Rail Alphabet
{{short description|Neo-grotesque sans-serif typeface}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2022}}
{{Use British English|date=April 2013}}
{{Infobox typeface
| name = Rail Alphabet
| image = railalphabet.png
| imagesize = 250px
| style = Sans-serif
| classifications = Neo-grotesque
| releasedate = 1965
| creator = Jock Kinneir
Margaret Calvert
| foundry =
| variations =
| based_on = Helvetica
}}
File:Castle Cary services.jpg]]
Rail Alphabet is a neo-grotesque sans-serif typeface designed by Jock Kinneir and Margaret Calvert for signage on the British Rail network. First used at Liverpool Street station, it was then adopted by the Design Research Unit (DRU) as part of their comprehensive 1965 rebranding of the company.{{cite web |url=http://designmuseum.org/design/jock-kinneir-margaret-calvert |title=Jock Kinneir and Margaret Calvert |website=Design Museum |access-date=1 July 2010}} It was later used by other public bodies in the United Kingdom.
A redesigned version, Rail Alphabet 2, is planned to be used across the Great British Railways network,{{Cite web |url=https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/987752/gbr-williams-shapps-plan-for-rail.pdf |title=Great British Railways: The Williams-Shapps Plan for Rail |publisher=Government of the United Kingdom}} whilst the double arrow logo will also be restored as the primary brand identifier for the network.
Rail Alphabet is similar to a bold weight of Helvetica, but with some differences in character shapes,{{cite web |url=http://www.doublearrow.co.uk/rail_alphabet.htm |title=British Rail Corporate Identity |access-date=4 August 2020}} stroke width and x-height to aid legibility. The typeface also has some similarities to Akzidenz-Grotesk, which had earlier provided the same designers the broad inspiration for the Transport typeface used for road signs in the United Kingdom.
The typeface was designed specifically for signage and the designers included features to support this such as a bespoke letter-spacing system and two slightly different weights to provide optimum visibility on both light and dark backgrounds.
British Rail
In 1949, the Railway Executive decided on standard types of signs to be used at all stations. Lettering was to use redrawn versions of Gill Sans lettering on a background of the regional colour.{{cite news |author= |title=Railway Station Signs. Standard Lettering |url=http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0001672/19490520/097/0010 |newspaper=Warminster & Westbury journal, and Wilts County Advertiser |location=England |date=20 May 1949 |access-date=13 February 2017 |via=British Newspaper Archive |url-access=subscription}}{{cite magazine |title=Standard Stations Signs |date=July 1949 |magazine=The Railway Magazine |issue=582 |page=271}} This style persisted for nearly 15 years.
In the early 1960s, British Railways (which rebranded as British Rail in 1965) trialled new signs at Coventry station that made use of Kinneir and Calvert's recently launched Transport typeface. While Transport has since been an enduring success on road signs, it was designed around the specific needs of road users – such as visibility at speed and in all weathers. The subsequent creation of Rail Alphabet was intended to provide a style of lettering more specifically suited to stations where it would primarily be viewed indoors by pedestrians.{{Cite web |url=https://thebeautyoftransport.com/2015/05/13/on-line-typeface-rail-alphabet-typeface-uk/ |title=On Line Typeface (Rail Alphabet typeface, Margaret Calvert/Jock Kinneir, UK) |website=The Beauty of Transport |date=13 May 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180709191442/https://thebeautyoftransport.com/2015/05/13/on-line-typeface-rail-alphabet-typeface-uk/ |archive-date=9 July 2018}}
The Design Research Unit's 1965 rebranding of British Railways included a new logo (the double arrow), a shortened name British Rail, and the total adoption of Rail Alphabet for all lettering other than printed matter{{cite book |chapter-url=http://www.doublearrow.co.uk/manual/1_10.1965-04.gif |title=The British Rail Corporate Identity Manual |chapter=Basic Elements: Rail alphabet |date=April 1985 |publisher=British Rail |via=Doublearrow.co.uk}} including station signage, trackside signs, fixed notices, signs inside trains and train liveries.
