Dear London North Eastern Railway Limited,

I would like to write to you to make a Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA) 2000 request regarding your Worldline automated announcements. If you could please forward this to the relevant Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA) 2000 department at London North Eastern Railway please.

I have searched online and read multiple other peoples requests on WDTK about automated announcements but can not find any answers to these questions so i am hoping you would be able to answer my questions and provide this information under the act. I am very much interested in finding out more about these Worldline automated announcements and piecing together some information.

I wish to ask for the following information and questions please:

01. Is it possible to have a copy of the Worldline contract document for your CIS contract with Worldline please? If you have a PDF copy or anything like that please? I do very much understand that the act does allow for any commercially sensitive details and personal details to be redacted. However that will only be small parts of the contract. There will still be other information about the requirements and details and specifications of the contract that do not need to be redacted. So i would still like to see the contract even with the certain parts redacted if it is necessary to do so.

02. Can i know the start date and end date of your current contract with Worldline please? Also is your Worldline contract one contract for all stations or separate contracts for separate stations?

03. So far exactly which stations have had the automated announcements switched on and working? I have seen them working at Darlington and Newcastle and Peterborough and York so far so are these the only stations? Or have the announcements been installed and switched on at any of your other stations too?

04. Can i have the full current timings of the automated announcements on your Worldline system please. What i mean by this is exactly how many minutes and or seconds before the train that each announcements are timed to be played at. I have been trying to work this out and timing it but it is difficult to work out what the exact timings are so if you could confirm that would be great.

05. Can you confirm if your Worldline system is capable of announcing short platforms at stations? Most other operators Worldline systems (like at Southeastern and Southern etc) are capable of announcing this but i went to Peterborough very recently and short platforms were being ignored. For example i was there when multiple 12 coach trains were calling at, Earlswood (10), Faygate (5), Ifield (5), Littlehaven (8), Salfords (8), and none of these short platforms were announced. So i would simply like to know was this simply teething issues or the system programmed incorrectly or is the version of Worldline that you are using not capable of announcing any short platforms?

06. If your Worldline system is capable of announcing short platforms and it was just not programmed correctly or there was an issue with it than can i have a full list of all short platforms that are programmed in to your Worldline system? Can you send me a full list of all short platforms that are programmed in to the LNER run Worldline system please (ie stations where the Worldline system can announce short platforms if the platform does not fit the full length for some trains) and please include the platforms at both your stations and other operators stations that are in your system. The list should show the station and platform or direction and how many coaches. So if the system can announce them than i would very much like to see the full current list of all short platforms currently programmed in to the LNER run Worldline system if you can attach this please?

Thank you for your help regarding all of my questions and wishing you a merry christmas and happy new year.

Yours faithfully,

Gordon Clarke

Dear FOI,

Could you update me on the status of request please. As i was supposed to receive a response by yesterday the 12/01/2023 at the latest. That is when the twenty working days finished. May i please know what the status if my request is and when when i will get a reply.

Yours sincerely,

Gordon Clarke

Dear FOI,

Okay then. No worries. Much appreciated. Thank you for the update on my request.

Yours sincerely,

Gordon Clarke

Dear FOI,

Many thanks for the information and attached document. That is very helpful. Much appreciated.

Yours sincerely,

Gordon Clarke