diamond geezer

When trains are running, you hear this on the tube a lot.

This train is being held at a red signal and should be moving shortly.

If you think you've heard it more often recently, that's because it's being played more often.

This train is being held at a red signal and should be moving shortly.

But only on certain trains.

This train is being held at a red signal and should be moving shortly.

And here's why.

There are, unsurprisingly, rules about how often tube drivers must play delay messages. Some drivers might otherwise make them too often and some might never make them, and that would never do.

One reason for making delay announcements is to provide information about the ongoing journey but the chief reason is customer reassurance. Some passengers get nervous when a train stops in a tunnel, especially those who travel infrequently and aren't used to the fact this often happens. They won't be thinking "ah yes, there's probably another train ahead", they might instead be conjuring up all kinds of worst case scenarios, so it makes sense to put them at their ease.

Up until the start of this month, the rule was this.

The driver must have made a verbal announcement...
...if a delay between stations reaches 30 seconds.
...if a delay at the platform reaches 90 seconds.

Train operators know this as the 30:90 rule.

It's shorter between stations because that's where any delay stands out as unusual. And it's longer at platforms because dwell times can sometimes be longer than 30 seconds, also anyone nervous or inconvenienced can obviously get off.

Note that the announcement had to be verbal, so any driver merely pressing the button for an automated announcement had technically misperformed.

However hearing-impaired passengers would have been disadvantaged by a verbal announcement, potentially missing it completely, and that's not treating people equally. The introduction of in-carriage displays thus presents a way to mitigate this, additionally presenting a scrolling message, hence the change in the rules.

As of the start of this month, the new rule is more complicated.

If a delay between stations reaches 30 seconds, the driver must have made an automated announcement.
If a delay between stations reaches 90 seconds, the driver must also have made a verbal announcement.

If a delay at the platform reaches 90 seconds, the driver must have made an automated announcement followed by verbal announcement.

That's two announcements every time a delay reaches 90 seconds, and that's why you might be hearing these announcements more often.

An automated announcement followed a verbal announcement ticks all boxes equalities-wise, specifically for those who either cannot see or cannot hear. Technically an automated announcement would be sufficient but TfL know that passengers find the driver's voice more reassuring hence this is included too.

It can all get a bit silly when the driver presses the button just as the red signal changes, hence you hear 'This train is being held at a red signal and should be moving shortly' just as the train moves off. It can also get a bit annoying if you're the kind of person niggled by excessive messaging, in which case best remember you are not the target audience and perhaps calm down a bit.

Also the new rule only applies on trains where the rolling stock includes a visual display. Bakerloo line trains are too old, for example, also those on the Piccadilly, Northern and Jubilee. In these cases a verbal message is still deemed more reassuring, also there's no point in playing an automated message because nothing scrolls past when you do. Trains on these four lines thus continue to follow the old rule while trains on the other seven lines follow the new.

In summary...

	Between stations	At platforms
Central Circle District H & City Metropolitan Victoria W & City (new rule)	30 seconds an automated announcement90 seconds a verbal announcement	90 seconds an automated announcement followed by a verbal announcement
Bakerloo Jubilee Northern Piccadilly (old rule)	30 seconds a verbal announcement	90 seconds a verbal announcement

Arguably this is all a bit late because many tube lines have had visual display screens for years. In particular the government introduced a set of Rail Vehicle Accessibility Regulations in 2010 to set legal standards for disabled passengers and TfL have been relying on a legal opt-out ever since. But better late than never, hence the change on 1st April, hence the increased number of announcements where these can be made.

Intriguingly TfL employ market research company Ipsos to check that drivers are making the correct announcements. They act as 'mystery shoppers', awarding green letters (and special badges) to drivers who meet the standard and red letters to those who don't. Imagine getting paid to ride the tube, listening out for messages and keeping your fingers crossed that at some point the train gets delayed.

It's also worth saying that many lines don't actually have red signals any more, they've been done away with thanks to upgrades to electronic signalling. But TfL still like to tell us that trains are being held at red signals even though they're not because it helps to keep the announcements simple. When you might now be hearing them twice, that's increasingly important.

This train is being held at a red signal and should be moving shortly.

If you're hearing impaired hopefully these changes will benefit you. If you're visually impaired this now gives you two chances to listen. If you're hearing impaired and visually impaired sorry, you remain outside the loop. And if unnecessary announcements annoy you just keep your headphones in, keep your eyes on your phone and you won't notice anything has changed.