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New Manchester Picc Departure Board

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Leyland155

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Evening everyone. I was just at Manchester Picc station and noticed that a large new departure board has been installed above the information desk. It is similar to the other boards in that it displays the next train departure to each destination, but uses LED's. I was just wondering about when this board was installed as I haven't seen it on my previous trips to Piccadilly. Sorry for the poor picture quality, it was hard to get a decent shot! I have also added a picture of the older boards.

Many thanks.
 

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yorkie

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I think it's new. I don't recall seeing it before.

I refuse to use such departure boards; if there isn't a proper departure board then I will use my own device.
 

PHILIPE

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I hope it's not like the previous one in so much as while you're still trying to focus onto the location it scrolled forward.
 

thenorthern

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It is new it wasn't there on Monday when I was last there.

As PHILIPE has said I also hope it doesn't scroll like the last one did.
 

Leyland155

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I was only there for a short time, but from what I could see the board did not scroll. Its appearance actually reminded me of the boards dotted around Leeds station, but obviously they show actual departures :D
 

Thomas6187

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The new boards was put in place on the 26th September and in use since the 3rd October. The new A-Z board has 192 lines of information compared to the 96 lines the old style has per side.

Also new next train indicator have also been installed in the Satellite Lounge(13/14) as the older were constantly broken
 

BurtonM

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Yep, the board is a new addition. A while ago some fibreboard mock-up LED boards appeared on the third side of the triangular structure on the top of the information point.
One was a 'next train to' A-Z, and the other was a standard departure board design.
The mock-ups have now been replaced with an orange LED A-Z board, meaning all three sides finally have something on them.
The new board solves the capacity problem of the old blue board and can display an entire list of destinations at once.
I approve, personally - you look for where you're going in the list (multiples exist for popular destinations; this also fills space), it gives you a platform, and that's that.
The folks on SSC seem to be assuming that the blue boards will be replaced but nobody knows, and Network Rail haven't mentioned anything.

Personally I don't understand why a traditional departure board can't be installed above the gateline instead of advertising (as is customary?), or somewhere else. Then again it remains to be seen what Network Rail will install instead of the blue things, if anything - for all anyone knows the remaining sides might get replaced with something different such as a departure board.

The new side has six panels of 'next train to' with columns for destination, scheduled time, expected time in white (only if there's a delay, otherwise this is blank), platform, and operator. Unlike the old board, this one doesn't tell you the end destination of the train you want.
To the right of those is a clock/special announcement panel, and right again is a short form departures list (time, destination, platform, expected time).

The new boards on 13/14 are slightly older I think - they're a little smaller, but convey the information about trains a lot better - they now explicitly say '2nd' '3rd' etc on the second line of the board, for one.
 
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Shrimper

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It is new it wasn't there on Monday when I was last there.

As PHILIPE has said I also hope it doesn't scroll like the last one did.

It would have been there; it was installed last week but on the previously empty aspect. The two 'blue' boards haven't been removed yet though.
 

Bungle965

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I noticed the ones in the 13/14 waiting area the other day, which is much better than the older one in my opinion.
Sam
14632740_1187191278036522_1796836939_o.jpg
 
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Crossover

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I saw about this elsewhere - Leeds have had them for years and I personally have no issue with them. I did see a suggestion that depending on the success of this installation, the other set of blue screens would be replaced similarly, but I guess we'll have to "watch this space" on that one

I noticed the ones in the 13/14 waiting area the other day, which is much better than the older one in my opinion.
Sam
Https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/I...8-JklAWGZj2a4BtHaAd4TWpGTtASOUQ=w1048-h786-no

Access denied even after signing into Google Drive - could you put it somewhere public please?
 

Bungle965

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I saw about this elsewhere - Leeds have had them for years and I personally have no issue with them. I did see a suggestion that depending on the success of this installation, the other set of blue screens would be replaced similarly, but I guess we'll have to "watch this space" on that one



Access denied even after signing into Google Drive - could you put it somewhere public please?

