Great Western Coffee Shop

Our, it does not belong to the passengers on the train.

Your,I might not want to get off at that station

The,CORRECT.

RANT OVER.

An interesting one.   "Our" next "station stop" as announced by the train crew is correct in my view as it's the train operating lot who are talking.  Agreed it does not belong to the passengers, but we are very used to hearing in the spoken word the possessive used by someone then reflecting it in our own minds to (see,I'm doing it!) in the knowledge it's said from the speaker's viewpoint.

Where my toes curl is "please take all your personal possessions with you".  Most of us - thank goodness - have a home or other place(s) where we can leave possessions when away from home; there is no way that I have ever taken all my personal possessions on the train, so I have never been able to follow this instruction.  I know what they mean .. not sure if "please take everything you brought onto the train off with you" is right either - it leaves inaccuracies too particularly if the train has a working loo.

Or “please don’t leave any of your possessions behind” (including litter).  ;D

I'll trade any of these irritations to get rid of "See it, say it, sorted."   With the bright scrolling displays on the units that almost drive me insane as they scroll the same bloody information repetitely for my two hour journey in my line of sight a very close second. 

That wasn't a rant, that was just a grumble in capital letters. Must try harder, 2/10.

Ulp!

‘Arriving into’
You can arrive at or arrive in but not into. I would happily listen to this though rather than the completely unnecessary Transport for the city up the road travel update that occurs at Reading (general) station once every 5 minutes.

I would more or less forgive any of this if they actually provided the correct information.

A friend of mine who seldom travels by train, perhaps encouraged by me, set off to Bath a few weeks ago. When the train stopped at Oldfield Park, the system confidently announced 'Bath Spa', so she got off... and had a long walk into town.

Those of us who use the train regularly expect Montpelier to be announced as Bridgend occasionally, but you can see how it could be a bit offputting for those who are less familiar.

Agreed that is FAR more important.  Picture the traveller from Swindon to Frome on the first train on Sunday 1st December ... "change at Trowbridge" he had been told.  Was misinformed as he arrived into Melksham that it was Trowbridge and got off.     4 hour setback, which for a day trip to visit friends meant his rail trip was aborted.

Not helped ... by there not being a "Melksham" sign visible from many parts of a train that's stopped there.  One sign is at an angle behind an information board and can only be seen by the driver (probably the last one who needs to be told, as he has route knowledge) and the other one is set back so that it's masked by the waiting shelter from much of the train.  When the platform was doubled in length, no new signs at all added even though that's where the Swindon-bound trains stop, well away from any sign.

Readers may suggest we ask GWR for extra station signs.  Yep, done ... including a response to their "how can we speed up station duties prior to 15th December" request.    I doubt the signs will appear in the next 14 hours though.  There is a promise that they're included in the station planning which includes extra car parking, cafe, second gate to the station, a new (secondhand) departure screen, access to the north at Foundry Close and perhaps onto the road bridge too to make the walk to George Ward easier ... but, really, couldn't a couple of signs be made up sooner, even if they are just temporary?

Once technology such as automated announcements and display screens is in place people fully trust the information. Next bus displays relying on GPS rarely work 100% but then public trust them and it leads to mistakes made by people of which the staff operating a service have no control. The next stop screens in buses also works on GPS and would often stutter leading to many to get off in the wrong place. On the railway, mistakes made like this have far bigger impact. I’ve always said about the bus GPS information, if it doesn’t work 100% of the time it’s not worth having, on trains I would always favour a person making an announcement if the technology doesn’t work properly. Another plus of having two members of staff on a train.

Verbal announcements from the driver didn't stop a foreign tour group getting off in error at an additional stop at Appleford on a Banbury-Reading service I was on Thursday evening. People near the door called after them questioning if this really was where they wanted to get off. As it happened the next service stopped there as well, as it could easily have been a two hour wait.

Agreed re "arriving into". My other more recent peeve is the over-use of the emphatic imperative - "do take a look around you... do mind the step...". Oh do shut up!

With you on that one. I'd much rather there was a regular verbal report on all the services to and through Reading, rather than having to rely on the unreliable and uninformative Journey Check (Delayed Delayed Delayed Delayed Delayed  - no explanation  - oh - its actually just left.....)

Why does it even need all the waffle? "Next Stop Didcot" simple. Works on Swedish trains just fine.

Wow I didn't know there were direct services from Sweden with the first stop in the UK being Didcot! :)

Because a private railway has customers rather than passengers, and your journey on a train, to them, is an onboard experience. If you go into a well known brand shop you will hear the person behind the counter reel off the same waffle each time you go in, I guess somewhere it gets results, probably in industry consumer surveys done by mystery shoppers. Someone is listening to that train manager or announcement and marking the company down for points.
At Reading Transport, so much effort was put into impressing mystery travellers for the sake of industry awards that it could have an effect on actual service. Loading the buses as quickly and efficiently as possible was of no importance. What you said, did and how you were dressed on the other hand was how you were judged on doing the job, not whether the vehicle moved. Drivers would be summoned to the office, not for passenger complaints, just to be told what an anonymous judge thought of them. It would vary wildly in different opinions too, even if you did the same thing each time. Now I imagine that TOC’s are under the same scrutiny for the same stuff, probably required for industry awards and possibly operating licenses. The sooner consumer choice is taken out of public transport the better.

Also I have heard on Cotswold trains coming into Reading; change at Reading for Basingstoke, etc and Oxford. Then having to tell tourists to stay on the train because the announcement means stations to Oxford.

Yes I’ve noticed some IET announcements telling coming from the west telling you to change for where you have just come from. There doesn’t seem to be much attention to detail with these things as I guess they are programmed by somebody not familiar with what’s happening who’s just getting on with a job. It appears to be viewed that all information, even if unnecessary, is a good thing.

That is far worse than any mix up of pronouns or articles.

Happens all over the place being advised to change when the train actually goes there. Didcot for Oxford, Swindon for Cheltenham etc.

I was told by GWR that this behaviour is considered a non-compliance in the software and it is to be fixed presumably by Hitachi, but it seems a really long time coming. Perhaps the next update :)

Well, "Rudy" on "Crime of the Century" had this much better organised. The announcement says "passengers for Radley change at Didcot". The connecting train at Didcot was actually going to Oxford but you could get to Oxford more quickly on a through train from Paddington.

Good excuse to listen to it again.

Maybe they wanted to Take The Long Way Home.