Timely arrival: Great British Railways clock launches at London Bridge

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Link: Timely arrival: Great British Railways clock launches at London Bridge | Rail transport | The Guardian

 

 

Quote

Commuters rushing through London Bridge station on Thursday morning may have missed it, but a new era in railway timekeeping and design was looming above them: a 1.8-metre-high digital timepiece, hanging above the concourse, the first physical manifestation of what will be Great British Railways’ signature station clock.

 

The design, the first such for more than 50 years, will appear in digital form on electronic information boards at stations across the country.

 

The black and red clock face draws on the old British Rail logo, which the rail minister, Peter Hendy, said “represents a bridge between the historic past and a new future for our railways”.

 

The railway, 200 years old this year, played a pivotal role in creating a unified national time zone, with cities previously setting their own clocks by the sun; Bristol remained 10 minutes behind London for some decades before the demands of fast trains and a railway timetable eventually made it catch up.

 

London Bridge was chosen for the prestigious first clock and ceremonial opening as it was the second ever station to have an electronic clock linked by telegraph to the Greenwich Observatory, back in 1852 (the first was Lewisham, earlier that year)...

 

[mbedford]

Don't worry, normal service will resume when the clocks are actually due to be deployed outside of London.  The first three will be cancelled, the fourth will terminate at 2300hrs rather than 0000hrs.  On weekends, they will only display odd numbered hours and occasionally the numbers will either forget to turn up or just go on strike.

 

But, rest assured, after a couple of years of above inflation cost increases for said clocks, service will get worse.

 

Can you tell i used to have to get the train to work 😁?