Held at a red signal

When trains are running, you hear this on the tube a lot. This train is being held at a red signal and should be moving shortly. If you think you've heard it more often recently, that's because it's being played more often. This train is being held at a red signal and should be moving shortly. But only on certain trains. This train is being held at a red signal and should be moving shortly. And here's why. There are, unsurprisingly, rules about how often tube drivers must play delay messages. Some drivers might otherwise make them too often and some might never make them, and that would never do. One reason for making delay announcements is to provide information about the ongoing journey but the chief reason is customer reassurance. Some passengers get nervous when a train stops in a tunnel, especially those who travel infrequently and aren't used to the fact this often happens. They won't be thinking "ah yes, there's probably another train ahead", they might instead be conjuring up…