On train announcements, too long, too often, too loud.
 

I travel the Tralee-Dublin route frequently. All wagons used have moving info displays at each end of carriage.

I do not need to be told it is a non-smoking service (smoking has not been possible on any western European public transport for maybe twenty years)

or not to leave my bags in passage, not to use reserved seats, to take my bags with me, etc...

and then in Irish as well.

I like to listen to music/podcasts and the volume of these announcements is just too loo loud.

We got by fine when the name of the next station was given once of twice before the stop.

There really needs to be less announcements. Or, more concise ones.

i.e "This train is for Tralee. Calling at Limerick Junction, Mallow, Millstreet..." etc

The "ladies and gentlemen..." lark at the start of all of them needs to go.

They used to do this on Waterford ones after every stop but it stopped after a while and they only do it in Heuston or Waterford now.

Under EU law they are required to make the safety announcements (including don't block aisles and doors) after each stop, and also the next station and destination, and I believe there is also a law requiring them to be bilingual. Smoking trains only went in 2004 as far as I remember. And it's very worthwhile telling people not to sit in reserved seats, because very many people are not accustomed to the fact that they aren't supposed to be sitting in someone else's seat.

But I suspect the people who dont pay attention to seat reservations probably pay little heed to announcements too ;)

Not withstanding the EU regulation, they could still tidy up the annoucements alot- I dont think "Ladies and Gentlemen, Iarnoid Eireann welcomes you on board..." is required?

They only say the above when the train leaves Heuston or Tralee etc.

Would it be possible/legal to have a "quiet carriage" whereby there weren't any announcements, just the rolling visual display? Listening to robo-dude rambling for ages in two languages is one thing (well of of a number of things) that makes me glad I have a car at home.

'cause when I drive, the only voices I hear over the speakers is my favourite '80s rock music, and it ain't bilingual either I can assure you.

But are verbal announcements actually required - could they be done using an induction loop system?

For decades passengers have complained of not being able to hear the announcements, the rule book requires a certain volume level to meet the current standards.

We completely agree that the length of announcements are excessive and provides no additional value. The main complaint is the sheer length and the unnecessary junk thrown in, the pointless, Ladies and gentlemen Iarnród Éireann welcomes you on board.... should be deleted immediately. We have discussed this with Irish Rail and strangely found a manager who agreed. However there are requirements which must be met

There is a legal obligation to provide the announcements in Irish.

There is a very complex series of rules which dictate the announcements. Generally falls under section 13 of the UK RVAR rules (all Irish trains are designed to meet UK regulations so they can be used in Northern Ireland) or the new EU Persons of Reduced Mobility TSI.

It is normal on commuter and suburban services, to Portlaoise, Athlone etc, to have abbreviated announcements only announcing the next stop and the actual stop as the train arrives. There is the usual non-smoking annoucement as well.

As for the welcome messages, these often start playing before the train has actually stopped so that boarding passengers will even hear it!

I've traveled 3 times from gorey to dublin on the intercity trains and all three tims the train was packed arriving into gorey. I pity the passengers from Arklow onwards especially wicklow.Speaking of the onboard announcements - what announcements all I read is 'This is coach A/b/c' Or the driver comes on and says as quickly as possible next station arklow all the way to dublin.I can understand russian and even the train driver spoke faster than them.

The old announcements were better . The next station is Bray.Passengers leaving the train at Bray please mind the gap. The announcements on the 28k which i heard a long time ago were somewhat faster but so much clearer.

There is a software bug which results in automatic announcements not working between Gorey and Dublin on most trains but it does works the other way around.

Its very easy to complain but the announcements are tailored to ensure they are understandable by the majority. So the announcements should be at a slow pace using clear language.

I'm doing some work with disability groups at the moment and many of the things complained about are of serious benefit to a large portion of the population with some form of disability.

There is also a bug on down Longford commuter trains that trips at the points just before Edgeworthstown and announces it as Longford. This has been happening for at least the last seven years.

I find these announcements to be a right pain but they are vital for people with poor vision. I still wouldn't like to be dependent on them because they don't work particularly well. It is odd that the visual displays which are equally important for people with poor hearing are so inconsistently functional. One simple thing that Irish Rail could do to help matters would be to put up about four times as many station signs so that they were visible from any window of the train.

Of course, it would be more practically useful and less annoying to everyone if the Irish language version wasn't a legal requirement. I noticed a couple of weeks ago that the emergency instructions on 22ks are written in only one language. Some doors have Irish and some have English. These signs must be just decorations because if they had any real impact on safety having them in Irish only would be a seriously dangerous thing to do given the level of understanding 80% of the population (including me) has.

29k or ICR? we can pass that on.

The emergency notices are fairly new, so anything is better than nothing. The signs are heavily graphically driven so do make limited sense if you can't read.

If we can find a lack of Irish signs we can use that as reason to fix any other issue in the system.

For the record we did successfully get the Dublin Cork announcements changed about 4 years back if you think now is bad it was much worse back then

The actual form of words use varies, the ICR fleet use a shortened version when the train is in commuter mode as distinct from intercity. Again the rules stipulate a different form of words and frequency of announcements based on the journey time between stations.

Have automated announcements or interior LED signs ever been used in the 2800 class.

The Longford at Edgeworthstown problem is on 29ks. I've not noticed it on 22ks as I usually get the 1805. It dates back to at least when the 1805 service started and I think it was happening even before that although I used to rarely use 29ks going down as the old Sligo Intercity was a lot more comfortable.

Yes they have worked.the LED display colour was orange.the announcements were faster but so much clearer.pity they dont work for some reason.