From Wednesday 10 December, ScotRail customers will be greeted by a familiar Scottish voice when travelling, as the train operator introduces a new voice for on-train announcements on some of its trains.
Automated messages have been created from recordings of Paisley-based ScotRail employee, Vannessa Sloan.
Vannessa, who works in ScotRail’s customer information team, was chosen following an internal search which saw eight colleagues from the team record sample announcements.
All of those ScotRail staff members deliver real-time information to customers in stations across the network from the train operator’s Customer Information Centre in Paisley, meaning Vannessa’s voice will already be well known to many customers.
Working with text-to-speech (TTS) technology partner ReadSpeaker, Vannessa recorded hundreds of words, sentences, sounds, and stations, many with challenging Scottish pronunciations, across 18 studio sessions.
The recordings were then used to create a text-to-speech voice that operates securely and exclusively on ScotRail’s infrastructure. This TTS voice will deliver clear, natural, and accurate announcements for customers.
The new announcements are debuting on Class 380 trains with a further rollout to more trains within ScotRail’s feet planned to follow in 2026. This will replace the current ‘Iona’ announcements.
ScotRail has always used automated announcements for customer information purposes, and this upgraded approach will help to make announcements more modern and reflective of the routes the train serves.
Phil Campbell, ScotRail customer operations director, said: “Our people are at the heart of everything we do, so it’s fitting that the new voice of ScotRail comes from within our own team.
“Vannessa is already a trusted and familiar voice for customers at stations, and we’re delighted that her voice is now part of the announcements that will be made on our Class 380 trains.
“Working with ReadSpeaker, we’ve created an announcement system that’s modern, reliable, and ethically produced.
“The use of an automated voice allows us to have more control over the announcements being made, ensures consistency for customers, and gives us flexibility to make changes at short notice.”
Image credit: ScotRail
