The information display that never showed only the 'station name' is finally changing

Seoul City Completes Station Name Visibility Improvement Project
Arrival Display Time on Destination Indicators Also Extended

The display time and frequency of the destination guide will increase. For Line 2, the display time of station names in Korean will increase from the existing 15 seconds to 59 seconds, and for Line 4, it will increase from 52 seconds to 95 seconds.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

From now on, when using the Seoul subway, passengers will be able to check the name of the arrival station more conveniently through the train window.

On the 17th, the Seoul Metropolitan Government announced that it has completed a project to improve the visibility of station names by attaching station name signs to platform screen doors on subway lines 1 to 8, making it easier for passengers to identify station names.

Since April, the city has been promoting the subway station name improvement project by attaching station name signs to screen doors and upgrading the destination indicators inside the old trains on lines 2 and 4. The destination indicators are devices installed in the middle of the train or above the doors that provide information about arrival and transfer stations.

Comparison photos before and after attaching Seoul subway station name signs
[Image source=Provided by Seoul Metropolitan Government, Yonhap News]

The station name visibility improvement project was selected through the city’s first creative administration contest, inspired by citizens’ feedback that it is difficult to immediately identify arrival station information inside the train. Although some screen doors previously had stickers showing the arrival station name, the text was small and placed in blind spots, making it hard for passengers to see the station name from the train doors.

Additionally, the destination indicators mainly provided supplementary information such as travel direction and nearby station details instead of essential information like the arrival station, making it difficult to recheck the station name once missed.

In response, the newly attached station name signs on the screen doors have been redesigned with larger fonts to be easily visible to passengers inside the train. Furthermore, both the sliding and fixed doors of the screen doors now have small and large station name signs attached, allowing passengers to easily confirm the arrival station from seats or doors.

Comparison photos before and after the improvement of the destination display on Seoul Subway Line 2
[Image source=Provided by Seoul City, Yonhap News]

The display time and frequency of the destination indicators have also been increased. On line 2, the display time for Korean station names has been extended from 15 seconds to 59 seconds, and on line 4, from 52 seconds to 95 seconds. On line 2, unnecessary information such as "This station is" and long transfer station announcements have been simplified to focus on displaying the arrival station name. On line 4, considering the two-part structure of the destination indicator, the arrival station name is now fixed at the top, with supplementary information shown at the bottom.

New station name signs have been applied to all stations on lines 1 through 8, and work on line 9 and the Ui-Sinseol Line is expected to be completed within this month. The city plans to complete the destination indicator upgrades by the second quarter of next year and will apply these improvements to all newly ordered trains going forward.

Yoon Jong-jang, Director of Urban Transportation at the Seoul Metropolitan Government, stated, "The subway station name visibility improvement project is a creative administrative case by Seoul that introduced a new method of attaching station name signs to screen doors tailored to the eyes of subway users. We will continue to address various inconveniences to ensure comfortable subway use for citizens."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.