Jump to content


Photo

Penn Station Amtrak Departure Board Will Be Demolished, Replaced


  • Please log in to reply
6 replies to this topic

#1 KevinKorell

KevinKorell

    Board Leader

  • Sr. Admin
  • PipPip
  • 82315 posts
  • Gender:Male
  • Location:Lakewood, NJ
  • Interests:Making America TRAIN again!

Posted 22 August 2016 - 03:59 PM

Gothamist, 8/22/16:

 


Penn Station's Amtrak Departure Board Will Be Demolished & Replaced With Digital Displays

 

Amtrak is in the process of replacing the central departure board at Penn Station—which you've probably squinted at while sitting on a duffle bag and drinking a Jamba Juice strawberry smoothie—with digital information screens.

Story here.  The current departure board in the waiting room was a replacement for the old Solari board, and now that in turn is obsolete.  Digital boards will allow them to provide more information about a specific train.



Kevin Korell


OTOL Board Leader


Lakewood, NJ


#2 Ocala Mike

Ocala Mike

    Member

  • Members
  • PipPip
  • 49 posts

Posted 22 August 2016 - 07:25 PM

Yay!  I almost missed the Ethan Allan going up to Saratoga on 8/9.  That &*%$#@! board briefly displayed the train leaving at 3:40 instead of the on-time 3:15, so I ambled on over to Don Pepi's for a couple of slices.  Finished up at around 3:12 and saw the train was now posted for 3:15 again - just made it!



#3 CNJRoss

CNJRoss

    Administrator

  • Admin
  • PipPip
  • 43390 posts
  • Gender:Male
  • Location:Fairfax, VA

Posted 28 August 2016 - 03:46 PM

The New York Times,8/28:
 

‘It Is a Piece of Penn Station’: An Exiting Departures Board Inspires Strong Emotions

 

The large Amtrak departures board in Pennsylvania Station in Manhattan draws masses of commuters to the floor beneath it, where they stare up as if in a trance. The slightest movement of the sign inside the country’s busiest train station sets off a variety of reactions — despair after the appearance of the word “delayed” or, even worse, “canceled”; relief and elation after a track is assigned and people rush to the trains below.

 

But like many things railroad-related, the sign, which announces Amtrak and also New Jersey Transit departures, has been deemed obsolete. It will soon be demolished in favor of a system of smaller LCD screens that will be spread throughout the terminal, a change Amtrak said would improve congestion and add benefits for disabled travelers.

 

The news of the sign’s looming demise trickled out after a freelance reporter and self-described transportation geek, Jason Rabinowitz, posted a photo on Twitter of some of the new fixtures that would replace it. Despite his celebratory tone, the news, at least in the more flippant corners of the internet, was met with groans.

 

Some concluded that Amtrak had decided to destroy what they said was one of the few good things about the much-derided station. “I am so sad,” the writer Maud Newton wrote.

 

Continue here.



#4 CNJRoss

CNJRoss

    Administrator

  • Admin
  • PipPip
  • 43390 posts
  • Gender:Male
  • Location:Fairfax, VA

Posted 11 October 2016 - 08:50 PM

Amtrak  news  release, 10/11:

 

NEW PASSENGER INFORMATION DISPLAYS IMPROVE CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE AT PENN STATION NEW YORK

 

Upgrades improve ADA access, help relieve concourse congestion

 

 

NR-Photo2-e1476189692619-600x400.jpg

 

 

NEW YORK – Amtrak is making a major upgrade to the busiest transit hub in America with the launch of a new, state-of-the-art Passenger Information Display System (PIDS) at Penn Station New York.  The new PIDS communicates train status, origin and destination stations, boarding gate and other information and features bright, new LCD displays which are easier to read and synchronize audio and visual messaging in the station.

 

Strategic placement of the new displays, along with modification and eventual removal of some existing monitors – including the large train status board in the center of the concourse – provides customers access to the same information in various locations, allowing more efficient use of space in the main hall.

