Introduction to Automated Announcements
Pre-recorded Announcements
Pre-recorded station announcements have been in use since the 1970s, using tape machines with a limited number of announcements to be triggered by station staff. These machines were inflexible and adding a new announcement, for example to reflect a changed calling pattern, required the voice-over artist to do a complete retake of the entire announcement. These systems began to be replaced in the 1980s by “solid state” systems which, whilst still only having a limited number of announcements, used “modular” recorded phrases making creating a new announcement much easier. With improvements in computer technology, the systems became more advanced but still required manual control by a human operator.
Moving to Automation
Automated systems, however, run using the Real Time Train Index, and the railway computer system TRUST, and are able to provide live running information in much the same way modern Passenger Information Screens do. These systems are often setup to automatically announce delays, cancellations and platform alterations, as well as informing passengers of approaching trains etc. The vast majority of announcement systems in use today are automated, although a small number are still manually controlled.
The Big Three
The early pioneers of recorded announcements were Infomat, later Radicle Technology, who provided announcements for many stations operated by Network South East, but sadly none of their systems have been in use for some years now. Another company, Ditra Systems, also made systems for British Rail starting in 1987, a handful of which are still in use! Since the fragmentation of the UK railway network it has made sense for the privatised companies to use just one company for their announcement systems, and the majority of systems in use now are made by either Ketech Ditra (previously Ditra Systems) based in Reading, Atos Origin (previously SEMA) based in Nottingham, or Funkwerk based in Germany. All three companies use a similar script pattern for their announcements, but there are some variations, and the voices vary between manufacturers.
Ditra are used by South West Trains and Southern for the entirety of their network, as well as Northern Rail, First Capital Connect, First Great Western and ScotRail for a number of stations. “Solid state” Ditra systems are also in use at a couple of stations run by National Express East Anglia, and Network Rail use Ditra at three stations.
Atos are used by Arriva Trains Wales, London Midland, c2c and Network Rail for all their stations (except the three Ditra stations). First Great Western, National Express East Anglia and East Midlands Trains also use Atos for part of their network. Southeastern also use Atos at a couple of their stations, but the majority of their automated announcement systems are provided by an alternative company.
Funkwerk are the newest company to grace the world of automated announcements and are used by First Capital Connect and Northern Rail on portions of their respective networks.
The Voices
The most obvious difference between the systems are the voices. Ditra and Funkwerk use professional voice over artists for their systems, whereas Atos and other companies tend to use members of their (or the TOC’s) staff.
The Infomat/Radicle announcements initially used professional voice-actors Robert Lister and Angela Peberdy. For the newer generation of their systems voice-over artist Julie Berry replaced Angela Peberdy. Julie has since gone on to provide recordings for a large number of on-train automated announcement systems. Ditra used actor John Elgar and radio broadcaster Janet Mayo (unconfirmed) as the voices for their original systems, although both became unavailable for new recordings by the 1990s. In 1996 voice-over artists Phil Sayer and Celia Drummond were contracted by Ditra to replace the original voices and both are still recording new clips for Ditra on a quarterly basis. Phil in particular has gained a “cult following” since his voice was selected for use at a number of large stations including Birmingham New Street, Leeds and Bristol Temple Meads, although his voice is no longer used at the latter two. In addition to Phil and Celia, Ditra also use a Scottish female voice and a male Irish voice for announcements in those countries.
There is much less known about the voices used for the Atos systems. The main female voice was nicknamed “Sarcastic Sarah”, although she is sometimes referred to as “Muffly Marge”. In reality she is a lady called Anne who works in Atos’ Head Office and was presumably chosen for her ‘neutral’ voice. For the most part the Atos systems are global and therefore require only one voice. However, there is also a male voice available, used on selected stations in the South, being provided by a member of staff at London Bridge station named Mike. He seems to have been unavailable for new recordings as the ”First Capital Connect”, and “Hever”, “Cowden” and “Ashurst” recordings seem to have used a totally different person leading to a very comical effect. There are three other voices used by Atos; a member of Wessex Trains’ staff called Ruth was selected to provide the female voice for the Atos System at all ex-Wales & West stations, with a Welsh speaking man known as “Glyn” used for billingual announcements in Wales, and the Atos system at Edinburgh Waverley uses voice samples recorded by the station manager, Juliet Donnachie.
Site Contributors
D Atkinson
J Slatter
J Allen
L Rawlings
External Acknowledgements
Robert Payne