Key elements of the rebranding were still being used during much of the 1980s and Rail Alphabet was also used as part of the livery of Sealink ships until that company's privatisation in the late 1980s. However, by the end of the 1980s, British Rail's various business units were developing their own individual brands and identities with use of Rail Alphabet declining as a consequence.{{cite web |url=http://www.york.ac.uk/inst/irs/irshome/papers/ephemera.htm |title=Is collecting railway ephemera an archaeological task? |first=Robert |last=Forsythe |date=13 December 2000 |website=Institute of Railway Studies, University of York |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060125025725/http://www.york.ac.uk/inst/irs/irshome/papers/ephemera.htm |archive-date=2006-01-25}} The typeface remained in near-universal use for signs at railway stations but began to be replaced with alternatives in other areas, such as in InterCity's 1989 Mark 4 passenger carriages which made use of Frutiger for much of their interior signage.
After British Rail
The privatisation of British Rail from 1994 accelerated the decline in use of the typeface on the railway network with most of the privatised train operating companies who now manage individual stations choosing to use the typefaces associated with their own corporate identities for station signs and publicity. More recently, the custom Brunel typeface introduced by Railtrack for signs at major stations and adapted by Network Rail as NR Brunel was recommended as a new national standard for station signs by a 2009 report commissioned by the Secretary of State for Transport,{{cite web |url=http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/rail/passenger/stations/betterrailstations/pdf/report.pdf |title=Better trail stations |date=November 2009 |website=Department for Transport |accessdate=31 October 2010 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20091122073856/http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/rail/passenger/stations/betterrailstations/pdf/report.pdf |archivedate=22 November 2009 }} and was used extensively by South West Trains and East Midlands Trains. Meanwhile, Helvetica Medium has replaced Rail Alphabet as the industry's preferred typeface for safety notices within passenger trains due to the ready availability of the former and for consistency with British Standards on general safety signs.{{cite web |url=http://www.rgsonline.co.uk/Related_Documents/ITLGN0001%20Iss%201.pdf |title=Research Programme |website=Rail Safety & Standards Board |date=April 2003 |accessdate=31 October 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110717113643/http://www.rgsonline.co.uk/Related_Documents/ITLGN0001%20Iss%201.pdf |archive-date=17 July 2011 |url-status=dead}}
Some train operators continued use of Rail Alphabet long into the privatisation era. Arriva Trains Wales{{cite web |url=http://www.arrivatrainswales.co.uk/WorkArea/linkit.aspx?LinkIdentifier=id&ItemID=3089&libID=3480 |title=Making Rail Accessible |website=Arriva Trains Wales |accessdate=14 January 2012}} used the typeface until the end of the franchise in 2018, with First Great Western also making extensive use of Rail Alphabet for signage until the firm's rebranding to Great Western Railway in 2015. Merseyrail{{Cite web |url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/ericswyu/408279078/ |title=Liverpool South Parkway |website=Flickr}} continues to use the typeface for station signage.
The use of the typeface is also still prescribed by standards for trackside warning signs and safety/operating notices.{{cite web |url=http://www.rgsonline.co.uk/Railway_Group_Standards/Control%20Command%20and%20Signalling/Railway%20Group%20Standards/GIRT7033%20Iss%202.pdf |title=Lineside Operational Safety Signs |date=October 2009 |website=Rail Safety & Standards Board |access-date=19 December 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110717113804/http://www.rgsonline.co.uk/Railway_Group_Standards/Control%20Command%20and%20Signalling/Railway%20Group%20Standards/GIRT7033%20Iss%202.pdf |archive-date=17 July 2011 |url-status=dead}}
Other uses
File:Dsb-s-bahnlinie-f-bahnhof-klampenborg-699386.jpg in Denmark, 1978.]]
