St Pancras Departure Boards

[Haywain]

Probably just me, but I misread the clock as 10.05. I think the minute hand needs to be a tad longer and the hour hand slightly shorter.

But that would be less of an issue if you are actually there as you are likely to have a good idea of the time anyway.

 

[Western Sunset]

To be fair, it does have a big digital clock too...

Indeed, but my eye was drawn to the clockface first, rather than the digital display. I didn't look at the digital display until afterwards, and thought they were telling different times. Probably my senility creeping its way in...

 

[Geogregor]

Definitely improvement over the old boards:


P1550435 by Geogregor*, on Flickr


P1550436 by Geogregor*, on Flickr


P1550437 by Geogregor*, on Flickr


P1550439 by Geogregor*, on Flickr

And the whole display in one shot found on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/thommck

 

[43066]

Definitely improvement over the old boards:


P1550435 by Geogregor*, on Flickr


P1550436 by Geogregor*, on Flickr


P1550437 by Geogregor*, on Flickr


P1550439 by Geogregor*, on Flickr

And the whole display in one shot found on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/thommck

Agreed. The display of how to get to where you need to be is pretty clever.

 

[Horizon22]

The old boards were indeed terrible. This is actually a very good interface considering the multiple operators, good use of colour, easily segmented and I really like how they've done the diagram for the various levels.

 

[jon0844]

Just goes to show what a difference can be made with some proper thought.

And being a full matrix display, it is future proofed also.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Just goes to show what a difference can be made with some proper thought.

And being a full matrix display, it is future proofed also.

It's certainly vastly superior to the Euston debacle.

 

[Basil Jet]

Agreed. The display of how to get to where you need to be is pretty clever.

Is it though? One important piece of info that everyone overlooks is that the difference between a static display and a dynamic display is a piece of info in itself. Permanent facts should have static displays. By putting the staircase info on an LCD display they are implying that you should check it every time because it will be regularly changing, when it actually won't and should be painted on a nice big piece of enamel instead so that you know you can absorb it once and never look at it again.

 

[modernrail]

The Euston boards are nonsense. They just do not work. Totally unfit for purpose

I still think St P should go one step further and give the various areas zone letters, so maybe Eurostar is Zone A, EMR Zone B, Thameslink Zone C and SE Zone D.

It would help people who are not used to the whole multiple operator concept and also on the critical junctions in the station, such as the up escalators to EMR and SE which can easily be missed. A nice big sign saying ‘Zone B (EMR)’ and a big arrow pointing up.

 

[jon0844]

The Euston boards are nonsense. They just do not work. Totally unfit for purpose

I still think St P should go one step further and give the various areas zone letters, so maybe Eurostar is Zone A, EMR Zone B, Thameslink Zone C and SE Zone D.

It would help people who are not used to the whole multiple operator concept and also on the critical junctions in the station, such as the up escalators to EMR and SE which can easily be missed. A nice big sign saying ‘Zone B (EMR)’ and a big arrow pointing up.

They could put coloured arrows/lines on the ground.

 

[MML]

There are 4 blank beige coloured boards to the eastern side of the display and 4 similar boards on the western side of the display. It's a pity the new graphic display doesn't extend the full width as everything seems to be a little scrunched up.
If the full width was graphical display then you could have 3 or 4 displays per operator. Left to right SE, Eurostar, Thameslink and EMR with a wider black area for the clock to help segregate the different zones.
The current 2 pages showing Thameslink services are inadequate given they only provide enough space to display services departing within a 15 minute window.

 

[jon0844]

I don't think the suburban train services need to be shown hours in advance. Besides possible peak restrictions, they're mostly turn up and go services that don't have any reservations.

There are other summary departure boards that might show further into the future.

 

[MML]

I don't think the suburban train services need to be shown hours in advance. Besides possible peak restrictions, they're mostly turn up and go services that don't have any reservations.

There are other summary departure boards that might show further into the future.

I agree, but it should at least show double what it does at the moment. At present, with a couple of cancellations, and a couple of delayed services, it doesn't display the next train to Peterborough.

 

[josh-j]

The Euston boards are nonsense. They just do not work. Totally unfit for purpose

I still think St P should go one step further and give the various areas zone letters, so maybe Eurostar is Zone A, EMR Zone B, Thameslink Zone C and SE Zone D.

It would help people who are not used to the whole multiple operator concept and also on the critical junctions in the station, such as the up escalators to EMR and SE which can easily be missed. A nice big sign saying ‘Zone B (EMR)’ and a big arrow pointing up.

