We have had plenty of new branding in the air transport industry. Bmi, a success. Go, another success, but obliterated by easyJet (a winning name too), and of course the BA tailfin ethnic scheme, a complete disaster.
And now we have the railway re-naming where the four operating companies supplying services in East Anglia have merged to form One, not London Eastern Railways, its official title.
The problem is the announcements. The eight twenty now becomes the eight twenty One service to Liverpool Street.
And what about the One to Norwich which leaves at 1259? All a bit of a mess.
In truth the services are rarely on time and maybe whoever thought up the jargon was subconsciously appreciating that the train would be at least One minute late (if you are lucky). And as Alan Hamilton of The Times commented, ”if any railway enterprise is to be known as one it should be the Royal Train. It is clear that as one always knows where one is going, one does not need an announcement, does one?”