Euston station carriage space indicator

[JamesDrew]

I’m at Euston station waiting for a train and trying to work out the different colours on the diagram of the carriages on the departure display board.

Some carriages are marked as partially or fully green, some red, some orange and some black (no colour).

I’m sure there’s some logic to this but don’t follow it. I would have thought green means space available and red no space available but where does that leave orange and black?

Many thanks if someone can clarify.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 15 Nov 2025 ==

Here’s a photo of what I’m referring g to

 

[Steddenm]

It goes off reservation levels i think.

Green - plenty of space available
Orange - half coach at least reserved
Red - nearly fully reserved
Black - non-reservable coach

 

[station_road]

And the height of the colour also indicates how many seats are reserved - the ones where the green line is at the bottom of the coach have fewer reservations than where its half way up.

Seems fairly intuitive to me, but I suppose I'm used to it.

 

[JamesDrew]

And the height of the colour also indicates how many seats are reserved - the ones where the green line is at the bottom of the coach have fewer reservations than where its half way up.

Seems fairly intuitive to me, but I suppose I'm used to it.

I think that’s a good point about UK railway travel in general-things seem intuitive if you’re used to them!

‘Route-any permitted’ is another thing I’ve found less than intuitive.

 

[FOH]

Strange it doesn't show letters, you'd have to look at the screen, count the number of coaches from the rear to your assessed target on the screen and then do the same count again once on the platform

 

[station_road]

Strange it doesn't show letters, you'd have to look at the screen, count the number of coaches from the rear to your assessed target on the screen and then do the same count again once on the platform

The display alternates between letters and the loading indicator

 

[FOH]

The display alternates between letters and the loading indicator

Ah thank you! Makes sense

 

[3141]

I think that’s a good point about UK railway travel in general-things seem intuitive if you’re used to them!

‘Route-any permitted’ is another thing I’ve found less than intuitive.

The misuse of the word "intuitive" became widespread in the 1990s by the information technology industry. What they really meant was "this is easy to use if you already know how these things work" - similar to what you've suggested in relation to railways. Actually there's usually nothing to do with intuition.

 

[williamn]

The display alternates between letters and the loading indicator

Though previous versions showed both at the same time which was much more user friendly.