Southern and Thameslink have joined forces with Imperial College London to highlight air quality issues in south London.
The community of Peckham is now kept informed by a simple AWAIR display with red, amber, yellow and green LEDs mounted at the exit to Peckham Rye station, one of London’s busiest stations.
The display shows whether current air quality meets or exceeds World Health Organisation (WHO) thresholds and what is forecast for the next day.
It could be seen by up to 6 million passengers a year and is updated hourly with live data received from an air quality model developed by the University using air pollution measurements from a network of monitoring stations across London.
The AWAIR project, run by Imperial’s Environmental Research Group, already has 15 displays on lampposts around Peckham, as well as one in Peckham Theatre and another in Dene Community Centre. Still more are placed for passengers to see in Gipsy Hill station and on lampposts nearby.
The display will complement a raft of other improvements recently announced for Peckham Rye station Works start at Peckham Rye station to create more space for passengers | GTR.
Air Quality Technologist and AWAIR project lead at Imperial College London, Andrew Grieve, said: “Given how busy Peckham Rye station is, this could well be one of the most looked-at air quality information displays in all of London. I’m so happy to have Southern and Thameslink’s support.
“Air pollution affects every single one of us, from our first breath to our last, from the youngest to the oldest. What the displays do is integrate air quality information into people’s daily lives in an easy and understandable way. They look up and it’s there. They don’t need to visit a website or download an app.
“If you have a health condition, maybe this can help you plan for tomorrow because we have tomorrow’s forecast on there as well. For everyone else, we hope that by showing what air quality is like, it can help build consensus for improving our air in the longer term.”
Southern and Thameslink’s Head of Environment and Sustainability Jason Brooker said: “The World Health Organisation has identified poor air quality as a leading environmental risk to health, with nearly 99% of the global population breathing air that exceeds the WHO safety limit.
“At Southern and Thameslink, we have worked with AWAIR and Imperial College London to provide a deeper understanding of the quality of the air around this railway station and raise awareness about this vitally important issue.
"It’s part of our sustainability strategy to work with our communities as a responsible business. Together, we can build a sustainable future.”
