Inform Media British Sign Language at London Euston Station
- Sep 24, 2021
- Rail
London Euston is the sixth busiest railway station in Britain, the southern terminus of the West Coast Mainline and the busiest passenger route in Britain. Serving over 71 million people each year, it’s a gateway from London to popular destinations like Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester, Edinburgh and Glasgow.
London Euston is also the first station in the UK to deploy L.B. Foster’s innovative Inform Media fixed and mobile digital display screens, featuring in-screen British Sign Language presenters. There are over 150,000 British Sign Language (BSL) users in the UK and it is the preferred language of over 87 thousand deaf people.
Requirement
L.B. Foster Netpractise was first approached by Network Rail / London Euston early in 2020 to work on a project to make content more accessible for deaf passengers with BSL as a first language using our Inform Media software and hardware.
Network Rail’s commitment to inclusive design aims to deliver spaces and places for everyone. It’s a core design principle that leads to greater accessibility, convenience and enjoyment. It puts people at the heart of the design process, ensuring they can use the railway safely, easily and with dignity.
The scope of the project included the capability to create bespoke passenger information content featuring in-screen BSL interpreters that could be uploaded to fixed and mobile digital screens at London Euston station in real time.
Our solution
L.B. Foster Netpractise created a solution that builds on L.B. Foster’s Inform Media platform. This adds in a library of pre-recorded BSL messages that users select to add to OIS messages. This is in addition to a library of generic video messages specified by London Euston and provided by Clarion UK, a leading provider of BSL interpreters. These cover a range of common scenarios, such as:
> disruption,
> station facility notices
> evacuation.
Messages can be saved as favourites and scheduled in advance using Inform Media’s CMS, or sent out ad-hoc as required.
What they said
“We have embarked on this project with L.B. Foster to develop new digital displays that feature a wide range of video messages delivered by in-screen British Sign Language interpreters. This is a UK rail first and reflects London Euston and Network Rail’s commitment to improving customer accessibility.”
James Dean - Route Director at Network Rail
