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There’s also the refurbished 507s and 508s used by Mersey Rail that used automated PAs. I’ve never heard them making any mistakes. Although passengers unfamiliar with the routes get a bit confused by the Wirral line announcements.
This is because trains originating at Chester, Ellesmere Port, West Kirkby and New Brighton follow circular routes. They call at all stations to Liverpool James Street, then Liverpool Moorfields, Liverpool Lime Street, Liverpool Central, Liverpool James Street again, then all stations to where ever they originate from. This means that trains heading towards Liverpool state that they are going to Liverpool Central, but after they call at Liverpool James Street the first time they state they are going to Chester/Ellesmere Port/West Kirby/New Brighton.
The annoying thing with the 185s automated announcement system is that certain generic announcements such as discounted tickets cannot be bought on board, keep getting repeated after every station.
On the 175s I think the conductor has to press a button for the announcement to be made. An announcement could be missed and announced at the next station because they are still checking the tickets On the Manchester to Llandudno route this could happen a few times as the timings between some of the stations are as follows:
Manchester Piccadilly and Manchester Oxford Rd: 3 minutes apart
Newton-le-Willows and Earlestown: 3 minutes apart
Runcorn East and Frodsham: 5 minutes apart
Frodsham and Helsby: 4 minutes apart
Llandudno Junction and Deganwy: 4 minutes apart
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