Euston departure board to be moved

[jon0844]

How about just paying off the firm that installed it and using it to display departures? Then open out the concourse again and improve it further where possible.

I am pretty sure the screen was agreed and work carried out as part of a contract, so I doubt they can just pay off the firm that installed it and tell the advertising company tough **** you can't use it anymore.

Well, I guess they could, get sued, and the taxpayer ends up paying a few million in compensation.

 

[Bletchleyite]

I am pretty sure the screen was agreed and work carried out as part of a contract, so I doubt they can just pay off the firm that installed it and tell the advertising company tough **** you can't use it anymore.

Well, I guess they could, get sued, and the taxpayer ends up paying a few million in compensation.

If they want a budget fix, moving the two new screens into the middle next to each other and having one do IC and one do local departures would probably be vaguely workable. It's the layout that really doesn't work.

 

[jon0844]

If they want a budget fix, moving the two new screens into the middle next to each other and having one do IC and one do local departures would probably be vaguely workable. It's the layout that really doesn't work.

They do seem to have made a big mess at Euston and I'd say the screens are unnecessarily bright too.

 

[Trainbike46]

I think I said this when they announced the new departure boards ‘experiment’, the driver clearly was to create space for advertising rather than any sort of passenger flow considerations.

And low and behold not even a year later we now have our giant advertising display in place of the departure boards.

Whatever happened to this once bright and airy station? https://x.com/ianvisits/status/1669257191646277632?s=46.

Every time I see photos of the original Euston I feel sad that I didn't get to experience that in person. I actually think we need a renovation to go back to something more like that original.

The only good thing done recently is the addition of departure screens in the outside area

Yes, exactly this. The problem is that the new departure screens don't work, and they've been told that multiple times. They provide insufficient information as there aren't enough panels, they're too small, they're hard to look at (because they use a design of screen intended for viewing at a distance for viewing relatively up-close) and their location causes passenger flow issues.

There's plenty more detail upthread on why they don't, and it is possible that a single one in the middle (rather than two) with more panels could work, but they don't as they are, they're useless.

They were also insanely expensive compared to something that would work in that location (a long row of maybe 12 or so 40-something inch LCD panels on a metal pole in the middle of the concourse rather than two of them). This would have cost low hundreds of thousands rather than over a million.

Fully agreed that the new screens don't work, and are easily the worst departure information screens I have seen across the national rail network

 

[jon0844]

I am sure there are nice photos of the old 'temporary' concourse at King's Cross too, and people might say they miss that, but given how busy these stations are now and the fact that the station upgrades were done to cope with increasing demand at the time, I doubt there's any way to go back to things as they were.

 

[jfollows]

Every time I see photos of the original Euston I feel sad that I didn't get to experience that in person. I actually think we need a renovation to go back to something more like that original.

Euston has always been one of my favourite stations, I know a lot of people don't share my view, but its original design has always pleased me. I used it starting in the later 1970s so I guess it hadn't been mucked around with much by then. I understand that it's much busier now than it was designed for, and this causes problems.
Getting rid of the junk on the concourse more recently was a big improvement.
The departure board clearly has one location, which is where it's been until now.
As others have mentioned, the only good thing is that I use Realtime Trains and Open Train Times to locate my platform, sometimes before I've arrived at the station, so for me I don't need the departure board anyway.
But I share the prevailing view that this is a huge negative and deleterious change which shows what the people who run our railways think about their passengers.

 

[Horizon22]

Whilst this looks terrible and seems like a poor allocation of space and bad provision for customer information, what’s worse is it could set a bad precedent for other London terminals with a similar layout.

I certainly hope not and hopefully Euston is (and has been!) an isolated basketcase.

 

[Brissle Girl]

Whilst this looks terrible and seems like a poor allocation of space and bad provision for customer information, what’s worse is it could set a bad precedent for other London terminals with a similar layout.

I certainly hope not and hopefully Euston is (and has been!) an isolated basketcase.

Paddington has had side screens and no main board for years now. It's not half as convenient imo.

