Euston departure board to be moved

Basil Jet · 7 Feb 2024

I seem to be alone, but I think the advertising display is a thing of beauty. I don't see anything wrong with the new departure screens, although I haven't actually boarded a train or used them in anger, but I watched the Euston scrum last week and it seems no worse than it did with the old screens, and no better either.

If they were smart they would have departure platforms announced on the advertising screen for 10 seconds in small text flaoating in front of the adverts before consigning them to the departure screens: that way, people waiting for a platform number to appear would watch the advertising screen instead of staring at the departure screen, and this should enable them to charge much more for the adverts.

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Kenny G · 7 Feb 2024

Went through yesterday and the main board was off. I tried to decipher the smaller boards and found them surprisingly confusing. The information appears to be organised by TOC. As I was going to Watford I had more than 1 TOC to choose from. If I had followed the glaringly obvious option I would have been stuck on an overground rather than fast. There are plenty of tourists heading that way for the film studios who could do with a next fast to Watford indication but presumably something as simple as that isn't in the TOCs interest.

leonie13 · 8 Feb 2024

I have it on good authority that the advertising company had suggested/wanted the new screen to be a hybrid system, whereby the screen showed train information as well as advertising around it (their logic being, more people will see advertising if it's next to their train information).

Apparently NR rejected that proposal outright as they wanted a complete separation between train information and advertising.

RailAleFan · 8 Feb 2024

I've now got visions of the Avanti West Coast rollerblading turtle leading a wipe transition over the current playout announcing that the 18:33 to Manchester Piccadilly is now boarding at platform 2..!

Wolfie · 8 Feb 2024

leonie13 said:
I have it on good authority that the advertising company had suggested/wanted the new screen to be a hybrid system, whereby the screen showed train information as well as advertising around it (their logic being, more people will see advertising if it's next to their train information).

Apparently NR rejected that proposal outright as they wanted a complete separation between train information and advertising.

At least Network Rail got that right.

thomalex · 8 Feb 2024

Wolfie said:
At least Network Rail got that right.

Not sure it works in the space they have though. Ever since construction Euston has had the wall above the platforms as a mix of advertising and train information and it worked well. Why does it need to change?

Bletchleyite · 8 Feb 2024

Wolfie said:
At least Network Rail got that right.

I'm not sure they did, the idea of combining the two (provided the train information was of suitable quality) sounds better than those useless transverse displays.

Dr Hoo · 8 Feb 2024

Bletchleyite said:
I'm not sure they did, the idea of combining the two (provided the train information was of suitable quality) sounds better than those useless transverse displays.

As often I seem to be in a small minority. I found the old screens to be very poor, particularly as it seemed that only one viewing spot (in terms of lateral and vertical angle) seemed to suit my varifocal prescription. Needless to say, at the first whiff of disruption ‘that spot’ seemed to have several hundred other people already ‘scrum down’.
With the new set-up, including outside, I find that there is far more likelihood of getting an adequate view from somewhere.
Furthermore, for arriving passengers (broadly 50%) who are unlikely to be interested in departure information, there seem to be natural corridors round the prospective departees.
(I haven’t yet seen the adverts lit up.)
Everyone is different, I suppose.

Bletchleyite · 8 Feb 2024

Dr Hoo said:
Furthermore, for arriving passengers (broadly 50%) who are unlikely to be interested in departure information, there seem to be natural corridors round the prospective departees.

I don't find this at all, I find people stand in the way of the side "corridors".

A board outside is useful, but there's nothing good about the inside setup at all. A larger transverse board in the middle might work, though.

SCDR_WMR · 8 Feb 2024

Bletchleyite said:
I don't find this at all, I find people stand in the way of the side "corridors".

A board outside is useful, but there's nothing good about the inside setup at all. A larger transverse board in the middle might work, though.

I use the boards as the corridors as nobody ever stands under them

There does need to be a board that's visable from the mezzanine level, the external addition is a good idea at least.

boiledbeans2 · 12 Feb 2024

Bletchleyite said:
I'm not sure they did, the idea of combining the two (provided the train information was of suitable quality) sounds better than those useless transverse displays.

On paper, it may sound like a good idea, but trust me, in practice, it will be an awful experience for passengers.
I've been to other train systems around the world, where they do combine adverts and train information on a single display, switching between the two.

As a passenger, all you want to know is when your train will arrive. So you look at the screen... and you have to wait a minute for the advert to finish... then the train info is displayed for 10 sec... before another advert starts... If you couldn't read your train info quickly enough, then you'll be standing there for another minute.

Bletchleyite · 12 Feb 2024

boiledbeans2 said:
On paper, it may sound like a good idea, but trust me, in practice, it will be an awful experience for passengers.
I've been to other train systems around the world, where they do combine adverts and train information on a single display, switching between the two.

