Unoptimised code in the British train announcement system
I was riding on an overground train in the UK, the automated announcements of which are offensively frequent and overloud. This has received much comment. The Johnson government announced a review into excessive announcements in 2022.
9 years earlier Under-Secretary for Transport Norman Baker commented that:
Someone has designed a computer program somewhere in a dark cellar and they have put it into the train and [it] plays incessantly and no-one has the power, it seems, to stop the program playing.
The train approached its penultimate stop.
The announcer said:
- Welcome to this service for Shenfield.
- We will be calling at Ingatestone, and Shenfield.
- The next stop will be Ingatestone.
The train then began to depart from Ingatestone.
The announcer a minute later said:
- Welcome to this service for Shenfield.
- We will be calling at Shenfield.
- The next stop will be Shenfield.
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