Yes, I am unsure whether it is the forum or Google Photos which does not like it as for some people it works and yet for others it does not.
Sam
 

Crossover

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Yes, I am unsure whether it is the forum or Google Photos which does not like it as for some people it works and yet for others it does not.
Sam

I'd wager it is Google Drive - it is just a link and won't be associated with the forum in any way
 

WatcherZero

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Possibly its set up with permission for people on your google contact lists to access it.
 

LLivery

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Is there a reason they are not installing the new Thameslink Core style screens elsewhere? Not even at London Bridge.
 

Bletchleyite

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Is there a reason they are not installing the new Thameslink Core style screens elsewhere? Not even at London Bridge.

I'm glad they aren't - they are terrible. A far poorer technology that is straight out of the mid 1990s.

If we move to a new display technology, high-resolution colour OLED (which could be used to provide new features like decent graphical formation diagrams) is the way to go.
 
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greaterwest

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I'm glad they aren't - they are terrible. A far poorer technology that is straight out of the mid 1990s.

If we move to a new display technology, high-resolution colour OLED (which could be used to provide new features like decent graphical formation diagrams) is the way to go.

I certainly am glad too, orange LEDs are not a broken technology so why should they be replaced by fancy colour displays? Not only that, but the comment on the TL core screens is bang on - they look terrible. Formation diagrams on existing screens has been done by Virgin Trains at London Euston already.

I seem to recall scotrail are trialling big colour screens, they don't look very easy to read from the pictures I saw.

Colour displays also gives the opportunity for what they'd call "rich media" aka adverising (wasn't this discussed in that thread too? Now if only I could find it)
 

Crossover

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I certainly am glad too, orange LEDs are not a broken technology so why should they be replaced by fancy colour displays? Not only that, but the comment on the TL core screens is bang on - they look terrible. Formation diagrams on existing screens has been done by Virgin Trains at London Euston already.

I seem to recall scotrail are trialling big colour screens, they don't look very easy to read from the pictures I saw.

Colour displays also gives the opportunity for what they'd call "rich media" aka adverising (wasn't this discussed in that thread too? Now if only I could find it)

I came across one of these at Croy - against the strong sun behind it, there was no chance of me being able to read it!

I can see it, oddly.

The image has been changed now (looks to be linked from Facebook instead) so the problem should be resolved
 

Ze Random One

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BurtonM

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Is there a reason they are not installing the new Thameslink Core style screens elsewhere? Not even at London Bridge.

Something something northern England?

I jest. There's nothing wrong with the orange LED boards, they just need to actually install the right ones in the right places.
I'll never understand why Piccadilly hasn't had a proper departure board since refurbishment - does it slightly predate them or something?

I quite like the old CRT monitors, there's something oddly welcoming about them, especially ones where the text is very low-res like Teletext. :oops:
 

jon0844

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The new TL core screens are okay but it seems silly that it was designed to show key information at a glance, but then uses a very slow scrolling message to say how many coaches and if there's first class.

Surely one line can show icons, or better yet the carriages (like Virgin has done with more limited technology) which will show where first class is, how long the train is and - potentially - where you are when reading that individual screen.

Which begs the question, is each screen individually managed as they are onboard the 700s? Or repeated?
 

BurtonM

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That sounds like they're moving them from the ends of the platforms to the glass wall/gateline, to stop people walking through the gateline and stopping immediately to look at the signs (as well as generally blocking the platform entrances).
 

Bletchleyite

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That sounds like they're moving them from the ends of the platforms to the glass wall/gateline, to stop people walking through the gateline and stopping immediately to look at the signs (as well as generally blocking the platform entrances).

And to stop them going through the gateline *then* looking for a platform and realising they shouldn't have gone through the gateline.

All makes sense to me.

But it does still need a traditional departure board adding.
 
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