Northern re-records 34 station name announcements with local pronunciation

Northern has re-recorded on-board announcements of then names of thirty-four stations on its network after appealing to the public for help.

The operator received forty-seven formal requests to re-record announcements, including multiple submissions for:

• Aspatria in Cumbria (to be pronounced as ‘As-spay-tria);
• Kirkham and Wesham in Lancashire (to be pronounced Kirkham and Wess-am);
• Ilkeston in Derbyshire (to be pronounced Il-kes-ton); and
• Sowerby Bridge in West Yorkshire (to be pronounced Sowby Bridge).

Northern employees Pete Corley and Laura Palmer recorded the new announcement, and then issued a video message to thank people for their feedback. An upgrade to on-board software meant that announcements had to be recorded again, which prompted the appeal for correct local pronunciation.

In June, Pete and Laura appealed to passengers to contact them if they had mispronounced any of the five-hundred-plus stations on Northern's network. After discussing issues such as loud Es, missing Ss and silent ‘ands' within station names, they returned to the studio and made the new recordings.

Northern will now begin using the new recordings on its fleet of 345 trains.

The 34 stations whose names were re-recorded were: Accrington; Dore & Totley; Lostock Gralam; Ardwick; Elsecar; Mossley Hill; Ashburys; Euxton Balshaw Lane; Redcar; Aspatria; Gathurst; Roose; Barnsley; Hall i' th' Wood; Slaithwaite; Barrow-in-Furness; Handforth; South Elmsall; Bentham; Heighington; Sowerby Bridge; Burneside; Hessle; Thurnscoe; Cark-in-Cartmel; Ilkeston; Todmorden; Chesterfield; Kirkham and Wesham; Wombwell; Dodworth; Langwathby; Doncaster; Lazonby & Kirkoswald.

Tricia Williams, chief operating officer at Northern, said: “This has been such an interesting process and proof if ever it were needed of the passion our customers have for the North.

“Some of the stations on our network are pronounced very differently to how they appear in writing – it's important to get these things right.

“I'd like to thank Pete, Laura and all of the on-board systems team for their persistence with this project – and to everyone that took the time to get involved and speak-up for their hometown.”