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Your commute through Sydney is going to start sounding a whole lot different

Sydney Trains is rolling out updated, colloquial language in announcements across the network

Winnie Stubbs
Written by
Winnie Stubbs
Lifestyle Writer
Sydney Metro City and Southwest train TS45 at Sydenham station during testing.
Photograph: Justin SansonSydney Metro City and Southwest train TS45 at Sydenham station during testing.
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Upgrades to Sydney’s transport system (such as those identified in the new $1.9 billion plan for Western Sydney) tend to be pretty visible, but a new upgrade is focusing on the audio experience of the city’s trains. Soon, formal phrases such as “alight here” and “terminates” will be replaced with more colloquial language. Over the next few months, you’ll begin to be told to “get off” the train instead of “alight” – and no, it’s not personal.

Unless you’ve read the 2022 memoir Train Lord by former Sydney train guard Oliver Mol, you might not have thought much about the people whose dulcet tones are behind the announcements on our city's trains. And though many announcements on our trains are live broadcasts from the train drivers of our Emerald City, many announcements are pre-recorded – those are voiced by Melbourne-based voice actor Taylor Owynns. 

While you might not have thought anything of the language used on our train network, on reflection, being told to “alight” from a vehicle in 2024 seems a little antiquated. Finally, Sydney Trains have realised this too, and they’re updating their language accordingly.

The change to announcements isn’t just being introduced to show that the transport system is getting with the times. After interviewing 1,200 public transport passengers from various demographics, Sydney Trains concluded that some of the language currently used is often misunderstood – so they’re subbing out the formal phrases with more casual, commonly-used language.

According to the Sydney Trains Customer Language Program, the phrase “terminates” is difficult to understand, so we’ll start to be told that a service “ends here”. And if a service is delayed, we’ll be warned that the journey will take “extra” rather than “additional” time.

The announcement changes will be made gradually, so those old faithful phrases won’t be fully terminated just yet. Do you think that you'll miss those peculiar phrases when they're gone?

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