St Pancras Departure Boards

[BJames]

As someone else who knows this station well - that is definitely not better. I actually quite liked what they'd done before.

 

[LLivery]

They're good, but the thing I noticed the other week. There's no arrivals board, on the concourse or EMR platforms at least

 

[BJames]

They're good, but the thing I noticed the other week. There's no arrivals board, on the concourse or EMR platforms at least

I think the new boards are great! That 3D map however...

Didn't think about no arrivals board on EMR platforms until you mentioned it actually. I tend to look at RTT now (mainly to see what my service is being formed from) but it would be useful for some people.

 

[Benjwri]

Honestly I find just the arrows very easy. I visited St Pancras for the first time a few weeks ago and found that departure board and signage far easier than finding my way round Waterloo later in the day.

 

[Minstral25]

Really wish they would split the Thameslink Services with a Northbound board and a Southbound board.

There is no need to mix West Hampstead services with East Croydon ones and as there are trains every few minutes some destinations where there are delays may not be on the board for a while.

 

[Horizon22]

I wonder if they are going to add markings on the floor?

Floor markings have very much gone out of favour. Many managers have believed it is not good customer service to just point at the floor and say “follow this line”.

They’ve been removed at a number of London stations.

The map is confusing - you’d need to have excellent spatial and situational awareness and as someone who has both AND knows the station well it’s ultimately going to cause more questions than it answers. Should be kept simple as the layered arrows were.

 

[jon0844]

Really wish they would split the Thameslink Services with a Northbound board and a Southbound board.

I disagree, at least at this part of the station. A lot of people aren't going to know if their destination is north or south, especially tourists.

Even in the hall of the Thameslink station I'd argue you don't need them, and perhaps the best place is the split level part at the base of the first set of escalators.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 5 Aug 2023 ==

Floor markings have very much gone out of favour. Many managers have believed it is not good customer service to just point at the floor and say “follow this line”.

If nothing else, they wear out and need regular 'maintenance' and I guess it also impacts the ability to set up barriers for disruption etc.

 

[Mike395]

The arrows have been retained at either end (see photo) - personally don’t think it’s terrible and can see what they’re trying to do, though agree in isolation the 3D image is a bit confusing

 

[jon0844]

While it seems a bit of a work in progress, isn't it nice that the system has the scope to be changed and adapted so easily?

 

[BJames]

While it seems a bit of a work in progress, isn't it nice that the system has the scope to be changed and adapted so easily?

Yes - absolutely. More of this needed everywhere. Adaptability - and recognising things are being trialled and changing when they are not working - is fantastic. This is a world apart from the departure boards it replaced. Much as I'm not a fan of the 3D map (although very pleased to see they've retained the arrow diagrams on the ends) it's great to see some attempts at innovating.

 

[Basil Jet]

"Departures to airport [plane symbol]" needs to be changed to "Departures to Luton [plane symbol]" since Gatwick passengers are common at St Pancras.

 

[modernrail]

I still think the only way to solve St P wayfinding on this board is lettered zones. Thinking the 3D model might work really does highlight the point to me.

Having further thought about it you could go for letters related to the service rather than sequential alphabetical, so Thameslink is Zone T, Eurostar is Zone E, South Eastern is zone SE and East Midlands is Zone EM. You could also make the main Underground hall Zone U.

 

[Trainguy34]

I still think the only way to solve St P wayfinding on this board is lettered zones. Thinking the 3D model might work really does highlight the point to me.

Having further thought about it you could go for letters related to the service rather than sequential alphabetical, so Thameslink is Zone T, Eurostar is Zone E, South Eastern is zone SE and East Midlands is Zone EM. You could also make the main Underground hall Zone U.

I agree with that apart from Eurostar, I think that should be EU.

 

[edwin_m]

Yes - absolutely. More of this needed everywhere. Adaptability - and recognising things are being trialled and changing when they are not working - is fantastic. This is a world apart from the departure boards it replaced. Much as I'm not a fan of the 3D map (although very pleased to see they've retained the arrow diagrams on the ends) it's great to see some attempts at innovating.

Sometimes it cuts both ways. I've seen a picture of flatscreens like these installed at a less busy station, showing garbled images after being targeted with bricks. Not something I've ever seen the LED matrix indicators.

I do agree on adaptability though. I gather the LED indicators on SWR aren't capable of showing a forward slash, so they have to use a backslash instead when showing a Web address, which wouldn't work if someone tried to type it into a browser.

 

[jon0844]

I do wonder how long it will be until the screens either fail, or are vandalised. Hopefully the latter is going to be less likely given it's indoors and there are always lots of staff around, but I'm sure we've all seen these displays with dead pixels or entire square panels out.