 

[Trainbike46]

Euston has always been one of my favourite stations, I know a lot of people don't share my view, but its original design has always pleased me. I used it starting in the later 1970s so I guess it hadn't been mucked around with much by then. I understand that it's much busier now than it was designed for, and this causes problems.
Getting rid of the junk on the concourse more recently was a big improvement.
The departure board clearly has one location, which is where it's been until now.
As others have mentioned, the only good thing is that I use Realtime Trains and Open Train Times to locate my platform, sometimes before I've arrived at the station, so for me I don't need the departure board anyway.
But I share the prevailing view that this is a huge negative and deleterious change which shows what the people who run our railways think about their passengers.

Current Euston is absolutely awful in my view, definitely my least favourite of the london terminals I use. Old pictures make it look much nicer than it is now, but I do see the point about increased passenger numbers

 

[Bletchleyite]

They do seem to have made a big mess at Euston and I'd say the screens are unnecessarily bright too.

They are very hard to look at because they appear to use a technology intended for viewing at a medium distance (e.g. up where the old board was) for viewing up close. For close viewing, TFT LCD or OLED are better technologies (probably the former as it's cheaper and doesn't suffer screen burn-in like the latter does). They are indeed too bright, but also too low resolution for up-close.

Brightness is probably adjustable in software, that said.

Someone really screwed up here and spent a fortune on something that works very badly.

Paddington has had side screens and no main board for years now. It's not half as convenient imo.

It works OKish at Paddington because the boards aren't placed such that they result in everyone standing in the way of the main flows, though. They also use a technology (orange LED) that works for close viewing, and they have enough panels.

Paddington is also a bit different from Euston in that it has a very long concourse - imagine if Euston's concourse ran all the way from P18 to P1 rather than just being the middle bit? With that layout, distributing the displays can make more sense. Waterloo is even more extreme in this regard, which means it has several different boards, some low level and some high level, because there's not one location where you can put one to be seen from anywhere. Euston is different - if one is placed where originally intended, you can see it from everywhere other than inside shops and in the tunnel.

 

[Trainbike46]

Paddington has had side screens and no main board for years now. It's not half as convenient imo.

At least Paddington's side screens are actually useful, unlike the ones at Euston

 

[Peter0124]

When heading home to Glasgow I've always preferred using Kings Cross despite it taking longer (going via Edinburgh).

Have had no issue boarding the train half an hour early and its a much nicer station (and concourse!).

 

[Horizon22]

Paddington has had side screens and no main board for years now. It's not half as convenient imo.

True but there isn’t a humongous advertising display either. Granted Euston’s ‘unique’ layout allows this so perhaps it may not so bad, but other NR stations desperate for cash certainly might consider it.

 

[Bletchleyite]

At least Paddington's side screens are actually useful, unlike the ones at Euston

To be honest, if you just put one of the exact same setup as Paddington has (orange LEDs with enough panels above an info desk) around the central column in the Euston "Great Hall", it probably would work. Wouldn't be as good as the original board, but it'd be OK.

The layout at Euston would be well designed if the main entrance to the station was in the middle between the two sets of boards. The thing is, it isn't, it's in the corner next to WH Smuggs' reading room, as that's where most Tube passengers plus anyone continuing on foot towards most of central London including St P will enter/leave. You thus need to draw people into the middle, not keep them at the sides.

(Because of where the Tube escalators are, you can't easily move the entrance into the middle which would also fix the flow).

True but there isn’t a humongous advertising display either. Granted Euston’s ‘unique’ layout allows this so perhaps it may not so bad, but other NR stations desperate for cash certainly might consider it.

You certainly physically could hang one above the gateline at Padd, it's just empty space.

 

[Howardh]

Dunno if this tweet from Euston has been posted previously, but the one thing we DON'T need are advertising screens. We need more and better information screens, as I have replied it's no good having packed concourse where you can't get to read what's on the small ones.

https://twitter.com/NetworkRailEUS/status/1717207733496086982

Thank you to passengers for your patience while we have had scaffolding in the station. We have started to take it down. Coming soon, replacement advertising screen for partners

Edit; isn't this Starmer's constituency? Can't passengers bombard their MP about this ridiculousness??

 

[Brissle Girl]

Dunno if this tweet from Euston has been posted previously,

Post 301.

 

[Western Sunset]

Ah, remember the days of a clear, uncluttered concourse, and the click clack of the Solari indicator flaps...

 

[JaJaWa]

Post 301.

