Many of our trains on routes where we provide an on-train catering service, including the London to West of England services and the majority of services from London Waterloo to Bournemouth and Weymouth, are not fitted with visual displays. On these trains, announcements are essential to inform passengers about the facilities.
On London Waterloo to Portsmouth services, which are mostly operated by our new Desiro trains, the visual displays can indeed be used to advertise the catering service. We are reminding our guards of the benefits of using the automated system, but even in these circumstances, announcements can be useful in supplementing the visual displays to raise awareness of the catering service, especially for our visually impaired passengers.
Stella Hopkins, Head of Guards