The "Quiet Coach" on Trains

[PinkRobots]

I’m sure you’re all well-aware of what my rant will be...

Why on earth do loud people book seats in the quiet coaches on trains?!? I genuinely don’t get it! There are 7 coaches where you can go and chit chat as you please! Why not sit there?!?

I’m currently on a “quiet coach” and despite the corona panic it has several people merrily chatting away about panic buying! Arrrtghhhh!

Spartacus - 'gaggle of women'?!
If we're going down that slippery slope, surely a 'grunt of men' getting pissed up and lairy are just as, if not more, annoying.

@chockaholic72 I do as well

If we're going down that slippery slope, surely a 'grunt of men' getting pissed up and lairy are just as, if not more, annoying

I do like a 'grunt of men' and will use this as a collective noun from now on. I have been irritated and annoyed by 'grunts of men' in various places, but never the quiet carriage. For some reason this seems to be the preserve of women, at least in my neck of the woods.

In many trains the announcement asks you to keep talking 'to a minimum', so YANBU.

Collar the guard and ask them to deal with it, if you don't want to say something yourself.

Did you think it was like an old-fashioned library where a sneeze is frowned on

Yes completely. If you want a loud conversation you can go elsewhere. There is ONE quiet carriage folks, just one. Talk (loudly) elsewhere.

Work sent me away for a meeting once and paid for me to go in First Class. I was looking forward to a peaceful and relaxing journey where I could get lost in a book.

The bloke sitting across the aisle must have rang every contact in his phone and told them he was on the train, there was a Dominos near his hotel and he was looking forward to getting a pizza later.

I knew all the lines of his conversation by the time his meal was served so I was tempted to ask if he wanted me to do some calls for him while he ate his food

@RollaCola84 Virgin scrapped the quiet coaches a couple of years ago and of course are no longer a train operating company. Avanti just says no mobiles.

I was once on the quiet coach, settled down and got myself plugged into my phone ready to close my eyes and listen to my audiobook for the 2 hours journey. Unfortunately the woman opposite started yelling at me that electronics were not allowed. I apologised, thinking there had been some leakage from my headphones but no, she confirmed she couldn't hear a thing but still didn't think I should be allowed to use an electronic device. Ironically her loud argument was far more disturbing to others than my headphones. Someone down the carriage who didn't even know the context of our discussion, joined in to tell me I was not allowed to "play with electronics" in this carriage. Eventually, the guard was summoned but was no help whatsoever, just said that if my activities were disturbing others, I couldn't do it in the quiet carriage - wouldn't even wait for my to demo what I was actually doing. I couldn't find another seat anywhere so that was a pointlessly dull train journey.

@vallderama - QZ announcements made up until the last Virgin WCML train I went on about a week before franchise ended. Avanti manager last week made the conversation comment in his introduction spiel

The announcement on First Great Western for quiet coaches is "please don't use sound on electronic devices and keep conversation to a minimum". The people who say 'talking is allowed' really fuck me off - yes, a quiet murmur every so often or for a particular purpose, but not an actual chat. Go away to the noisy carriages if you want to natter.

Playing music aloud isn't acceptable anywhere on the bloody train, and what is the difference between using your phone and talking to people in the carriage? Noone is suggesting library silence but it's not the right carriage for groups. YANBU.

You are allowed to make noise on the sacred Quiet Coach. What they don’t want you to do is use your phones, have noise overspill from tinny headphones or generally make noise using electronics. You’re allowed to talk for christ’s sake.

I assume they’re not bellowing at the tops of their lungs?

I think the fact it's called the quiet coach and not the silent coach is a big indicator of the expectations. I wouldn't have an issue with quiet respectful conversations or people quietly plugging into their media via headphones personally. If I wanted complete silence public transport isn't where I'd expect it, and if I needed it I'd bring some headphones / earplugs.

But no one has said a ‘loud’ or group conversation. But you’re allowed to talk. I assume those who can’t tell the difference are natural bellowers.

Perhaps they should ban earing noisy food too, drives me nuts listening to inane conversations, tiptap laptops and stinky noisy food. First class is often the worse with terribly important people on their phones and laptops.

But if you want to talk, why are you in the quiet coach?!?

Because you sometimes get allocated it with a reservation, and on a full train there’s no option to move. It’s not that I ‘want to talk’, but if I’m travelling with someone else, I’m not going to not exchange a few remarks because other people don’t understand the purpose of quiet carriages.

You must all have incredibly loud voices. If I were having a conversation with the person in the seat next to me, I guarantee that you would not hear me over the train noise.

If you want silence, why are you on public transport?

I get that noise is distracting. I travel for work and am expected to work while in transit. Tbh I don't feel great about that anyway because while I don't work for MI5 I'm sure clients don't want Brenda on the 3.15 from Birmingham reading their business over my shoulder, but employers expect it so it is what it is ie less than ideal given that I'm not actually in a workplace and it certainly doesn't mean that everyone else around me should be sitting in silence because of it.

YANBU Pink. It fills me with absolute rage. I once stood up in a busy and very noisy so-called Quiet Coach and asked everyone to be keep the noise down (that did actually work quite well).

On the last train I had the misfortune to be on, there were a group of three on the table opposite who were having a loud conversation. I asked them if they could please keep it down a bit, and one bloke said No they wouldn't, because talking was allowed. So I put away the work I was trying to do, leant forwards and followed their conversation with great attention, turning my head from one speaker to the other and looking at them intently, making it totally obvious that I was listening in to every word. It took a while to work, but they shut up eventually.

The way people behave on "quiet" coaches actually puts me off travelling by train. I won't do it unless I really have to.

On our way home from Liverpool to Euston, some years ago now, me and DD found ourselves in the "Quiet Coach" and there was a Mum and her toddler daughter in said quiet coach . Little girl ran up and down a bit and made age appropriate noise and her Mother apologised as she hadn't noticed it was the quiet coach . I told her that I was listening to music on my phone and her DD was not bothering me in the slightest . My DD said the same .

If it was a screeching child I would likely have complained, or those idiots that you also get on buses , playing a movie or tv show with NO headphones . Oddly I note a lot are MY peer group age (50 plus) and they are old enough to know better the ignorant twats.

The issue is that people have different perceptions of what "quiet conversation" is. We can all understand the boundary of "No noise from electronic gadgets and no phone conversations" but the conversation level is hard to clarify. I do, however, agree with the point of a PP that you're on public transport and don't really have a right to silence.

I’m not asking for the whole train to be silent, just one small part of it. What is unreasonable about that?

@GreenWheat, if the line is too hard to draw, just don’t make conversation. That way you know you’re quiet.

Why no conversation? Because that is impractical in a public place and as I said in the second part of my post don't think people have a right to silence on public transport

i always book the quiet coach and normally people are considerate, but last week a family got on with three very young children. They gave the children toys to play with, really loud electronic ones and the baby cried for most of the way, Mum then proceeded to chat away on her mobile at two thousand decibels, after a two hour journey i was in a foul mood !!! there are notices and stickers all over the quiet coach stating QUIET COACH so just shut up aaarrrggg.