Northern is asking its passengers to confirm that its on-board announcements pronounce station names correctly.
The two announcers – Peter Corley and Laura Palmer – have promised to re-record any station name that passengers tell them does not respect local pronunciation.
Peter and Laura's colleagues at Northern urged them to put themselves forward to voice the new announcements.
Peter is a conductor based in York and Laura is the operator's cyber security and compliance manager.
This is their first official ‘voiceover' work, although Peter has some previous as he worked as radio operator in the army before joining Northern in 2019.
Passengers have been hearing the new announcement since last month, and within the next few weeks, they will be in use on all trains in Northern's fleet.
Work has already identified the specific pronunciation of stations including:
Peter and Laura said, “Whilst every effort was made to get them right first time, we know how proud people across the North of England are of their regional dialect. Who knows how long these recordings will be in the system – so now's your chance to correct us if we've got it wrong.”
Tricia Williams, chief operating officer at Northern, said: “Some of the stations on our network are pronounced very differently to how they appear in writing.
“As a local, there's nothing worse than someone mis-pronouncing your hometown – especially when you have to hear it every time you use the station.
“Peter and Laura have done a fabulous job – but it never hurts to check with the people that matter the most.”
If the audio of your local station doesn't sound quite right, please contact Northern on Twitter (@northernassist) or via Facebook Messenger (m.me/northernassist).
Northern is the second largest train operator in the UK, with 2,500 services a day to more than 500 stations across the North of England.
i prefer to say it how its spelt American english better for spelling too tha n illogical english english!
It is usually people who live South of the Watford Gap, who can’t pronounce Northern names properly. A place near Newcastle Airport is called Ponteland, but is pronounced “Ponteeland”. BBC news readers never get it right.
it always worries when they announce Crossflatts and Saltaire -they invariably place the emphasis on the first syllable instead ofthe second . It should be crossFLATTSand saltAIRE
This is a good move. It always annoyed me that Slaithwaite was pronounced “Slathwaite” instead of “Slouwit”. Maybe “Garfeth” instead of “Gar-forth”?
Sowerby bridge is pronounced by the locals as SAWERBY bridge allthough I know it looks like sow as in pig. Or even sorewerby bridge lol thanks if you change your pronunciations as I have many times on northern trains sowerby bridge being pronounced SOWerby bridge
Agreed
What a waste of effort time and money.
Locals know where they are but what about tourists.
Probably don’t get off the train as they don’t recognise the name.
Aware what the station is called as a novice but when pronounced in a way that is only known to locals.
The solution is obvious pronounce it both ways King’s grammar as well as how the locals say it.
It would help visitors not to make mistakes when visiting. I well remember visitors from Luton saying that they were going to “Carstle-ford”, not “Casselfd”