Countdown timers come to the Reading Line

As of this morning, the new "train arrival system" countdown timers have been activated on the Reading/Haverhill line, at least at the stations between Wakefield and Greenwood.

With the new system in place, most of the annoying "nanny" messages have gone away. Between the 'countdown' timer, which displays about every thirty seconds, there was only one "non-train" message advising folks to renew their monthly passes online. Not sure if this welcome lack of clutter on the boards is a permanent condition or not.

Interesting thing about the countdown, in that it displays "Next Boston Train In :XX" until two minutes before the train arrives, and then goes completely blank from then on. The signs also do NOT display information about outbound trains, at least for now.