A huge new train departures sign has been installed at Victoria station that’s designed to be a lot easier to read than the older orange text displays.
The existing passenger information displays relied on similar but older LED technology which limited display size and the type of information that could be shown. This use of the latest LED technology offers improved flexibility in terms of colour and presentation of the information displayed to the travelling public.
New display at Victoria station (c) Network Rail
The giant 5 by 2.5 metre full-colour LED display is larger than a similar design that was tested at Waterloo station earlier this year.
These new screens allow for more information to be shown and in addition to regular departures information, they can show platform guidance, safety messages and network disruption information, all in real-time. In future, the display could be programmed to show animations and videos — and presumably, adverts.
Apart from being easier to read, part of the aim of having larger text sizes is so that people don’t need to crowd together up close to the sign to read it – spreading out a bit in the station.
The Network Rail Telecoms Team (NRT) is responsible for providing the regions with the connectivity for key station services such as customer information.
Bring back the flip-flap signs
You couldn’t beat the old Solari flip-flaps. But anything that uses a higher resolution and larger text sizes than the old orange displays gets my vote. And I speak as a visually-impaired rail user.
It just shows up the rest of the displays, doesn’t it? They will have to do them all now!
With the Solari’s click-clack you didn’t have to blankly, constantly stare at the screens to be ready to dive through the barrier before the crush; there was the audible cue to look up from your sandwich in the hope that the platform number had finally popped up.
Also they’re part of childhood excitement and sense of occasion at Heathrow as the flight was called and you were off to get on an aeroplane to float above the clouds.
I’m puzzled by the caption “Next Fastest Train”, which seems to be confusingly ambiguous.
The implication is that these are *not* the fastest trains, merely the second fastest. But why would anybody want to see such a list?
If it means the fastest trains that are still to depart … then why not just say Fastest Trains? Surely it will be obvious by their stated departure time that these are the trains that are still to come?
I always took it that it was the next fastest train after the one on the main departures board.
So if on the main board the fastest train was at 12.15 and the the next fastest train at 12.30 it would be the 12.30 showing on that part of the display.
Anyway … you’re already at the station, so there’s little point waiting half an hour longer for a train that might get somewhere only 15 minutes faster. So probably what’s needed is a Get There Soonest list — of trains that would arrive sooner than other trains departing earlier.
Looks the same as the new display at Glasgow Queen Street.
Whilst they are at it, could NR remove the food outlets etc between the platforms. Their presence severely limits passenger access – not enough gates – causing crowding. Waterloo does not have this problem.
Perhaps it comes down to money and the income generated by the shops.
I would still struggle to read that. Why can’t they massively increase the size of the font and have large ticker tape style info boards. The current boards are too high up and the font is too small. Too much info is displayed at the same time.