Cumbria station names among those to be re-recorded by Northern for new on-board announcements: Final call for feedback

Residents across the North of England have responded to an appeal by Northern to help them correct the mispronunciation of local station names in on-board announcements – with Burneside, Aspatria, Cark & Cartmel and Barrow-in-Furness in Cumbria all making the list.

And now, the train operator has issued a final call for feedback before the duo behind the new recordings return to the studio.

But do you agree with suggestions received so far?

Station Currently Pronounced Future Pronunciation
Burneside, Cumbria Burn-Side Burn-E-Side
Aspatria, Cumbria A-Spa-Tria Ass-Spat-Ria
Ashburys, Greater Manchester Ashbury Ashburys
Euxton Balshaw Lane, Lancashire Euston Balshaw Lane Ex-Ton Balshaw Lane
Slaithwaite, West Yorkshire Slaith-Wait Slou-Wit
Ilkeston, Derbyshire Ill-Kes-Ston Ilks-tonne
Cark & Cartmel, Cumbria Cark And Cartmel Cark-N-Cartmel
Mossley Hill, Merseyside Mozzley-ill Mose-ley Hill

With some stations, residents were keen to reiterate full place names rather than shortened versions that have been adopted over time. Those included:

Station Currently Announced As Future Announcement
Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria Barrow Barrow-In-Furness
Dore & Totley, South Yorkshire Dore Dore & Totley

Tricia Williams, chief operating officer at Northern, said: “I’d like to thank everyone that has sent in their feedback so far.

“We manage 467 stations across our network and some of them are pronounced very differently to how they appear in writing.

“That said, some corrections are, quite rightly, a request that station names be announced in full rather than shortened versions that have been adopted over time.”

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).

Customers have until the end of the month to submit their ‘suggestions and corrections’.

The new on-board announcements have been recorded by Peter Corley and Laura Palmer, two of Northern’s employees.

Speaking at the time the first recordings went live on some of Northern’s trains, they 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.”

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.


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