Guardian article on 'Railspeak'

[fulshaw]

Saw this in the Guardian today - any thoughts or any more examples?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/min...6/railspeak-terminated-train-station-language

 

[trainophile]

Love it. I remember the wry humour when it was decided to call passengers "customers" instead, and some wag suggested that was because if they are passengers you have to take them somewhere, but if they are customers you just have to sell them something!

 

[SS4]

What he fails to mention is that you'll always get an idiot who either skirts around the rules unless they're ambiguous and then moan when they're caught out.

...will retreat into their iPods

I have a Cowon D2, does that mean I'm exempt.

 

[shinkansen1966]

To that list, for long distance services, can we also add penalties for fares transgressions ?

"Welcome to 12:55 East Midlands train service to Sheffield....

several minutes of tiresome announcements later

.... please make sure your ticket is valid for this service and this date. Passengers not in possession of valid ticket for this train will be asked to pay the full anytime fare which to Sheffield is £965"

Keep a brief "please make sure you have a valid ticket"

or keep it amusing "all those Daily Express stories about passengers being fine hundreds of pounds for having the wrong ticket are true !"

 

[sutty]

I'm so glad I'm not the only one who feels wound up by "Arriving into Birmingham New St" etc.

Where did this peculiarity come from? We arrive 'at' New St. I've noticed airline speak creeping in, too. We're now on the final approach into London Euston, I heard last time I travelled down.

 

[SS4]

Birmingham New Street, this is Birmingham New Street. The train now arriving on Platform five terminates here. This is the [London Midland] service from Northampton. All change please, All change

 

[shinkansen1966]

I'm so glad I'm not the only one who feels wound up by "Arriving into Birmingham New St" etc.

Where did this peculiarity come from? We arrive 'at' New St. I've noticed airline speak creeping in, too. We're now on the final approach into London Euston, I heard last time I travelled down.

Exactly... as opposed to what other kind of 'approach' ?

And what about: please do not attempt to open the doors until the train has come to a complete stop in the station ? Is there another kind of stop ? A 'partial' stop for instance ?

 

[ralphchadkirk]

Exactly... as opposed to what other kind of 'approach' ?

Final approach is an aviation term for the final turn and run to line up with the runway, or so I am led to believe. Not sure why it would be used in railways, unless for a joke.

 

[Deerfold]

Seems like some people do need the reminders - the lads who lit up immediately after getting off the last KGX - LDS service on Thursday evening could have done with a reminder about the station being non-smoking. But given there didn't seem to be any staff around, even on the gates perhaps they knew but didn't care.

 

[ollyrogers]

Exactly... as opposed to what other kind of 'approach' ?

And what about: please do not attempt to open the doors until the train has come to a complete stop in the station ? Is there another kind of stop ? A 'partial' stop for instance ?

Watch out for Northern Approaches - especially if done whilst subverting the lateral. Desiros are exempt from this rule however

 

[Any Permitted]

It's a constant bug-bear of mine. For instance at the weekend I was travelling from Milford Haven to Cardiff and whilst I appreciate their decision to not call out every station on the way to Manchester and only call out "principal stations" I am still reeling from their decision to voice a "security announcement" at every single station on the (not inconsiderable) length of the journey.

Imagine travelling for 6 hours between Manchester and Milford Haven or even worse between Manchester and Pwhelli and having to listen to a reminder to "keep an eye on your personal belongings" and "report anything suspicious to a police officer or member of staff" after every single one of the dozens and dozens of "station-stop"s.

 

[CaptainHaddock]

I wonder if the author of this article saw my thread last month about pointless unnecessary announcements.

http://www.railforums.co.uk/showthread.php?t=45454

 

[Ferret]

I'm so glad I'm not the only one who feels wound up by "Arriving into Birmingham New St" etc.

Where did this peculiarity come from? We arrive 'at' New St. I've noticed airline speak creeping in, too. We're now on the final approach into London Euston, I heard last time I travelled down.

I always announce 'the next call is....', 'we're about to arrive at....', 'the train is approaching...'. I have to see that although 'we're arriving into...' is bloody annoying, 'on behalf of myself' really is the worst of them all!

 

[cuccir]

And what about: please do not attempt to open the doors until the train has come to a complete stop in the station ? Is there another kind of stop ? A 'partial' stop for instance ?

I've never understood this dislike for 'useless' adjectives. Surely it's a simple rhetorical device: a 'complete stop' reinforces that the speaker means 'stopped' not 'stopping'? Its not semantically necessary, but it serves another purpose.

'Personal belongings' is a little odder, I agree, but I still don't see why these things wind people up so much...

 

[Deerfold]

I've never understood this dislike for 'useless' adjectives. Surely it's a simple rhetorical device: a 'complete stop' reinforces that the speaker means 'stopped' not 'stopping'? Its not semantically necessary, but it serves another purpose.