As a passenger, all you want to know is when your train will arrive. So you look at the screen... and you have to wait a minute for the advert to finish... then the train info is displayed for 10 sec... before another advert starts... If you couldn't read your train info quickly enough, then you'll be standing there for another minute.

I'd not switch, I'd have advertising sections and train info sections, basically like it used to be but on one screen.

boiledbeans2 · 12 Feb 2024

Bletchleyite said:
I'd not switch, I'd have advertising sections and train info sections, basically like it used to be but on one screen.

Yeah, that would be better, displaying both adverts and train info at the same time on different parts of the screen.

Anyway, over the weekend, I saw a genius advert at Waterloo NR. The advert was shown on the large screen between the train info screens - see attachment.

I hope it will be shown at Euston soon! :lol:

(Photo caption: Advert in the style of a Solaris board reads "310 (counting up)..311..312..313..314..315 people think this is the departures board", "Should've gone to Specsavers............btw the departures board is over here ---->")

Ediswan · 12 Feb 2024

boiledbeans2 said:
As a passenger, all you want to know is when your train will arrive. So you look at the screen... and you have to wait a minute for the advert to finish...

I recently made a rare visit to the local Costa Coffee. Behind the counter was a row of screens. When we arrived, none were showing the menu. Daft.

Bletchleyite · 12 Feb 2024

Ediswan said:
I recently made a rare visit to the local Costa Coffee. Behind the counter was a row of screens. When we arrived, none were showing the menu. Daft.

I do find this very annoying. McD's are terrible for it too.

Not just new tech, though. The LED boards at Marylebone on the platforms all alternate with a "doors close N minutes before departure" message which is just stupid. Static information should be placed on posters, not departure displays.

Peter0124 · 12 Feb 2024

Seen on twitter that apparently some companies are reluctant to advertise on the board. So the board showed an animation instead.

https://twitter.com/GarethDennis/status/1756287049890459982

It would be nice for them to put a map of Euston's signalling berths (in a publicly readable format) with each arriving and departing train shown at or approaching each platform.

edwin_m · 12 Feb 2024

Peter0124 said:
Seen on twitter that apparently some companies are reluctant to advertise on the board. So the board showed an animation instead.

Considering how much it must have cost, I would think it's pretty expensive to book it, though probably cheaper than re-branding a tube station. There would be extra cost to prepare a video in a "letterbox" format that wouldn't work in any other medium.

Hadders · 26 Feb 2024

I passed through Euston around 18:00 this evening and the advertising screen was showing a series of Ovo ads again. It might just be me but the board didn't seem as bright as before so I suspect the brightness might've been turned down a bit.

norbitonflyer · 27 Feb 2024

I've only been to Euston once since the new boards came in, and I didn't need to see them as I kbnew the sleeper lounge was on Platform 1. But I did notice that, arriving from the Tube, the nearest screen was displaying a general message about service disruption and obscured a further-away screen which actually told you what departures there were.

Dr Hoo · 27 Feb 2024

norbitonflyer said:
I've only been to Euston once since the new boards came in, and I didn't need to see them as I kbnew the sleeper lounge was on Platform 1. But I did notice that, arriving from the Tube, the nearest screen was displaying a general message about service disruption and obscured a further-away screen which actually told you what departures there were.

(Presuming that you came up the escalators from the Tube rather than the lift or stairs that bring you out on the West side of the concourse...) I thought that the normal arrangement was to have 'general' displays, e.g. about forthcoming engineering works, on the Easternmost and East-facing screens so that people won't be tempted to stand there 'watching' for the train to come up. Obviously this means that there is a fairly broad 'corridor' allowing arriving passengers to exit relatively easily (and, indeed, others to enter the station if heading for the central LNW/Lioness Line platforms, toilets and so on who don't necessarily need to consult the main departure screens).

Bletchleyite · 27 Feb 2024

Dr Hoo said:
(Presuming that you came up the escalators from the Tube rather than the lift or stairs that bring you out on the West side of the concourse...) I thought that the normal arrangement was to have 'general' displays, e.g. about forthcoming engineering works, on the Easternmost and East-facing screens so that people won't be tempted to stand there 'watching' for the train to come up. Obviously this means that there is a fairly broad 'corridor' allowing arriving passengers to exit relatively easily (and, indeed, others to enter the station if heading for the central LNW/Lioness Line platforms, toilets and so on who don't necessarily need to consult the main departure screens).

This is extremely annoying because you can't just glance at it on the walk from the entrance to the tunnel. They'd be better removing the board on that side, leaving only the one towards the other side, which would mean you could see departures as you walked past but there'd be plenty of room to stand there without blocking the way.

It does look to me like they considered how it is at Paddington without considering that that station has a very different layout, with people entering in a far more distributed way.

Euston departure board to be moved

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