You might have seen the TV advert for train travel. A man looks dreamily at the magnificent landscape out of the train window, enjoying the mildly trance-like state and space for creativity that a good journey can give.
Such an experience is now rare on trains, at least for me.
Endless announcements about the next station, final destination, instructions about
‘personal belongings’ (what other kind are there?) and injunctions to ‘see it
say it sorted’. And then there are people sharing their music, videos or conversations
(both sides) on speakerphone.
Quiet carriages were meant to offer passengers some respite
from this racket. Unfortunately they do not, because people are unwilling to be
quiet or perhaps do not realise they are in a quiet carriage. On a recent trip
from London to Chelmsford I asked a woman with a mobile and two noisy children
to respect the quiet carriage (actually about one quarter of a carriage,
containing four tables). The conversation became less than constructive, ending
with her moving to another carriage and both of us apologising to each other
when we had cooled down about half an hour later. This was unpleasant.
Why are train carriages not quiet? How can they be?
What is behind this? Do people not believe that silence is
valuable? Is using your mobile an inalienable right? Whatever, I have a few
suggestions for improving quiet carriages:
1. Improve signage. At the moment there is usually one sign on
the outside of the carriage doors and tiny stickers on windows.
2. Charge a supplement for seats in quiet carriages. People would
then be less likely to accidentally sit in a quiet carriage, and it would raise
general awareness of them. Enforce this like the first-class premium.
3. Mute public announcements in quiet carriages.
I’m not alone in finding such noise disturbing. Wetherspoons
has recently banned phones on speakerphones from its pubs, saying: ‘We're
yet to hear of anyone who relishes having a pint against the backdrop of a
speakerphone call or someone loudly playing a video, so we expect this move
will be greatly welcomed’. I suggest train companies follow suit and more
robustly help to preserve this valuable thing, quietness.