'Personal belongings' is a little odder, I agree, but I still don't see why these things wind people up so much...

EC wind me up with their "please ask myself or any of the staff". Why not just ask "me"?

 

[shinkansen1966]

EC wind me up with their "please ask myself or any of the staff". Why not just ask "me"?

Agreed.

It's one step away from "if I or myself or anyone of the onboard team...." (as opposed to the off board team)

Just shorten it "if you need help, ask a member of staff"

 

[PinzaC55]

From the article itself I love the phrase "but have ministers never experienced the privatised railway system so casually and cruelly inflicted on us in the dying days of John Major's administration?"

Erm that'll be the Major government who were elected having promised to privatise the railways and many of whose voters were possibly Guardian readers?

 

[Minilad]

'Personal belongings' is a little odder, I agree, but I still don't see why these things wind people up so much...

As an addition to this I have never quite understood why people get so worked up about Train Station as opposed to Railway Station

 

[465fan]

Final approach is an aviation term for the final turn and run to line up with the runway, or so I am led to believe. Not sure why it would be used in railways, unless for a joke.

It's Virgin - Branson thinks the WCML is being run by a fleet of 747s

 

[SS4]

It's Virgin - Branson thinks the WCML is being run by a fleet of 747s

Strangers in the Night

I'm quite surprised at the response that this non-story got

 

[WestCoast]

One I've noticed is the tendency for some auto-announcement systems to say "I am sorry for the delay". No, you are an automated system, you cannot show sympathy. Of course, the recording artists can, but not the system!

Another few

"X will be the next station-stop / station-call"

"Please do not smoke in the toilet areas!". It's the toilet, not the toilet areas. We are not cats! They never say this on flights, it's always lavatories or toilets.

 

[barrykas]

Had a classic one on EMT recently. Upon being brought to a stand (oops...more railspeak) just outside Cricklewood, the TM treated us to the following (slightly paraphrased): "Due to signalling problems on the fast lines causing track circuit failures, we're going to cross to the slow line. We're just in a queue of trains waiting to cross."

As it happens, we ended up crossing to the Up Hendon, then back to the Up Fast at West Hampstead, but it's a classic case of railway jargon...

Cheers,

Barry

 

[OuterDistant]

Years ago, there was a spoof report of a Cannon Street-style accident on an episode of On The Hour. They went over to a press conference where a BR official said something like:

"An 'in-collision event' occurred when the VPU (Vehicular Power Unit) proposed an IAV (Inappropriate Arrival Velocity) with the HRTS (Hydraulic Restraining Trumpet System)."

I think that would sound plausible even today!

 

[sutty]

Exactly... as opposed to what other kind of 'approach' ?

*grins* how many angles can one train approach Euston at? It's more irritating because it's an aviation term, as has been previously stated.

I'm on a peaceful train, no announcements, which means I can't sleep or I'll miss my stop. That said I did just overtake the Metro and 66703 near to West Bromwich so I do feel I'm getting somewhere, even if it is ramblingly off topic.

Apologies!

 

[Yew]

I guess 'complete stop' is a stay over from the days of manual doors (without central locking) to reiterate the point to those who are in a rush

 

[trainophile]

Just a little one, but why when the auto announcer has listed all the stations the train will call at, does it end with "Thank you". For what? For listening? I realise it's probably just a way of showing that the announcement has finished, but I think "Thank you" is a bit superfluous.

 

[WestCoast]

Just a little one, but why when the auto announcer has listed all the stations the train will call at, does it end with "Thank you". For what? For listening? I realise it's probably just a way of showing that the announcement has finished, but I think "Thank you" is a bit superfluous.

I think that is a feature unique to Arriva Trains Wales. Their system says all sorts of weird things including "taking litter with you" after the train has arrived at a stop and is almost ready to depart!

 

[Aictos]

So with certain announcements I make, advising passengers what service the train on Platform 2 is forming, where it's stopping at, connections advice and a thank you is too much then?

That's not as long as some staff who seem to pride themselves on bettering each other on making announcements.

I did join a East Coast train one day and the guard when stating what stations the train would call at, also announced the time of arrival at each station.

 

[WestCoast]

So with certain announcements I make, advising passengers what service the train on Platform 2 is forming, where it's stopping at, connections advice and a thank you is too much then?

"Thank you for travelling with FCC" after a long announcement sounds cheery and pleasant. ATW's onboard auto-announcement system repeats "thank you" after almost every single announcement. It doesn't sound sincere at all, it is unnecessary!

 

[trainophile]

I think it should be the passengers... sorry, customers who say thank you, not the announcer. WestCoast is right, it's surplus to requirements.

Not going to lose sleep over it, and didn't mean any offence, but as this IS a thread discussing such things...