Roundel direction for rail stations

Roundel will this week seek final approval for signage and identities for three international Channel Tunnel Rail Link stations, in a project worth in excess of £50 000 to the group.

The consultancy, which has worked on the project since summer 2000, has created an identity and signage for the new international stations at Stratford and Ebbsfleet and the revamped St Pancras facilities.

The stations, managed by Union Railways, are part of the international highspeed link, Britain’s first major new railway in over a century, and are due to open in 2007.

Rail Link Engineering lead architect Alastair Lawsley says signage in big stations is often chaotic and Roundel was briefed to create a strong corporate image that would clearly differentiate from advertising or retail signage.

Roundel director Tony Howard says all three stations use the same graphic principles, but ‘with a little twist’ to fit in with the more modern architecture of the new stations at Stratford and Ebbsfleet.

The typeface is intended to be clear, work in restricted space and create a modern European feel to reflect the fact that the stations carry international passengers, Howard adds.

Other aspects of the station’s interior design will be managed inhouse by Rail Link Engineering, a company created by Union Railways to conduct the building work of the new stations.