Glad I Downloaded The TrainLine App....

...it usually has the platform info long before it goes up on the boards, and it's rarely wrong. Looks like I'm going to need it in future:

Rail bosses have been accused of patronising passengers by hiding trains’ departure information minutes before they are due to leave in a bid to tackle last-moment platform dashes. Under the scheme, which is being trialled at King’s Cross, the final call for long-distance trains will be made four minutes before departure. Train details will be deleted from departure boards three minutes before they leave.

Why are they doing this? Well, would you believe - to try to stop the very thing it's almost certain to exacerbate?

Network Rail said the scheme was designed to stop passengers dashing for trains. A poster for the scheme said: “This is so everyone can board safely and keep trains running on time.”

How could shorterning the time between announcement and departure EVER do that? You couldn't have come up with a better scheme to increase panic dashing if you'd actually TRIED...? 

Truly, we are into clown world territory.

But passengers have reacted with fury, saying they should be given the information to decide for themselves. Many also fear the system will cause more rushing than it prevents. They pointed out that trains’ platform departures are often only revealed minutes before they are due to depart, so the new system could only give them seconds to react to platform announcements.

Not to mention that the intercity trains are very long and it always seems the carriage you want is right at the opposite end... 

MJ Simpson pointed to a flaw in the plans. He wrote: “So if you’re booked on the 5.25 and you get to the station at 5.23, there will be no sign of the 5.25 on the departure board, even though it hasn’t left yet. Have I got that right?”

Yes, incredibly enough, you appear to have it right. It's almost as if the rail companies want to sell us tickets we can't use, isn't it?