Rail-speak

I heard an announcement at the station earlier that the new 'leaf fall timetable' will come into effect on Sunday, and that some trains will be starting earlier. Leaf fall timetable! It reminded me of this article I saw on the BBC website a few days ago about the opaque language used in rail excuses and what it really means. Staffing problems might mean that the driver is late for his shift, and passenger action can mean anything from violence against a member of staff to a passenger sit-in or a passenger opening a door while the train is moving.

 

Theft of copper cables is a frequent occurrence, but passengers aren't told that - they are told that there are signalling problems, or that there has been vandalism.

 

See the article and hundreds of readers' comments here.

Comments

[John]

Great comments on the linked site.

I have a similar disgust for airline staff doing similar things, e.g., inventing stories to explain delays. Outright lying at times.

[Virtual Linguist]

Yes, quite! Thanks, John.

[Stan]

'Leaf fall' is pretty funny – as if we were in danger of thinking seasonal 'fall' meant 'human fall' or 'tall building fall' or 'stock options fall' or something.

There was an interesting discussion at Language Hat a while ago about a collection of railroad jargon:
http://www.languagehat.com/archives/004331.php

[Virtual Linguist]

Thanks, Stan. The South West Trains website explains that trains crush falling leaves, which results in a slimy film, meaning it's harder for trains to accelerate away from stations, and slowing down on the approach to stations takes longer, too. SW Trains go through south-west London, Surrey, Hampshire and south-western counties, which, admittedly, are pretty leafy parts of the country.

Thanks for the Language Hat link, which is very interesting.

[Stan]

Ah, thank you for clarifying. I should have realised that 'leaf fall' had that meaning rather than being a fancy word for 'Fall'!

[Virtual Linguist]

Sorry, Stan, my fault. Commuters on this side of the Irish Sea are well used to 'weather-y' rail excuses -- the wrong sort of snow, leaves on the line etc.

[sophie]

I can never understand what the station announcer is on about, always go by the timetable and ask someone in person, those station tannoys are rubbish.

[charlotte]

If you are late for a train, never try to listen out for the announcer, they are difficult to understand at the best of times.

[ella]

How annoying are train stations, especially when they have delays on and send you to different platforms, finding your way round can get messy.