New Standard Signages to be used at Indian Railways Stations

What is up for change?

Bringing uniformity in signage boards across all Railway stations in India. More than 7300 Railway Stations in 17 Zones and 68 Divisions across Indian Railways have different style of Signages; Display of names of stations will now be on same standard across the country

Introduction

What is that which easily guides us to the right train as soon as we enter any railway station?

Signages (Audio and Visual). Yes, signs are very important to enhance passengers’ experience and to bring a smile to their faces.  “It is easy to make complicated things, but difficult to make simple things”, goes the adage. It applies to creating signage too.   World governments spend billions of dollars on research to build EASILY UNDERSTANDABLE signages that quickly assist in making the Railways station visitors take the right decisions related to their journey and other needs.

Examples of good signages: 

• Good signages play a vital role in safety through the orderly evacuation of passengers during emergencies.
• Good signage conveys its message swiftly and unambiguously often without the need to read the complete contents of signage.
• Well-designed signages use simple and easily understandable language, easy-to-read colors, fonts, and intuitive pictures, to convey their message explicitly.
• Good signage should ensure that anyone can navigate around the station and use its facilities, minimizing the need to ask station staff, coolies, or vendors. 
• Signages serve as a medium of communication with a wide variety of station users with varied mindsets and varied needs.

Guidelines

The Indian government has come out with common guidelines which will gradually phase out the wide variety of designs and patterns currently in use across India. It will replace them with signages that will broadly have a similar look and feel. The principles for the design and planning of the signages aim to provide consistent wayfinding across Indian Railway Stations. 

Objective

The Signage Plan for a Railway Station should aspire/achieve the following objectives

• The objective is to provide a uniform place for locating signage.
• It should understand how the signage will be read, and by whom.
• The direction (orientation) and at which height it should be located.
• The aim is to serve the maximum volume of passengers/general public at any given time.
• Provide a basis for aesthetically designed signages that are well integrated with station architecture.
• Plan and design the signage such that the Railway station is easily accessible even to a first-time visitor.
• Ensure standard signage is suitably formatted (font, font size, color, background, etc.) with specified design/materials.
• Ensure that information on the signage is precise & uniform, accommodating essential information.
• Achieve continuous directional signage, with repeaters at junctions, to lead the user to their destination in the shortest possible time.
• To restrict redundant signages and avoid visual clutter for better visibility.
• To ensure the use of uniform language/legends across India to ease the learning curve for the visitors to Indian Railway premises.
• To ensure that the signages are accessible to the maximum extent possible to the Divyangan users at Railway stations.

Language for Signages: 

In Hindi speaking States i.e. States having Hindi as their Official Language, the information on signage will be in Hindi and English. The sign boards will first have Hindi written/engraved or printed/painted/engraved. In addition to Hindi and English, other languages may also be used that are authorised by the State Governments for use for official purposes considering the convenience of the general public living in these states. 

In non – Hindi Speaking States the information on signage boards will be in order of Regional Language, Hindi, and English.

Arrows

Colour Scheme 

Following colours will be used on signages

In all the stations, the Standard Colour Coding illustrated above will be followed. However, as an exception, in complex stations dealing with different types of trains like suburban & long distance, different colour schemes will be used for wayfinding of different zones of train type/traffic segment for ease of passengers.

Information Layout

Positioning of elements in a line will follow the sequence:

1. Arrow
2. Symbol
3. Legend
4. Secondary Text

Pictograms

Below are the pictogram icons. The Pictograms colour scheme will be inline with the proposed colour scheme.

Below are a few sample sign boards illustrating the Various shapes and types that will be used in the stations.  

Standard Types of Signages

Flat Signage Indoor

Flat Signage Outdoor

Illuminated Elliptical Signage

Signages for Small & Medium Sized Stations

Below are the sample illustration of Inductive type of boards and their positioning for small and medium stations

Signages for Complex stations 

Large stations will have their own signage requirements considering their complex layout, hence, a detailed analysis will be carried out on a case to case basis to bring the best signage designs for each of such complex stations.

Signages implemented in CSTM for identification of different lines

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