Park. I assume the IET system is more difficult/more expensive to update…

 

[PGAT]

Thameslink and Great Northern both use Matt for "mind the gap" and short platform announcements, and I believe Southern used him briefly for COVID face covering announcements

 

[3rd rail land]

Can’t remember who it is but I know the male voice on London tramlink is a former newsreader.

Nicholas Owens

 

[londonbridge]

Yes that’s him, thanks. It’s actually Nicholas Owen (but we all make typos)…

 

[YorksLad12]

The gentleman who long was used for the Underground "Mind the Gap" announcements can still be heard at Embankment. After he died, and most of the announcements had been changed, his wife used to go there to hear his voice . When that last one was changed, the Underground learned of this, and changed it back. Described here :

Mind the Gap Tube announcement returns after wife's plea

A 40-year-old "mind the gap" recording once heard across the Tube will return to one station - so the widow of the actor behind it can hear his voice.

www.bbc.co.uk

I thought Phil Sayer did all of the "Mind the Gap"s, and this person just did that one station's announcements? Mind you, Phil's gone as well.

Northern 195s and 331s seem to have swapped to a Yorkshire man

"Welcome aboard this northern service t'Manchester Airport"

Preferred the previous woman

I spent a lot of time on 195s last week and was struck by the powerful Yorkshire accent and the fact he doesn't say "To Leeds" but "TER... LEEEEDS"!

I think he's from Baaarnsley. But at least they've fixed the "shouty Ws" issue.

 

[LUYMun]

The 1972 tube stocks on the London Underground are undergoing some overhaul to keep going for a few years, and there's been a video of a unit under test with the new dot-matrix PIS display, as well as a new male announcer, as audible even from the outside of the train with the doors remained shut. Sounds very much like the "See it, say it, sort it" announcer on the TFL network.

 

[Taunton]

Can’t remember who it is but I know the male voice on London tramlink is a former newsreader.

The New York Subway uses a range of well-known presenters/personalities from the city's news radio stations.

The most surprising announcer was Boris, then London Mayor, for announcements on the Underground during the 2012 London Olympics.

And then there was this - Cricket commentator Jonathan Agnew doing the Underground announcements at St Johns Wood:

Aggers becomes a tube announcer for the Cricket World Cup Final! | Heading to Lord's Cricket Ground for the ICC Cricket World Cup final? Jonathan Agnew has taken over the announcements at St. John's Wood! Our TMS... | By BBC Test Match Special |

Heading to Lord's Cricket Ground for the ICC Cricket World Cup final? Jonathan Agnew has taken over the announcements at St. John's Wood! Our TMS...

www.facebook.com

 

[occone]

GWR uses a secondary male voice.

"Please take CARE, when stepping down from the train"...

The GRW male voice is a throwback from FGW days right? I swear I remember the same voice back in the Barbie days.

 

[Philip]

175s still have the original English female voice from their first days with FNW, and no Welsh (although the PIS displays are dual-language).

I think the stopping patterns are announced by Wessex Trains' Ruth, who wasn't used initially; the original announcer who used to do everything can still be heard on filler bits which haven't been re-recorded - think she was the MD of FGW many years ago.

 

[DMU180]

I was told that people prefer listening to a female voice, but are more likely to follow the instructions of a male voice which I guess matches the rationale for some of the announcements being female and others male.

 

[richw]

GWR have some automated announcements done by “Shep” of BBC Radio Devon fame.

 

[johntea]

Transdev have kept the Harry Gration (RIP) announcements on the 36 bus

I have noticed on both Northern and LNER the GPS is slightly out of sync or something as they like to announce the fact they will 'shortly' be arriving at a station despite being at least 5-10 minutes away from the station! LNER announce that they will 'shortly' be arriving in Harrogate shortly after the train passes through Pannal

 

[Lampshade]

Northern 195s and 331s seem to have swapped to a Yorkshire man

"Welcome aboard this northern service t'Manchester Airport"

Preferred the previous woman

I much preferred the previous announcements, the new guy sounds like he’s speaking with food in his mouth at times.

 

[BJames]

The 1972 tube stocks on the London Underground are undergoing some overhaul to keep going for a few years, and there's been a video of a unit under test with the new dot-matrix PIS display, as well as a new male announcer, as audible even from the outside of the train with the doors remained shut. Sounds very much like the "See it, say it, sort it" announcer on the TFL network.

That is loud with the doors shut! I don't mind that voice too much actually but I quite like the current Bakerloo line announcements, not that we'd get them kept but I am surprised it's not Sarah Parnell or Elinor Hamilton being used.

As a little side note - Elinor's platform announcement in that video, which I've never heard before, said 'the next train to pass through this station is not in service. Please stand behind the yellow line as the train approaches, use the full length of the platform, and let passengers off the train first.' - telling people that it's not in service in the first sentence, but then informing passengers of what they'd normally do for an in service train. How odd.

 

[bramling]

I'm not keen on the female voice of the London Trams, it doesn't sound like a real person

IIRC it’s a Tramlink employee.

 

[AlbertBeale]

London Underground have a male "Mind the gap" announcement in places.

 

[Via Bank]

The 1972 tube stocks on the London Underground are undergoing some overhaul to keep going for a few years, and there's been a video of a unit under test with the new dot-matrix PIS display, as well as a new male announcer, as audible even from the outside of the train with the doors remained shut. Sounds very much like the "See it, say it, sort it" announcer on the TFL network.

If I'd have to guess that sounds temporary, simply because the levelling and intonation sounds unfinished. Keep in mind that if it's not due to enter service for a while (or if the script hasn't been finalised) they may not have commissioned a voice artist to read the lines yet. But we'll see when they enter service.

 

[CAF397]

Northern 195s and 331s seem to have swapped to a Yorkshire man

"Welcome aboard this northern service t'Manchester Airport"

Preferred the previous woman

It's nice hearing a 'local' accent, even though I'm on the wrong side of the Pennines!

There is still a female voice doing the safety announcements on Northern.

 

[timothyw9]

TPE and Northern.