Rail Alphabet was used by certain other state-owned corporations and organisations in the UK. The National Health Service in England, Scotland and Wales adopted Rail Alphabet for its signs. It is still the dominant typeface used on signs in older hospitals. It ceased to be used in new builds in the late 1990s. NHS England now uses Frutiger,{{Cite web |url=http://www.connectingforhealth.nhs.uk/resources/commsguides/images/Section%204.pdf |title=NHS CFH visual identity guidelines, section 4}} while NHS Scotland uses Stone Sans.{{cite web |url=http://www.nhsscotlandci.scot.nhs.uk/fonts.aspx |title=Corporate Identity |website=NHS Scotland |access-date=27 April 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090501123301/http://www.nhsscotlandci.scot.nhs.uk/fonts.aspx |archive-date=1 May 2009 |url-status=dead}}
Rail Alphabet was widely used on signs by the British Airports Authority and by Danish railway company DSB.{{Cite web |url=http://www.eyemagazine.com/blog/post/rue-britanica |title=Rue Britanica |first=John L. |last=Walters |date=20 April 2009 |website=Eye Magazine |number=124 |access-date=15 May 2024}} It was also used on signage for the National Coal Board.
Road signs in Iran used Rail Alphabet typeface for English texts.{{citation needed|date=October 2021}}
Digitisation and updates
=New Rail Alphabet=
In 2009, a newly digitised version of the typeface was publicly released. Created by Henrik Kubel of A2/SW/HK in close collaboration with Margaret Calvert, New Rail Alphabet features six weights: off white, white, light, medium, bold and black, with non-aligning numerals, corresponding italics and a set of Cyrillic characters.{{Cite web |url=http://www.newrailalphabet.co.uk/ |title=New Rail Alphabet |website=Newrailalphabet.co.uk |access-date=15 May 2024}}
=Rail Alphabet 2=
{{Infobox typeface
| name = Rail Alphabet 2
| image = RA2 Specimen.svg
| imagesize = 250px
| style = Sans-serif
| classifications = Neo-grotesque
Mixed
Humanist
| releasedate = 2020
| creator = Margaret Calvert
Henrik Kubel
| foundry = A2-TYPE
| variations =
| based_on = Rail Alphabet
New Rail Alphabet
}}
In 2020, Network Rail announced that it had commissioned an updated version of the typeface. Designed by Margaret Calvert and Henrik Kubel, Rail Alphabet 2 (RA2) includes lighter versions of the lettering as well as italics for signage along with accompanying versions for use in printed matter and online.{{Cite web |url=https://issuu.com/lukeodonovan/docs/nr_hub_v13_30.04.20__1_ |title=HUB Making places for people and trains |first=David |last=Lawrence |date=2 May 2020 |via=Issuu |access-date=15 May 2024}} The redesign also includes new pictograms to depict services and facilities which did not exist in the 1960s when the original typeface was conceived – such as gender neutral toilets and vaping areas. In October 2020, Network Rail announced that starting with London Paddington,{{cite web |title=Rail Alphabet 2 launches at exhibition celebrating 1960s design icon |date=26 October 2020 |url=https://www.networkrail.co.uk/stories/rail-alphabet-2-launches-at-exhibition-celebrating-1960s-design-icon/ |website=Network Rail |access-date=15 May 2024}} the updated RA2 typeface will replace Brunel for all signage on all Network Rail managed major stations on the network.{{cite web |last1=Holden |first1=Alan |title=Margaret Calvert exhibition and Rail Alphabet 2 |url=https://www.railadvent.co.uk/2020/10/margaret-calvert-exhibition-and-rail-alphabet-2.html |website=Rail Advent |date=29 October 2020 |access-date=27 May 2021}} Network Rail will also begin using the typeface for corporate communications.
In May 2021, as part of the Williams Rail Review, it was announced that the new government body Great British Railways (GBR) will introduce Rail Alphabet 2 on the rail network, replacing the many different typefaces used on railway signage since privatisation.
See also
- Gill Sans – the basis for display lettering, including signs, used by British Railways between 1948 and 1965. Genuine Gill Sans was used for printed matter.
- Johnston – the lettering used by London Underground, designed by Edward Johnston.
- List of public signage typefaces
{{-}}
References
{{reflist}}
External links
{{commons}}
- [http://www.newrailalphabet.co.uk/ Commercial release] (includes pdf specimen and archive photos)
- [https://www.flickr.com/groups/2860664@N25/ Flickr photos] of Rail Alphabet in use
Category:Neo-grotesque sans-serif typefaces