Rail bosses are removing trains from departure boards early to stop passengers rushing – despite claims people will instead run while looking at their phones.
Network Rail has confirmed it is carrying out a trial at London King’s Cross that sees information vanish from screens three minutes before the service leaves.
Final call announcements at the station, which serves cities including York, Newcastle and Edinburgh, are now made four minutes before a train is scheduled to depart.
Posters in the busy station have been informing passengers that Network Rail is ‘trialling earlier final boarding calls for long-distance trains so people don’t rush’.
The message from the government-owned company, which manages 20 major train stations, adds: ‘This is so everyone can board safely and keep trains running on time.’
But passengers have criticised the ‘patronising’ move, with one claiming it would lead to more people running while using their phones to check their platform on an app.
Some rail users already look at websites such as Trainline to confirm their platform, which can sometimes appear there before it does on the station departure boards.
Passengers wait for information in front of departure boards at London King’s Cross
Travellers board a London North Eastern Railway (LNER) service at London King’s Cross
Simon Watson, who regularly travels between London and York, told The Times: ‘The trains are every 30 minutes and when I am heading home, which one I’m on can make the difference between being home for the children’s bedtime or not.
‘Whether I run for the train is my decision. Surely it’s better to rush looking at the departure boards than your phone.’
Michael Solomon Williams from the Campaign for Better Transport told MailOnline: ‘We understand the good intentions behind this, but it only adds to the list of reasons the public have to be frustrated with the railways, and risks encouraging people to give up and drive instead.’
And travel expert Nicky Kelvin, editor at large at The Points Guy, told MailOnline: ‘Stations can quite often be chaotic, especially during peak times, and although this is only a trial, it could potentially impact those passengers who don’t have access to a smartphone or who are reluctant to use their devices in busy surroundings due to the risk of theft.’
He added that while passengers are always advised to leave plenty of time when commuting, ‘we all know that this can be out of our control, with delays and on the Tube and roads quite often having an impact on our onward journeys’.
Mr Kelvin continued: ‘It will be interesting to see the outcome of the trial and if in fact Network Rail decide to roll this out across all major travel hubs.
A departures board at King’s Cross with details of services on the East Coast Main Line
‘To get ahead of the crowds, travellers should download the correct app for their train company or other train schedule apps that show the platform numbers so that they can arrive at the station knowing where they are headed.’
King’s Cross is the London terminus of the East Coast Main Line, used for long-distance services by London North Eastern Railway (LNER), Grand Central and Hull Trains.
Great Northern also operates commuter services from the hub, which was the 17th busiest station on the UK network in 2023/24 with 24.5million entries and exits according to the Office of Rail and Road.
A spokesman for Network Rail said: ‘Our stations plan their announcements to give passengers the safest and easiest start to their journeys and to make sure trains can depart on time.
‘At King’s Cross, we display long-distance trains on the main departure boards until three minutes before departure, and this has been normal practice for some time.
‘The trial will just see the last tannoy announcements being made four minutes before departure on long-distance trains to give people plenty of time to get to their trains.
‘There is no change being made to actual boarding times, and passengers can still board their train up to 20 minutes before departure, as is the normal process.’
Last October, Network Rail pledged to reduce instances of passengers rushing to platforms at nearby Euston by permitting earlier boarding of some services.
Network Rail has already pledged to reduce instances of passengers rushing to platforms at London Euston (pictured) by permitting earlier boarding of some services
Bosses said they had started allowing passengers travelling on around 40 per cent of Avanti West Coast services from the London station to board trains 20 minutes before departure.
This was increased to around 55 per cent in the run-up to Christmas.
Passengers travelling on London Northwestern Railway’s services to Birmingham were invited on to platforms to await their train as soon as the preceding service had departed when so-called ‘continuous boarding’ was launched.
The changes came after then-transport secretary Louise Haigh ordered Network Rail to review and improve how it manages the station.
That followed watchdog London TravelWatch warning that passengers at Euston were being put ‘in danger’ by ‘high levels of overcrowding’.
It said ‘last-minute announcements’ mean passengers ‘rush to platforms’.
The plan included other measures such as turning off a large advertising screen while its usage was reviewed, creating more concourse space, upgrading toilets, and enhancing how the station operates during disruption.
Plans to redevelop Euston include the creation of a larger concourse, but these are subject to Network Rail securing more Government funding.
