"I'm sorry. That input could not be translated. Please repeat."

Technology National Rail chiefs could learn a lot by playing games or why are telephone automated services less intelligent than most computer games? Aleks Krotoski considers:
"This "intelligent" computerised operator could only have been realised by masochists for I, while admittedly having an American accent, have a pretty good standard of enunciation. Yet "East Croydon" apparently sounds like "Stroud" and "No, I said Brighton, you digital moron" sounds like "Lords". After a hilarious exchange that lasted for several minutes, I mouthed a silent plea for the nice people who used read train times over the phone to come back on the line and provide me with some real intelligence."
It is awful. I tend to use thetrainline.com. Which reminds me -- there was something I wanted to look up...
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1 comment:

  1. Anonymous5:31 am

    You can get a timetable index (routes or stations) at networkrail.co.uk/aspx/3828.aspx The index contains links to individual train routes; the timetables look just like the old-fashioned big book timetables so you don't have to bother with the awful National Rail site.

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