More than 200 Displays Guide, Inform Rail Passengers At New Grand Central Madison In NYC

May 1, 2023 by Dave Haynes

A lot of mass transport infrastructure in the New York area has seen serious, much-needed upgrades in the last few years, and the latest is a new part of the Grand Central rail station that finally gives access to the Long Island rail system from the east side of Manhattan.

For decades, if you were taking the LIRR, you went from Penn Station. Now there is something called Grand Central Madison, a new station carved out 14 stories beneath Madison Avenue and near the iconic Grand Central terminal. The terminal open in January.

I mention this because, as is the case with a lot of mass transport renos and new-builds lately, there is a LOT of digital in these sprawling facilities to help people with their travels.

This case study posted on the Digital Signage Federation site offers a pile of detail, and photos. The short version is some 200 individual screens – both LCD and LED – using a variety of configurations for messaging, guidance and revenue generation:

• A “Cultural Corridor” at the entry level that uses 65″ displays for advertising, LIRR content and customer generated content;
• MTA Customer Information Center screens using 49 and 65-inch LCDs;
• Train Information Displays using three-panel LCD arrays;
• Stand-alone Connection Boards that show destination, departure time and track assignments;
• Along the concourse, Alpha Boards that show train information, Service Alerts, general wayfinding and other MTA content;
• A 30 foot wide, 11-panel array on the concourse that display the full Long Island Rail Road system map, with the design was inspired by the original 1960’s status board located in the Jamaica Command Center;
• Five separate LED panels along north end of the concourse near the 48^th St entrance;
• And track level screens.

Very impressive! The main vendors on this are Videri (displays), ANC (integration), DigiLED (guess what) and Applied Design.