Rail Ombudsman two years on: have you used its services?

Hello, Crusader. Your condition seems to be a high sensitivity to noise? What do you think the train designers could do? Would it be sufficient to provide a quiet coach, or section, as on mainline trains, to minimise passenger noise? Would the rail noise (and engine noise on dmus) still be a problem?

Engine noise, and track noise isn’t a problem, it’s people’s behaviour that is such an appalling problem. And the new trains shouldn’t need huge structural alteration to create a quiet space, but just fairly sound proof doors fitted across the opening in between carriages at one end of the train, along with some suitable signposting and publicity about the need for quiet in that one area. AND of course we need the staff and especially the bosses to be far better educated about the needs of such people and the fact that some hidden disabilities can be the most brutal. Such sufferers are certainly NOT the moaning, whinging weaklings they’re all too often made out to be by those who have absolutely NO experience of such appalling conditions and who are far too often far too grossly condescending. And the so-called “disability experts” who I’ve met, including one on a HMCTS tribunal panel have absolutely no idea folk like me, or the appalling conditions they suffer with even exist which MUST change asap. And earphones don’t work, and even if they did then folk like me couldn’t hear important announcements which is all the more reason to install quiet segregation. Surely they can still be made to conform to safety and security standards, after all, countless millions have been invested in providing for wheelchair users but NOTHING is being done for anyone remotely like me which is an absolute disgrace. And such people are not even included in statistics which must also change.

While many on-board train announcements are repeated on a text screen inside each carriage, this is not usually the case for emergency announcements which are probably the most important, but I see no reason why at such times the screen should not carry a template message saying “Listen for Emergency Announcement” so that headphone wearers could remove them temporarily and those with hearing impairments could ask somebody to help them. There are very few trains now left without passenger information systems and screens in each carriage and running a visual alert alongside an audible announcement should be technically easy and relatively inexpensive.

Crusader – I understand that your disability is severe misophonia, also referred to as selective sound sensitivity.

There is limited information about the condition outside specialist medical literature and it is said to be un-diagnosable with no standard diagnostic criteria. There is also little research on how common misophonia is and on any remedial applications. I guess, therefore, that it is extremely rare within the UK and not categorised as a disability, so there is no legislation available to compel provision for, or even any accommodation of, the effects of the condition and your decreased resilience to the impact of the the specific sound sensations that affect you so seriously.

I think you mentioned that you also have a severe heat intolerance that compounds your discomfort or causes you acute pain in certain situations or under certain conditions.

As you have previously explained, you have to rely on public transport where the nuisance factor of some public behaviour, which most people are able to tolerate albeit unwillingly, creates an intolerable assault on your senses. We have discussed before whether sound-deadening headphones would make travelling more bearable but there are practical drawbacks.

The remedy you seek is a compartment in which you can have almost total isolation. Some trains have ‘quiet coaches’ but my experience is that even they can be noisy and disturbing because people are still clicking away on their laptops and other devices and talking to each other, children are still running around kicking up hell’s delight, and the ordinary hustle and bustle of people getting on and off and passing through the train with luggage could be just as irritating to you. So a small private cabin would seem to be the only effective relief that the railways could provide [I would not expect the new Great British Railways to make much difference to your travelling experience].

I don’t know how practical that would be. I cannot see the government making it mandatory to install such a facility in every one of the trains that uses the GB rail network, although some [mainly long-distance] trains provide one or more little offices for the on-board passenger assistant [guard or conductor or combination] and it might be possible for some arrangement to be made, with advance booking, to occupy that space. Most trains, however, would not have that facility.

So far as I am aware no trains in the UK, except on some heritage railways, have separate compartments in the carriages to provide some privacy and separation from the type of sound source to which you have an intolerance.

The railways have eliminated the clickety-clack of the track but it has been replaced by the clicking and clacking of the populace who, obviously, cannot be aware of the your sensitivity to their noises.

I am afraid that there is little prospect of relief, either, if travelling by bus or road coach, and you have previously reported that the discomfort is even more pronounced if there are glazed rooflights that intensify the heat in the saloon, although I believe that is only a small minority of vehicles used for scenic journeys and possibly only in certain parts of the country.

I am sorry this does not help you very much and I cannot suggest any other avenues for you to explore since you have approached those most likely to be concerned. It may be that other readers will have some further ideas and I hope you can achieve some form of resolution, or at least recognition.

Flippantly, I feel driven to ask whether you have considered the monastic life? Pax vobiscum.