 

“The vast majority of our customers get train status information from the display boards and in-station monitors,” said Mike DeCataldo, Amtrak Senior Vice President and General Manager of Northeast Corridor Operations.  “The new PIDS, along with the concourse improvements under way as part of the Moynihan Station project will be a welcome upgrade to the customer experience at Penn Station.  The terminal complex presents a unique set of logistical and physical challenges – some of which we believe this new system will help to address.”

 

At either end of the main train hall, large video walls featuring departure information, visual messaging and synchronized station announcements are intended to draw waiting customers away from the center of the room, easing congestion and improving pedestrian circulation.  The displays are also capable of broadcasting emergency communications and other customized messages.  An additional 38 monitor sets displaying boarding information and station announcements have been or will be installed above the boarding gates on the main concourse, in the Acela Lounge, Rotunda and Amtrak waiting areas.

 

While Amtrak continues to work with a number of stakeholders to advance the Moynihan Station project, the upgraded PIDS is a near-term improvement that immediately enhances the customer experience.  Funding was made possible through Amtrak’s ADA stations initiative, but the improvements benefit all customers.

 

“Amtrak is committed to providing timely and accurate customer communications across all channels – in stations, on board trains, via our mobile apps and our various web-based platforms,” said Lenetta McCampbell, Amtrak Senior Director, Passenger Experience.  “Thanks to the hard work of a dedicated, multi-departmental team this modern system will help drive improved customer satisfaction at our most important station.”

 

The nation’s busiest transit hub, Penn Station is tremendously important to Amtrak and is the latest major Northeast Corridor station into which Amtrak is investing funds to improve the customer experience.  Some 650,000 commuter and intercity passengers pass through the station each day – twice as many people as all three New York metro area airports combined.

 

(Release w/photos.)



#5 CNJRoss

CNJRoss

    Administrator

  • Admin
  • PipPip
  • 43390 posts
  • Gender:Male
  • Location:Fairfax, VA

Posted 13 October 2016 - 04:32 PM

New York Magazine "Daily Intelligencer," 10/12:
 

Time to Bid Farewell to Penn Station’s Iconic Amtrak Departures Board

 

 
12-amtrak-board-penn-station.w710.h473.2
Photo: Stan Honda/AFP/Getty Images

The end has arrived for Penn Station’s giant Amtrak departures board, which will soon be replaced by digital displays that promise more convenience and less tripping over people sitting on their suitcases than currently offered by the analog beast that currently occupies the center of the station’s main hall.

 

“Strategic placement of the new displays, along with modification and eventual removal of some existing monitors — including the large train status board in the center of the concourse — provides customers access to the same information in various locations, allowing more efficient use of space in the main hall,” Amtrak said in a statement on Wednesday.

 

Continue here.



#6 KevinKorell

KevinKorell

    Board Leader

  • Sr. Admin
  • PipPip
  • 82315 posts
  • Gender:Male
  • Location:Lakewood, NJ
  • Interests:Making America TRAIN again!

Posted 22 January 2017 - 10:21 PM

And away it goes....      WPIX-TV, PIX-11 in New York, NY, 1/22/17:

 


 

Penn Station departures board to be taken down Monday

 

Commuters will get their last look at the iconic Amtrak train departures board in Pennsylvania Station on Monday.

 

Crews will begin dismantling the board in the station’s main concourse around 10 p.m.

Update



Kevin Korell


OTOL Board Leader


Lakewood, NJ


#7 CNJRoss

CNJRoss

    Administrator

  • Admin
  • PipPip
  • 43390 posts
  • Gender:Male
  • Location:Fairfax, VA

Posted 20 February 2017 - 09:26 PM

gothamist, 2/17:
 

New High-Tech Big Board At Penn Station Experiencing Technical Difficulties

 

 

It’s only been a few weeks since Amtrak took down the legendary old-school "Big Board" of arrival and departure times at Penn Station and the new digital system has already gone on the fritz.

 

Commuters reported Friday morning that the system, which features a series of smaller screens distributed around the terminal, briefly stopped working, leaving them to fend for themselves/look at their phones/ask other humans for help IRL.

Some, or at least one, were calling the meltdown the "Big Board Blackout."

 

Continue here.






1 user(s) are reading this topic

0 members, 1 guests, 0 anonymous users