Improving passenger information on the Elizabeth line

Last week, a new sign appeared at the end of the Elizabeth line, making it much easier to know which train is leaving first.

The stations at the end of the line often have two (or more) platforms where trains terminate before returning to town, so when passengers arrive, the issue of which train is leaving first can arise.

It’s not a huge problem, as stations have many train departure boards, but the text size can be problematic to read if you’re in a hurry. Also, to stop people from huddling by the stairs, the departure boards on the platforms have to be a bit further along the platform.

Hence, people seeing two trains on the platform will instinctively know one of them will leave soon, but they will not know which one.

Last week, Abbey Wood station at the end of the Elizabeth line gained something straightforward, but very useful — a big arrow.

It simply points to which train will leave next – saving confusion.

It’s a tad aggressive at deterring people catching the train that’s about to leave as I timed it, swapping sides roughly a minute prior to departure, which was plenty of time for people to walk to the train — as some did.

However, it’s a helpful aid for passengers, and apart from being informative, it could reduce the incidence of people running along the platform to the departure board to see which train is leaving first — and that’s a safety improvement.

The sign was installed last week, fairly quietly is seems as one member of staff hadn’t been briefed and until I spoke to them was still trying to work out what it was for.

Similar signs could be useful in many stations where trains turn around, such as Stratford, where they used to have something similar but removed it some years ago to be replaced with a much harder-to-read departure board.