New Haven Union Station Solari board to be replaced

The old Clicking schedule board at New Haven's Union Station will be replaced by two larger side by side LED boards.
Its a yearlong project costing $5 million to replace the schedule board, known as a Solari board and revamp the public information system with about 400 new speakers.
The existing board is getting old & parts are harder to find and replace quickly.
The new boards will span 34 feet across & 7 feet high. There will also be 19 new message boards on the platforms
The specifications for the new boards are based on those at Grand Central Station in New York .
I for one hope the Solari board can & will be saved, unlike that of the last New Haven Steam Engine.

Grand Central Station? Didn't know they had flip-flop boards on the subway system.

Who's talking subway ? Doesn't Metro-North boards have Solari boards ?

gawlikfj wrote:Who's talking subway ? Doesn't Metro-North boards have Solari boards ?

Grand Central Station - A stop on the Lexington Avenue Line, Flushing Line and Shuttle of the New York City Subway.
Grand Central Terminal - Terminus of Metro-North commuter trains.
Understand this now????
Noel Weaver

I'm not sure that I am absolutely correct, but I think I remember a story about the boards being replaced in Boston's South Station - but folks missed the sound of the clicking so much that they now have put back the sound? Am I correct? Talk about combining technology.

gawlikfj wrote:The old Clicking schedule board at New Haven's Union Station will be replaced by two larger side by side LED boards... I for one hope the Solari board can & will be saved, unlike that of the last New Haven Steam Engine.

This isn't really a New Haven topic, since the Solari boards were installed way after 1969. The Solari board just happens to be in a former New Haven station. It's purely a CDOT matter, and I don't know what historical significance the modern Solari board has...?

Otto Vondrak wrote:This isn't really a New Haven topic, since the Solari boards were installed way after 1969.

...in 1985, when the station was refurbished and reopened following 13 years in which meager ticket and waiting room facilities were located in the pedestrian subway.

Up until Union Station temporarily closed in 1972, arrivals and departures were announced on a hand-written chalkboard sort of thing located at the information desk at the left end of the row of ticket windows. It was actually a glass board that the agent wrote on with a whitewash solution... at least one of them had a very elegant printing style. The handwritten board moved downstairs to the subway during that period and finally disappeared when the main station was reopened.

Too bad we lost the New Haven-era handwritten sign!

Here's the current discussion: http://railroad.net/forums/viewtopic.php?f=67&t=67499