At least at Euston there is just a line of platforms and you go to your number without the departure boards needing to explain where exactly you need to go, up or down or escalator or whatever to work around the horrible layout in St Pancras.

Somewhat ridiculous station. But the boards do look decent!

 

[ACBest]

Random thought… What happens when Hull Trains are running in/out of St Pancras - I can’t imagine an entire new section is added for them, so where do their services go on this display?

 

[miklcct]

Random thought… What happens when Hull Trains are running in/out of St Pancras - I can’t imagine an entire new section is added for them, so where do their services go on this display?

As mentioned before, the grouping is by platform. Therefore when Hull Trains operate, or when Thameslink operates from the terminal station, they will both appear under EMR.

 

[swt_passenger]

Random thought… What happens when Hull Trains are running in/out of St Pancras - I can’t imagine an entire new section is added for them, so where do their services go on this display?

Valid point, the issue of Thameslink running into the EMR platforms was also raised earlier, I don’t think there was a conclusion.

 

[TT-ONR-NRN]

Random thought… What happens when Hull Trains are running in/out of St Pancras - I can’t imagine an entire new section is added for them, so where do their services go on this display?

Valid point, the issue of Thameslink running into the EMR platforms was also raised earlier, I don’t think there was a conclusion.

The boards are split by area, not TOC - while being branded as if they have been split by TOC, so Hull Trains and terminating northbound Thameslink services from Platform 1-4 would show in the EMR section.

 

[Andyh82]

One change is probably make would be to split Thameslink into platform A and platform B departures so the frequent northbound and southbound services are not all mixed up

 

[Trainguy34]

Took these last night - Sorry its low quality, walking to Costa at the same time

 

[jon0844]

One change is probably make would be to split Thameslink into platform A and platform B departures so the frequent northbound and southbound services are not all mixed up

I am not convinced that's a good idea simply because a lot of people won't know if their intended destination is north or south. It's fine to have an A-Z of destinations, but I wouldn't split as this could lead to more confusion.

 

[Richardr]

Of course there have been odd days recently when a simplified service due to industrial action has seen northbound (only) trains go from both platforms

 

[Hadders]

I passed through St Pancras this afternoon and had a good look at the new boards, which are now fully operational.

There is a section on the EMR departure board showing 'Next Train to Luton Airport Parkway' which lists the next Luton Airport Express branded services. No Thameslink services are advertised in this panel even though it is often it is normally faster to get a Thameslink train to Luton Airport Parkway if you have just missed the Luton Airport Express. Also, even though there are more trains per hour from St Pancras to Gatwick Airport than from St Pancras to Luton Airport Parkway there is no separate board showing 'Next Train to Gatwick Airport'

The main departure board at Kings Cross shows St Pancras Thameslink departures to Peterborough and Cambridge. It would be good if a summary of departures from Kings Cross could be shown at St Pancras.

 

[Bald Rick]

No Thameslink services are advertised in this panel even though it is often it is normally faster to get a Thameslink train to Luton Airport Parkway if you have just missed the Luton Airport Express.

I agree in principle, but there is A slight quirk in the timetable. Every other fast Bedford arrives at LUton Airport Parkway parallel with the EMR service. So, if you are intending to go for the EMR service, and just miss it, then you have 6 minutes to get down to the TL platform to get the next fast Bedford, and that will get you to the airport 15 minutes before the next EMR. But 6 minutes from ‘upstairs’ to ‘downstairs’ is not necessarily straightforward, particularly if you have heavy bags, and it may just be easier all round to wait for the next EMR.

Of course some people will not have heavy bags, and some will arrive at St P not knowing what they are going for (or even where they are going, if a passenger I helped on Thursday is anything to go by), so your point is still right.

 

[jon0844]

They've changed the map to (hopefully) make it clearer where to go. I should add that the old style arrows still feature at the ends of the board.




(Images show a new 3D-space type map of the station showing where individual TOCs/platforms reside)

 

[Bletchleyite]

Not sure that's better. I know the station and I'm having great difficulty making sense of that.

"Follow the purple (etc) line" markings on the floor may work better.

 

[Hadders]

I’m not sure that’s any clearer…

 

[martin2345uk]

They've changed the map to (hopefully) make it clearer where to go.


View attachment 140343 View attachment 140344

(Images show a new 3D-space type map of the station showing where individual TOCs/platforms reside)

Personally I don't find that as immediately clear as the previous one with the big coloured arrows.

 

[jon0844]

Not sure that's better. I know the station and I'm having great difficulty making sense of that.

"Follow the purple (etc) line" markings on the floor may work better.

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

 

[ThisIsSurbiton]

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