Quieter coach on train, shouldn’t it be quiet?

[Seymour5]

Fairly lengthy train journeys recently, we booked the quieter coach well in advance, because we like to read or quietly look at the scenery. On the outward journey there was a man holding various face time conversations quite loudly. The woman sitting in her booked seat next to him was getting really fed up, and eventually moved. The younger guy behind us kept playing bits of music on his phone.

Coming home, the first part of the journey was bliss. We changed trains, and the two passengers behind never stopped yakking loudly. Why would anyone book a seat in a quiet coach only to be noisy? No staff around once the tickets were checked, and we are older and don’t wish to risk a confrontation. Twenty years ago my younger and healthier DH might have said something, but not now.

I often think about saying that when noisy people get on chatting but am not cheeky enough to!

To respond to another post, even if you are on a hen do is it compulsory to scream and squeal? Could you just chat normally?

This sounds bliss

I do like British freedoms generally but there are far too many noisy arseholes on the trains.

@gatehouseoffleet struggling to see where I said we squealed and screamed? Unless there is another post mentioning a hen do of course, however I do appear to have missed it if that is the case.
We chatted however there were 10 of us so we weren't quiet. I got some laughs when I walked on with my 4ft inflatable penis though! The train was heaving though and apart from there being a sign saying quiet carriage you wouldn't have known it. The conductor told us it happened all the time.

Used to be fairly normal when I commuted to the next city down for the Friday evening commuter time trains to be party-going groups working on getting shitfaced early.

The stag do dressed as Santa but with a bare chest and Tom Jones medallion who insisted on trying to conga down a standing room only crammed train was one particularly notable occasion.

I begged a car park permit and started driving.

Doesn’t it. I’m glad its not only me that gets fed up with lack of consideration. Headphones are the answer for next time.

Quiet train means no mobiles. It doesn't mean no talking!

People should be quiet in the quiet carriage. Not totally silent but hushed voices, any talking kept to a minimum, no answering phones, definitely no shouting or playing music. To be honest I think it’s a shame that it isn’t the norm in all carriages. I think consideration for others is a good thing.

Japanese trains really are as quiet as described in that link. People are just very considerate of others and avoid doing anything that would disturb people.

Quiet carriages here are far noisier than just a normal Japanese carriage (although admittedly it was a while ago that I was last there) and from what I could see absolutely nobody answers the phone on a train there.

Just saw this on Twitter and thought of this thread: twitter.com/jonworth/status/1572257980950913027

Just saw this on Twitter and thought of this thread: twitter.com/jonworth/status/1572257980950913027

Sorry to post twice - it said Just had to ask a passenger to use headphones and hence stop disturbing all the other passengers here in the ICE with her language learning app at full volume. The passenger was probably 60 years old. This annoying noise issue isn’t just something the young do!

Not the odd word to each other but not a full blown conversation when you can go in a different carriage. The trains often have 12 carriages with 3 quiet ones, so it's not hard to find a space in one of the other 9. Sometimes they are really busy but then it's not quiet anyway.

Yeah, she gets the wine spilled on her, and not the once only, then the quiet chat about how she’s adopted and her “mother” is off to sell her for sausages.

I never book the quiet coach anymore. The noise is the same as everywhere else but I feel more angry about it.

In a multiple carriage train there should be a designated carriage for taking phone calls and made clear on all carriages that headphones are required for listening to/watching devices.

Before mobile phones people just read books on trains. Now they have to have phone conversations.

I've been on trains that had 'family carriages', I think usually in the holiday season. I've walked through them on the way to the buffet, and they're from hell. The mess, the stink of hot food, the drinks cans, the kids running up and down screaming . . . However if you don't want to have to keep your child quiet, they'd be perfect. The problem seems to be that a lot of people like the quiet carriage so long as their little darlings can make as much noise as they choose.

We use the East Coast main line a fair amount, and only ever nowadays in first class.

It’s often not much extra, but the noise levels, behaviour, and general sense of calm is worlds apart.

Quiet conversations are fine. Feeling the need to share with most of the carriage really isn’t.

I've always though quiet carriages meant no audible electronic devices rather than people chatting

LNER say this about theirs;

”If want to catch up with work, read, or have a doze, you’re more than welcome in our quieter coach.

You’ll find our havens of peace in coach B or H (depending on the train).

If you’re in the quieter coach, please keep the noise down. Music through headphones should be kept quiet enough as to not disturb other passengers and conversations should be conducted quietly. If you do have to make or take a call, please move into the end of the coach through the doors before dialling or answering.”

In theory but depending on how you booked your ticket you can't always know in advance it's the quiet coach plus those without seat reservations will grab whatever is available.

I find headphones useful

They really stick to those rules and guidelines too. From the moment you step in the platform there are foot prints to stop you where to stand, leaving a space for those to get off first, to quiet calm carriages with seats which can be reversed so no one needs to sit backwards, to leaving the station on the correct escalator and exits. Train travel on the Shinkansen was bliss.

The ones we used in Japan had special areas people could go and stand in if they needed to use their phones. No one used one to speak into or listen without headphones in the carriage seats.

They really stick to those rules and guidelines too. From the moment you step in the platform there are foot prints to stop you where to stand, leaving a space for those to get off first, to quiet calm carriages with seats which can be reversed so no one needs to sit backwards, to leaving the station on the correct escalator and exits. Train travel on the Shinkansen was bliss.

I'd say the same about train travel in the USA - at least in my experiences over the years on the north east corridor route from DC to Boston, via New York. The Quiet Car is announced as a carriage where they maintain a "library level of quiet." Which means a minimum of talking, no music, no phones.

Passengers observe this behaviour, and require it of others.

Compare that with the element of scum which travels via CrossCountry. For some reason, passengers on CrossCountry trains are really awful - to an extent I don't find on other train routes (eg Great Western, Avanti, East Coat line - I do a lot of train travel).

I once had to ask a train manager to intervene because of the level of foul-mouthed abuse shouted at me for politely asking someone carrying on a long loud conversation in the Quiet Carriage to take their call to the vestibule. ie "Excuse me, this is the Quiet Coach. Could you take your call in the vestibule?"

Not long after (although I'm not claiming causality! ) CrossCountry stopped having a designated Quiet Carriage. When I asked a train manager why, she said that they didn't have enough staff to deal with the people who regularly flouted the behaviour requirements in the Quiet Coach.

And reflecting on this - stereotypically, we tend to think that the British are more reserved & polite, and that Americans are brash & loud.

Behaviour on trains would suggest completely the reverse!

Share the pain.

Booked the quiet carriage in 1st to do a whole bunch of work. Opposite sat four middle aged entitled men who spent four hours loudly sharing their opinions on absolutely everything with the whole carriage.

Just that general inconsideration of it wound me up. Not even a suggestion of respecting others.