Over the Christmas break, Charing Cross station became the latest to have its old departure boards ripped out and replaced with brand new screens.

New screen in the main concourse

Previous old screen (c) Network Rail – planning documents

Away with the dark orange dot-matrix display boards, and in with a huge screen that can be more flexibly used to show messages as well as more information about the trains.

Along with the enhanced visibility of the text and improved information about the next fastest trains and local information, there’s also tube train status for the local London Underground services. There are also now expected arrival times at the stations along the route, and at the bottom and an indication of the size of the train being used for the service.

Due to the layout at Charing Cross station, there are in fact two display boards, with the main screen above Platforms 1-4, and a smaller screen around the side above Platforms 5 and 6.

Previous old screen (c) Network Rail – planning documents

New screen above Platforms 5 & 6

Close up of the new screens

Yes, some people prefer the old orange text, but these screens have proven very popular where they have been installed, so Network Rail is rolling them out everywhere over time.

NEWSLETTER

Be the first to know what's on in London, and the latest news published on ianVisits.

You can unsubscribe at any time from my weekly emails.

Tagged with: ,
SUPPORT THIS WEBSITE

This website has been running now for over a decade, and while advertising revenue contributes to funding the website, it doesn't cover the costs. That is why I have set up a facility with DonorBox where you can contribute to the costs of the website and time invested in writing and research for the news articles.

It's very similar to the way The Guardian and many smaller websites are now seeking to generate an income in the face of rising costs and declining advertising.

Whether it's a one-off donation or a regular giver, every additional support goes a long way to covering the running costs of this website, and keeping you regularly topped up doses of Londony news and facts.

If you like what you read on here, then please support the website here.

Thank you

14 comments
  1. Keith says:

    Wonder if/when they’ll get around to updating St Pancras, which still has some old screens in ‘The Market’ area (near to escalators for platforms 11-13) that I believe pre-date the orange ones.

    • John Till ( Head of Information Delivery, Southeastern) says:

      These are being replaced in the coming months, whilst not a replica of what’s been installed at Victoria, Charing Cross and elsewhere, they will still use a lot more colour and will be mor de dynamic than what’s currently installed.

  2. Richard King says:

    I remember when they installed the ‘new’ flipper-board type display.

    • John says:

      I suspect that these new screens will be finally as good for passengers as the old Solari flap displays.

  3. Amalgamated Man says:

    The new screens look great, especially to those of us with imperfect vision.

    I definitely preferred the old Solari screens to the orange LED screens. There was always a tinge of excitement as they started to flap into life revealing new destinations and possibilities! I still miss that.

  4. Joseph says:

    Question is when will TfL start to update the awful screens found on the underground?

  5. Adrian says:

    They look great but still we often need to wait for displays to roll around until the information we want is visible. I’m referring to the “Page 1 of 2” and “Page 2 of 2” nonsense. Before there was any electronic boards, we could see all stations on a route at once.

  6. Paul says:

    Photos of the old boards (eg https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Solari_departure_boards_at_London_Charing_Cross_station,_2002.jpg) show much smaller text could be legible than with the low resolution LED display, so more stations could fit in the same space.

    • ianVisits says:

      The most stations I can see in that is 16 stations.

      Coincidentally, the most stations listed in the photos taken for this article for a trip are… also 16.

      Also though, just because the solari board used smaller fonts, doesn’t automatically mean it was easier to read — quite the opposite this glasses wearing writer would tend to find.

  7. Paul says:

    The orange LED boards at Charing Cross had a maximum of 15 stations below the “calling at” line. The split flaps had a maximum of 18 intermediate stations, though didn’t necessarily use all of them. Before the train operating company name needed to be displayed on the bottom row, I suspect they could show 20 intermediate stations.
    I agree that the writing was not necessarily more easily reasonable though, and standards for text size on displays have certainly improved since the Solari boards were used.

  8. Jackie says:

    Looking great!

  9. Adam says:

    The clock on the CIS over platforms 1-4 is in such a bad position.

    It is blocked by a couple metal supports at many angles across the concourse.

    • John Till (Head of Information Delivery, Southeastern) says:

      You’re not the first to make this point, it’s being moved soon.

Home >> News >> Transport News