Euston railway station has switched off its big promoting billboard after an outcry from commuters who criticised the substitute of significant passenger info screens.
The choice comes after mass cancellations on Avanti West Coast trains left 1000’s of passengers annoyed and confused on the station’s overcrowded concourse.
Transport Secretary Louise Haigh intervened, directing Community Rail to disable the 200ft display, which had been displaying commercials for Canadian holidays, ITVX, and the Transformers movie, moderately than essential journey updates. Haigh acknowledged that Euston station has “merely not been adequate for passengers” and demanded fast motion to enhance situations.
The display had changed one of many largest passenger info boards within the UK, and the choice to swap it out was broadly criticised by commuters as a “horrible determination,” particularly in periods of serious disruption. With cancellations affecting routes to Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool, Glasgow, Edinburgh, and different locations, passengers had been left with out entry to key journey info, sparking widespread frustration.
In response to the backlash, Community Rail confirmed that the billboard had been switched off and {that a} assessment could be carried out to evaluate the display’s influence on congestion on the station. “The query is whether or not the display is contributing to congestion or not making a distinction, or certainly if it’s really having a optimistic influence,” a spokesman mentioned. The station will use warmth modelling to watch how the display shutdown impacts passenger motion.
Community Rail insisted that the brand new configuration of passenger info boards improves circulation on the station, with a spokesperson noting, “We are going to by no means be going again to a bulkhead departure board. Nonetheless standard it was, the information show that it was a hindrance to transferring across the station.”
The shutdown of the promoting display is a part of a broader five-point plan designed to reinforce the expertise for passengers at Euston. Extra measures embody creating extra concourse house, enhancing how the station operates throughout disruptions, and enhancing the reliability of practice companies on the West Coast Fundamental Line.
Gary Walsh, route director for West Coast South, admitted that the current passenger expertise at Euston had fallen quick, saying, “We have to do higher.” He expressed confidence that the five-point plan would make a significant distinction within the quick time period by easing congestion and offering clearer passenger info.
Euston station can also be in discussions with promoting firm JCDecaux, which owns the billboard, to discover the potential of displaying passenger info on the display throughout instances of extreme disruption on the West Coast Fundamental Line. Generally known as the Euston Movement+, the display first went stay in January as a part of a marketing campaign devised by Saatchi & Saatchi for vitality firm Ovo.