Someone suggested that the X/Twitter account is on “our side” from the alt text they wrote:

Image shows an empty station concourse at Euston with the small departure screen in the centre of the image. To the back of the image, a section of a large screen has been revealed now scaffolding has been removed but it is blank and not showing any content (black screen) To the right of the image is a scaffolding tower, orange at the bottom and blue at the top, with two track workers on a box ladder in full orange clothing and hard hats, working on the scaffolding.

 

[Purple Train]

The positioning (of everything except the arrivals board) is utterly shambolic, and makes the problem of fighting your way from an arriving train through a herd of departing passengers stampeding towards their soon-to-depart train even worse. The only nice touch, I would say (as of when I was last there) is the countdown timer on the platform boards.

 

[Bletchleyite]

The positioning (of everything except the arrivals board) is utterly shambolic, and makes the problem of fighting your way from an arriving train through a herd of departing passengers stampeding towards their soon-to-depart train even worse. The only nice touch, I would say (as of when I was last there) is the countdown timer on the platform boards.

Or it would be if it wasn't wrong. It seems it's incapable of showing different "closes in" values for Avanti (2 mins) and LNR/LO (30 secs).

 

[Purple Train]

Or it would be if it wasn't wrong. It seems it's incapable of showing different "closes in" values for Avanti (2 mins) and LNR/LO (30 secs).

Oh. Hadn't noticed that.

That is terrible.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Oh. Hadn't noticed that.

It was showing up to the time of departure for all services, which was causing missed trains. It's now set to 2 minutes for everything, but I've not had chance to observe what happens when it reaches 0 - it presumably doesn't automatically remove trains from display, that's still done manually, as it wouldn't work properly in delays if it did.

Another poorly thought through "feature" to be honest.

 

[Purple Train]

It was showing up to the time of departure for all services, which was causing missed trains. It's now set to 2 minutes for everything, but I've not had chance to observe what happens when it reaches 0 - it presumably doesn't automatically remove trains from display, that's still done manually, as it wouldn't work properly in delays if it did.

Another poorly thought through "feature" to be honest.

From what I remember, it simply changes to "platform unavailable" with the red cross.

 

[Bletchleyite]

From what I remember, it simply changes to "platform unavailable" with the red cross.

"Platform closed" is the text, but I don't think that happens automatically, rather someone presses a button to do it.

But if they are now automatically clearing LNR and LO platforms 2 minutes before, they need a clout. A stupid poorly thought through feature.

 

[Starmill]

I am pretty sure the screen was agreed and work carried out as part of a contract, so I doubt they can just pay off the firm that installed it and tell the advertising company tough **** you can't use it anymore.

Well, I guess they could, get sued, and the taxpayer ends up paying a few million in compensation.

I suppose you can negotiate your way out of any contract you like if you're willing to part with enough money. As you hint, I doubt that is realistic at this stage.

If they want a budget fix, moving the two new screens into the middle next to each other and having one do IC and one do local departures would probably be vaguely workable. It's the layout that really doesn't work.

There'd of course still be no visibility at all if you were standing directly under the balcony or were on it. You'd have a fab view of the advertising though.

When there's disruption I notice you physically can't get into the space that has a good view of the departure screens. There are just too many people. It's so bad it's probably discriminatory against people who can see but not very well.

 

[setdown]

Gosh, this is peak railway industry.

"Our revenues are still down 30% compared to 4 years ago. With every decision we make from now, should there be a relentless focus on the customer experience, to get them back?"
"Nah."

 

[Kite159]

Gosh, this is peak railway industry.

"Our revenues are still down 30% compared to 4 years ago. With every decision we make from now, should there be a relentless focus on the customer experience, to get them back?"
"Nah."

Just speak to those TOCs who have increased car parking charges to attempt to raise revenue when it might have the opposite effect.

 

[HSTEd]

I just wish we could have a departure display that big.

 

[AndrewE]

I just wish we could have a departure display that big.

see post #328!

 

[Skie]

"Platform closed" is the text, but I don't think that happens automatically, rather someone presses a button to do it.

But if they are now automatically clearing LNR and LO platforms 2 minutes before, they need a clout. A stupid poorly thought through feature.

During the disruption last week when nothing could leave Euston, the departure boards were clearing services as they were due to depart (many were not showing as cancelled, just vanishing) except for Tring bound trains. At one point the departure boards were 50% Tring services