Northern line announcements
Dear Transport for London,
On this website [https://www.voicesuk.co.uk/artist/louisa... it states that Louisa Gummer is the newest voice of the Northern line.
Please could you confirm the following in relation:
1. Which exact announcements has she recorded for the Northern line and when did she do them?
2. How was she chosen, who chose/approved her, and who else was on the shortlist for this role?
3. Did TfL source this voice directly or appoint a supplier to source them? If so, which supplier and how much were they paid?
4. Is TfL planning to renew other announcements on the Northern line soon, as currently they do not reference any interchanges with London Overground, say nothing about step free access stations, and use an old/posh voice with verbose wording and incorrect pronunciation as referenced in this article [https://highgatefestival.org/any-pedants...
Yours faithfully,
Carla Evanovich
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Dear Carla Evanovich
TfL Ref: FOI-1468-2425
Thank you for your request which we received on 6 August 2024.
We will aim to issue a response by 2024 in accordance with the Freedom of
Information Act (FOI) 2000 and our information access policy.
We publish a substantial range of information on our website on subjects
including operational performance, contracts, expenditure, journey data,
governance and our financial performance. This includes data which is
frequently asked for in FOI requests or other public queries. Please check
[1]http://www.tfl.gov.uk/corporate/transpar... to see if this helps you.
We will publish anonymised versions of requests and responses on the
[2]www.tfl.gov.uk website. We will not publish your name and we will send
a copy of the response to you before it is published on our website.
In the meantime, if you would like to discuss this matter further, please
do not hesitate to contact me.
Yours sincerely
Eva Hextall
FOI Case Management Team
General Counsel
Transport for London
TfL RESTRICTED
Dear Carla Evanovich
TfL Ref: FOI-1468-2425
Thank you for your request which we received on 6 August 2024, asking for
information about Northern Line announcements recorded by Louisa Gummer.
Your request has been considered in accordance with the requirements of
the Freedom of Information Act and our information access policy. I can
confirm that we hold some of the information you require. You specifically
asked:
1. Which exact announcements has she recorded for the Northern line and
when did she do them?
Louisa Gummer recorded Northern Line announcements which catered for
changes required for the Northern Line Extension (NLE) and Elizabeth Line,
as well as adjustments to some interchange announcements and platform
numbers, mainly for Battersea Power Station, Nine Elms, Kennington, Camden
Town, Tottenham Court Road and Moorgate stations. They would have been
recorded in early 2020/21.
Unfortunately, to provide the exact announcements she recorded would
exceed the ‘appropriate limit’ of £450 set by the Freedom of Information
(Appropriate Limit and Fees) Regulations 2004. Under section 12 of the FOI
Act, we are not obliged to comply with a request if we estimate that the
cost of determining whether we hold the information, locating and
retrieving it and extracting it from other information would exceed the
appropriate limit. This is calculated at £25 per hour for every hour spent
on the activities described.
There are multiple documents where the announcement scripts were developed
and agreed. In order to locate, extract and collate the new announcements
that changed and check that they are indeed the ones with the new voice,
we would need to manually review a significant volume of material. In some
cases, just a part of the message was changed, e.g., adding platform
numbers for interchange etc.
To help bring the cost of responding to your question within the £450
limit, you may wish to consider refining your request to concentrate on
matters which are important to you. For example, you may find it more
beneficial to ask specific questions or request specific documents which
are less likely to lead to such a significant volume of information
requiring review in order to collate the information that is relevant to
your request.
2. How was she chosen, who chose/approved her, and who else was on the
shortlist for this role?
This work did not include re-recording all announcements on the Northern
line trains. Therefore, in this instance, our service provider selected
the voice over artist so as to be reasonably similar to the previous one.
3. Did TfL source this voice directly or appoint a supplier to source
them? If so, which supplier and how much were they paid?
For the leased Northern line trains, Ketech / Alstom are the audio system
providers. The audio message changes were procured as part of variation
orders for larger scopes of work to update the trains for operation on the
Northern line Extension (NLE) and complete integration work with the ATC
Signalling. As a result, the specific costs of the audio elements are
bound up in Alstom’s framework and variations and we are unable to
attribute specific costs associated to these audio announcements alone.
4. Is TfL planning to renew other announcements on the Northern line soon,
as currently they do not reference any interchanges with London
Overground, say nothing about step free access stations, and use an
old/posh voice with verbose wording and incorrect pronunciation as
referenced in this article
[https://highgatefestival.org/any-pedants...
Yes, our Customer Experience team is in the process of identifying the
options available to them with regard to completing a programme of Digital
Voice Announcement (DVA) system upgrades across London Underground fleet.
Any new announcements for the Northern Line will include clearer wording,
interchange updates, step-free access information, and a new voice in line
with latest customer research.
If this is not the information you are looking for, or if you are unable
to access it for any reason, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Please see the attached information sheet for details of your right to
appeal as well as information on copyright and what to do if you would
like to re-use any of the information we have disclosed.
Yours sincerely
Eva Hextall
FOI Case Management Team
General Counsel
Transport for London
TfL RESTRICTED
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