FGW Statement on Quiet Carriages

[whole diary]

[ChrisB]

FGW^▸ (First Great Western) have issued this in response to a Daily Fail article.....

First Great Western's future plans for quiet carriages
Thursday 31st July 2014

First Great Western has this morning hit back at claims it is removing Quiet Carriages from all its trains (Daily Mail, 31-7-14, p15).

 A First Great Western spokesman said: "There will be a quiet carriage on all our High Speed Trains for the foreseeable future. Claims that there will be no solace for customers who want a quieter journey are simply unfounded."

 The Mail appears to have confused First Great Western with CrossCountry trains, who issued a press release last week, saying they were removing Quiet Carriages completely from their trains.

 It is true, however, that First Great Western's First Class Quiet Carriage will go when the company redesigns its First Class carriages in the coming months.
 The company is converting some First Class carriages into Standard carriages on all its long distance trains, which will only leave one and a half First Class carriages.


To make one of those carriages 'quiet' would be madness, but it is a practical decision based on the need to increase the number of standard seats on our services. The renewed First Class carriages will instead be fitted with specially designed headrests and partition screens to keep noise levels to a minimum.

 The changes are happening as part of a range of investments on its High Speed Trains for customers worth more than ^13 million currently taking place. These include 3,000 additional standard class seats with more tables for customers and free Wifi from early 2015

[TaplowGreen]

IMHO^▸ (in my humble opinion) it's a complete non-issue.

No-one likes a quiet life more than me but it's unenforceable and we are living in 2014 when communication on the move via mobile phones is a fact of life......

Loud music is a different matter but with modern headphones virtually eradicated.

Some people think "quiet" means "silent" unfortunately and that simply isn't going to happen.

There will always be inconsiderate people who bawl into their phone and equally noisy children, but unless FGW^▸ (First Great Western) have a firm policy and means of ejecting these people from Quiet carriages it's a waste of time, and I can imagine the Police's reaction to getting a call from a station saying "we want you to remove this man because he was talking loudly" 

[ChrisB]

First thing all TOCs^▸ (Train Operating Company) could do is to exclude children from Quiet carriages. It is unfair to expect them to be able to keep quiet, especially on long journeys

[paul7575]

Something weird about the Daily Fail using a photo of an SWT^▸ (South West Trains) 444 to illustrate the story - then captioning the relatively large picture "Despite some train operators axing quiet carriages, South West Trains are unaffected by the move".  Couldn't they find a XC^▸ (Cross Country Trains (franchise)) or FGW^▸ (First Great Western) picture?  Why mention SWT at all...

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2706201/End-line-quiet-carriages-trains-Rail-operators-axe-designated-areas-cause-rows-passengers.html

Wonder if that was why one of the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page) local radio stations (Surrey I think it was) was suckered into doing a story about SWT scrapping quiet carriages?

Paul

[bobm]

First thing all TOCs^▸ (Train Operating Company) could do is to exclude children from Quiet carriages. It is unfair to expect them to be able to keep quiet, especially on long journeys

I'd certainly second that.  I also agree having a carriage as quiet as the libraries of my youth is never going to happen.  I can cope with people talking at a moderate volume on their phone.  I can cope with the occasional set of leaky headphones.  What I struggle with is people who insist on chatting with their mates at a loud volume and frequently interspersed with "industrial language" - that doesn't need a quiet carriage, that is covered by other byelaws.

[ChrisB]

quiet conversation I'm fine with. leaky headphones & phone calls, I'm not. And that's why it's a 'Quiet' carriage, not a 'silent' carriage.

[TaplowGreen]

First thing all TOCs^▸ (Train Operating Company) could do is to exclude children from Quiet carriages. It is unfair to expect them to be able to keep quiet, especially on long journeys

I'd certainly second that.  I also agree having a carriage as quiet as the libraries of my youth is never going to happen.  I can cope with people talking at a moderate volume on their phone.  I can cope with the occasional set of leaky headphones.  What I struggle with is people who insist on chatting with their mates at a loud volume and frequently interspersed with "industrial language" - that doesn't need a quiet carriage, that is covered by other byelaws.

In the not so distant past wasn't there a "family carriage"? - maybe that would be a solution to keeping children away? .............or maybe a "party carriage" where all those who wished to make a racket could congregate? 

[NickB]

"no phones, no kids' is a simple enough rule and is enforceable.
The idea of wanting peace and quiet, either to work or sleep, is not "madness" though. Just as the modern age requires people to stay in touch by phone, so the usage of trains for quiet working or resting has also increased. And whilst my sleeping disturbs no-one, one donut with a phone wrecks a whole carriage.

[Alan Pettitt]

Sometimes I do wonder why some people bother with a phone at all; I am sure that their communicants are able to hear them without any electrical intervention.

[Andrew1939 from West Oxon]

With free Wi-Fi coming to FGW^▸ (First Great Western) HSTs^▸ (High Speed Train), more people in the quiet coach will be inclined to use their phone more. Is there some form of wired gauze that could be stuck on the windows of a quiet coach to stop phone signals coming in or out of the coach?
I remember from a few years ago returning from Paris on Eurostar and we were seated opposite a yank who started using his phone almost immediately after leaving Gare de Nord and only stopped when we went into the tunnel but then started again on the other side all the way back to London. The tunnel was a great relief but I understand that they are, or have, since put mobile phone facilities in the tunnel.