If these are mini LED panels, they're modular and hopefully easy to swap out a faulty unit.

 

[Benjwri]

I do wonder how long it will be until the screens either fail, or are vandalised. Hopefully the latter is going to be less likely given it's indoors and there are always lots of staff around, but I'm sure we've all seen these displays with dead pixels or entire square panels out.

If these are mini LED panels, they're modular and hopefully easy to swap out a faulty unit.

There are LED screens across the world that last for years. Especially being inside their lifespan will be fairly long.

 

[Bald Rick]

I do wonder how long it will be until the screens either fail, or are vandalised. Hopefully the latter is going to be less likely given it's indoors and there are always lots of staff around, but I'm sure we've all seen these displays with dead pixels or entire square panels out.

When screens like these have dead pixels etc it’s rarely due to vandalism.

Personally I can’t see that these screen at St P would ever be vandalised - firstly they are along way econdly there is security at the station (and in that area) 24/7.

 

[tsyxa]

I'm not sure the 3D helps! I'd rather not have the TOCs so prominent. "Kent", "Midlands", Thameslink is the line as well so that's OK and... well, I'll allow "Eurostar"! But absolutely an improvement over the old displays. I see the new-style white displays up at EMR Midlands level, and also at my local station - I don't think they're an improvement over a high-res colour screen and it bothers me that each TOC and NR seem to do their own thing. Don't get me started on announcements either

Are there any announcements at St Pancras High Level? I’ve never heard them

 

[jon0844]

There are LED screens across the world that last for years. Especially being inside their lifespan will be fairly long.

Yes, but it is quite common to have damaged 'pixels', whether on certain colours only or just at a different brightness to the rest.

So far the colour accuracy and brightness consistency is excellent and I assume there's some form of calibration to get it all looking so good.

 

[TT-ONR-NRN]

Are there any announcements at St Pancras High Level? I’ve never heard them

SE only.

 

[stadler]

SE only.

EMR still do not have automated announcements on their platforms? I do not use these platforms much but i presumed they would have added them by now? That is absolutely shocking that such a major London Terminal station is still without announcements for these EMR services! I hope that EMR will add them soon!

 

[WAB]

I've noticed that in the last couple of months, they've started making manual boarding announcements at the Midland gateline, but haven't any final call announcements or service alterations.

 

[Basil Jet]

If these are mini LED panels, they're modular and hopefully easy to swap out a faulty unit.

It is composed of panels which are (very approx) a foot square.

 

[BJames]

I've noticed that in the last couple of months, they've started making manual boarding announcements at the Midland gateline, but haven't any final call announcements or service alterations.

They do sometimes do final call announcements and reminders that doors lock up to two minutes before departure (the gates are often disabled and barriers pulled across around 60-90 seconds before departure to enforce this). However as a semi-regular user of these platforms these announcements are really not consistent.

 

[Recessio]

While it seems a bit of a work in progress, isn't it nice that the system has the scope to be changed and adapted so easily?

I think that is a really good point. At other stations they make one set of changes and that's it, you're stuck with it for twenty years. Fair play to the team running St Pancras (London Continental Railways? Network Rail? I'm not sure honestly) for building an adaptable system, and then actually adapting it.

Plus props for actually trying it in the real world and seeing how it works, rather than just making a design in a lab/board room and assuming it is best.

 

[Benjwri]

Fair play to the team running St Pancras (London Continental Railways? Network Rail? I'm not sure honestly)

Network Rail

 

[duffield]

The 3-D map is fine apart from one important thing - if you don't already know where EMR is, on the upper level, both the purple rectangle and the caption seem to place it in with Eurostar. It works well for the Thameslink platforms because the 3-D bit for them does not overlap the rest of the diagram.

I saw the new boards for the first time a couple of weeks ago, generally I think they are fine, but the blank panels at the ends look out of place and ugly.

 

[LLivery]

I think the new boards are great! That 3D map however...

Didn't think about no arrivals board on EMR platforms until you mentioned it actually. I tend to look at RTT now (mainly to see what my service is being formed from) but it would be useful for some people.

So do I to be fair, but o2 signal can be very temperamental even in Central London. I was meeting someone, but coming from the Tube, the quickest thing is to look at the boards. Very strange not to have any arrivals.

 

[Bletchleyite]

So do I to be fair, but o2 signal can be very temperamental even in Central London. I was meeting someone, but coming from the Tube, the quickest thing is to look at the boards. Very strange not to have any arrivals.

Euston's new boards don't have arrivals either. A conspiracy theorist may suggest that it's to stop people guessing platforms, but of course Realtime Trains kind of ruins that

 

[BJames]

I went through here this morning and the 3D map has gone, replaced with the arrow diagram again.