While digital signage and the use of screens is a common sight around the high street promoting, selling and advertising, modern TV devices like LCDs have other common uses.
The transport industry, in particular the railways, have uses LCD screens for providing information for years. A common sight inside railway stations, screens let passengers know of departure times, delays and cancellations.
The speed of uploading information is the great advantage of using LCD screens for railway and train companies. Once a train is delayed, relaying the information to passengers takes seconds, reducing frustration and complaints.
Traditionally, screens placed inside, in locations such as the ticket office, could provide this information, but increasingly, more screens placed on the platforms themselves are providing news of cancellations, delays and arrival times.
Of course, the difficulties with placing screens on railway platforms is that they are essentially outdoor environments so train companies require a form of protection for the display, to prevent damage caused by the weather, and particulates and debris blown across the platform by fast-moving locomotives.
While waterproof, outdoor screens don’t usually have adequate protection against dust, and lack physical protection needed for railway platforms.
Increasing, railway platforms use LCD enclosures as a means of screen protection. LCD enclosures several advantages for use on railway platforms, firstly, the comprehensive protection defends against weather, dust and physical impacts. Secondly, it allows the train companies to use the same sort of screens as they use indoors.
The temperature systems fitted inside LCD enclosures provide another advantage for train companies. As most nations have railway systems, the temperature ranges of platforms from country to country varies wildly. Some locations that experience high levels of heat require an LCD enclosure with cooling fans or even air conditioners, while areas that experience low temperatures need heaters inside the LCD enclosures. And in some locations where heat varies to both extremes depending on the season, may require both.
Generally, outdoor screens don’t offer the same temperature flexibility, which is why so many rail companies now use LCD enclosures.