[Southern Stag]

If people are just using the free Wi-Fi to browse the internet on their phone then it shouldn't be noisy. It's the same with texting. Sending a text or browsing the internet in the quiet carriage is fine in my opinion, provided you don't have irritating keypad sounds turned on on your phone.

[TaplowGreen]

"no phones, no kids' is a simple enough rule and is enforceable.
The idea of wanting peace and quiet, either to work or sleep, is not "madness" though. Just as the modern age requires people to stay in touch by phone, so the usage of trains for quiet working or resting has also increased. And whilst my sleeping disturbs no-one, one donut with a phone wrecks a whole carriage.

So how would it be enforced? Would youngsters have to prove their age before being allowed in the "Quiet" carriage? Would the Train Manager be on the door denying entry to under 18s? Would he throw people out of the carriage? Split up families sitting together on a busy train?

Would he phone ahead to the next station so that the Police could be ready to remove a 15 and a half year old who had dared to sit in carriage A and was reluctant to move?

I'm sure all concerned have better things to do.

I think an element of realism needs to be injected - adults are more than capable of being just as noisy and irritating as children, especially after a few ales.........is a decibel limit going to be specified beyond which point you will be thrown out?

Trains were never designed to be contemplative retreats for misplaced Trappists, and the best that can be hoped for is for people to be considerate of others.

[chrisr_75]

"no phones, no kids' is a simple enough rule and is enforceable.
The idea of wanting peace and quiet, either to work or sleep, is not "madness" though. Just as the modern age requires people to stay in touch by phone, so the usage of trains for quiet working or resting has also increased. And whilst my sleeping disturbs no-one, one donut with a phone wrecks a whole carriage.

So how would it be enforced? Would youngsters have to prove their age before being allowed in the "Quiet" carriage? Would the Train Manager be on the door denying entry to under 18s? Would he throw people out of the carriage? Split up families sitting together on a busy train?

Would he phone ahead to the next station so that the Police could be ready to remove a 15 and a half year old who had dared to sit in carriage A and was reluctant to move?

I'm sure all concerned have better things to do.

I think an element of realism needs to be injected - adults are more than capable of being just as noisy and irritating as children, especially after a few ales.........is a decibel limit going to be specified beyond which point you will be thrown out?

Trains were never designed to be contemplative retreats for misplaced Trappists, and the best that can be hoped for is for people to be considerate of others.

How about a decibel meter which triggers an ejector seat at a predetermined critical peak value?! Could also allow deployment by the train manager for any other indiscretions!

However, sound insulation from exterior noise could be rather important...!!

Ok, crazy moment over 

[Super Guard]

"no phones, no kids' is a simple enough rule and is enforceable.
The idea of wanting peace and quiet, either to work or sleep, is not "madness" though. Just as the modern age requires people to stay in touch by phone, so the usage of trains for quiet working or resting has also increased. And whilst my sleeping disturbs no-one, one donut with a phone wrecks a whole carriage.

So how would it be enforced? Would youngsters have to prove their age before being allowed in the "Quiet" carriage? Would the Train Manager be on the door denying entry to under 18s? Would he throw people out of the carriage? Split up families sitting together on a busy train?

Would he phone ahead to the next station so that the Police could be ready to remove a 15 and a half year old who had dared to sit in carriage A and was reluctant to move?

I'm sure all concerned have better things to do.

I think an element of realism needs to be injected - adults are more than capable of being just as noisy and irritating as children, especially after a few ales.........is a decibel limit going to be specified beyond which point you will be thrown out?

Trains were never designed to be contemplative retreats for misplaced Trappists, and the best that can be hoped for is for people to be considerate of others.

How about a decibel meter which triggers an ejector seat at a predetermined critical peak value?! Could also allow deployment by the train manager for any other indiscretions!

However, sound insulation from exterior noise could be rather important...!!

Ok, crazy moment over 

We did once ask for tasers, but there was some H&S^▸ (Health and Safety) nonsense reason against it apparently 

[chrisr_75]

"no phones, no kids' is a simple enough rule and is enforceable.
The idea of wanting peace and quiet, either to work or sleep, is not "madness" though. Just as the modern age requires people to stay in touch by phone, so the usage of trains for quiet working or resting has also increased. And whilst my sleeping disturbs no-one, one donut with a phone wrecks a whole carriage.

So how would it be enforced? Would youngsters have to prove their age before being allowed in the "Quiet" carriage? Would the Train Manager be on the door denying entry to under 18s? Would he throw people out of the carriage? Split up families sitting together on a busy train?

Would he phone ahead to the next station so that the Police could be ready to remove a 15 and a half year old who had dared to sit in carriage A and was reluctant to move?

I'm sure all concerned have better things to do.

I think an element of realism needs to be injected - adults are more than capable of being just as noisy and irritating as children, especially after a few ales.........is a decibel limit going to be specified beyond which point you will be thrown out?

Trains were never designed to be contemplative retreats for misplaced Trappists, and the best that can be hoped for is for people to be considerate of others.

How about a decibel meter which triggers an ejector seat at a predetermined critical peak value?! Could also allow deployment by the train manager for any other indiscretions!

However, sound insulation from exterior noise could be rather important...!!

Ok, crazy moment over 

We did once ask for tasers, but there was some H&S^▸ (Health and Safety) nonsense reason against it apparently 

Don't bother with the tasers, just go for a magnum 357 with an ak47 in the emergency kit in coach a, you'd not get any sh1t off anyone then!

It's quite late in the day on a Friday isn't it?!?