Best and Worst barriered Stations

[BestWestern]

What's the score with this 'video link' business then, I have to say I've never come across it on my 'patch', I always thought they had to be manned by real life human beings!

 

[Stigy]

Sadly I agree, some of my colleagues at CLJ are not the most interested in the job! Sometimes I feel like I am one of the only Gateline staff there actually doing the job properly.

I feel your pain. Unfortunately it's the same in most jobs, but more so on the railway. I have the same issue, and it does seem sometimes that I'm the only one doing the job I'm paid to do. Just look at it as a good work ethic. If you don't want to do the job, don't do it! It's not about being a jobsworth or anything, just working hard to please yourself, nobody else!

 

[starrymarkb]

What's the score with this 'video link' business then, I have to say I've never come across it on my 'patch', I always thought they had to be manned by real life human beings!

Exeter Central has the back entrance gated with a video link to the main gateline. The back entrance is pretty much open air and is only used by a few people per train.

 

[D2022]

Swindon, the barriers are hopeless for reasonably busy station, some staff are good but some are useless.

 

[BestWestern]

Exeter Central has the back entrance gated with a video link to the main gateline. The back entrance is pretty much open air and is only used by a few people per train.

Ah, I see. I had horrible images of central control rooms replacing people on the ground....!!

 

[lincolnshire]

A very interesting fact about barriers at stations I would like answering is who pays for them to be installed ? the TOC or Network Rail as its there station and only leased to the TOC or is it the government paying for them indirectly?

With all the so called extra revenue coming in from barrier ed stations, where is the money going to? do the TOC,s that receive subsidies to run the service get less since more money been received from fares and do the government get more money from TOC,s that pay them for running the services.

An interesting point , if someone would like to answer me.

 

[MK Tom]

Northampton is horrible for passenger flow - they gated the narrowest space in the station. Usually one gate one way and two the other. Clogs horribly at some times of day.

 

[philjo]

The barriers didn't actually make things hugely worse. It was already terribly congested.

True. I arrived by train at Cambridge one Saturday morning during the Olympics.
The ticket hall was literally rammed with people queuing to buy tickets - the queue went out past the taxi rank.
I had to push my way through to get from the ticket barriers out to the street. Not helped by the fact that all of the barriers were obstructed by the people queuing.

Welwyn Garden City is not particularly good.
There are 2 island platforms and the barriers are on each platform at the bottom of the steps - the footbridge is a public right of way from the Industrial area into the town centre so can't be barriered. This means only 4 barriers available on each platform.
if changing trains southbound this usually involves going from platform 2 over the bridge to platform 4 so you have to go through 2 sets of barriers.
The barriers seem to reject all tickets that don't have a destination or origin specifying WGC. so if changing trains as described above your ticket is rejected at both sets of barriers.
There is also a large queue of people trying go get out through the barriers from platforms 3/4 in the evening peak when the trains arrive from London.

 

[jopsuk]

True. I arrived by train at Cambridge one Saturday morning during the Olympics.
The ticket hall was literally rammed with people queuing to buy tickets - the queue went out past the taxi rank.
I had to push my way through to get from the ticket barriers out to the street. Not helped by the fact that all of the barriers were obstructed by the people queuing.

Quite a common situation on a Friday evening- made worse by people waiting, looking at the arrival/deparature boards, in that hall.

 

[David Goddard]

We had to pass through twenty different gatelines a total of forty four times on our All Line Rover. Of these, two (six passes in all) were left open, due to the time of day.
At all the others, we waited to show our tickets to be let through (no way was I putting a £1040 ticket through a gate).
We had very few issues, but did find that the staff at Aberdeen were probably the least attentive, and we had to wait a couple of minutes for them to finish their conversation before we had their attention. All others were fine, as were the manual gateline staff such as at Birmingham New Street, Liverpool Lime Street and Manchester Piccadilly (suprisingly at the latter).

 

[oglord]

New terminal buildings at Newport High Street have one barrier in either direction plus one bidirectional wide barrier. Utterly insufficient.

 

[sheff1]

That's not been my experience - as someone who regularly goes from platform 8 to 5, I find there's now huge clumps of people in the way who never used to be.

They also seem to have reprogrammed the barriers not to accept my ticket.

Yes, I now frequently encounter large groups of people just inside the barriers at Leeds looking at the departure screens. This hinders the flow in both directions.

Don't know about rejecting tickets - I always go through the one gate which is held permanently open by a bored looking person who shows absolutely no interest in the ticket I have in my hand.

The staff at Truro are brilliant, and very customer focused.

I have only used Truro once since barriers have been installed, but based on that limited experience I would not agree.

I left to buy a paper before catching the Falmouth connection and when my ticket was rejected on the return I was told abruptly that it was because I was re-entering too soon, as if it was somehow my fault

Liverpool South Parkway annoys me because once you've used your ticket to go through one set of barriers (exiting either Northern Line or Intercity platforms) it always rejects when you then try to go through the other set to reach the other respective platforms. Apparently they are programmed to only permit one use at this station, even though it is a connecting interchange separated by two sets of barriers.

The staff are friendly though, and sometimes the Northern Line barriers are left open if no-one is around.

I have only ever exited at Parkway, not interchanged. Agree that the staff seem more friendly than average.

The situation you describe is even more difficult to understand when you consider there is plenty of room to have just one barrier line for both sets of platforms, thus avoiding the need to pass through when you are changing trains

 

[wensley]

Kings X is always interesting, the gatelines are in fairly good positions and I haven't encountered too many problems with overcrowding. However, the gateline staff often seem un-interested and half the time the barriers are left open anyway with no staff in sight!

 

[dk1]

Cambridge, Utter chaos in the rush hour

Not just rush hours, many times during the day & most of Saturday can be bad. M&S are often complaining as it blocks the entrance to the store. As far as i am aware, there are plans afoot to improve & enlarge the booking hall. There is also talk of another entrance on the up side behing the carriage washer but this is long term.

 

[MidnightFlyer]

Indeed, plans I read about in RAIL or similar proposed enlarging the concourse to 3x the current size. Is the travel centre still open there out of curiosity?

Chester is woeful, I was there one Saturday morning recently, and a train from Liverpool (I think) arrived at the same time a service ex-North Wales did, the queue to leave stretched up the stairs of the footbridge and about 1/4 of the way over it. Unbelievable. Newport (Gwent) is a poor set-up too, at least on the south entrance.

 

[Mojo]

Newport (Gwent) is a poor set-up too, at least on the south entrance.

I think the whole of Newport is appalling. Each direction only has a single ticket gate, and there is also one wide aisle gate. For a station that was built with barriers in mind (they were put in when the current entrances were constructed) I am shocked they were even allowed to do this.

 

[jopsuk]

There is also talk of another entrance on the up side behing the carriage washer but this is long term.

The residents/local councillors in Coleridge are opposed to this. They reckon it would lead to on-road parking chaos in the streets- it is currently outisde the controlled parking area, and they don't want controls/permits. Nevermind that most have space on their drives for two or three vehicles.

And yes, it would benefit them. They're being ridiculous.

 

[MidnightFlyer]

I think the whole of Newport is appalling. Each direction only has a single ticket gate, and there is also one wide aisle gate. For a station that was built with barriers in mind (they were put in when the current entrances were constructed) I am shocked they were even allowed to do this.

Aye, in my eyes they should never have got rid of the old building. They lost a travel centre and significantly more useful gateline when they did. One of the few station rebuilding projects in recent decades that I think has been absolutely dreadful: most are for the better, however the only redeeming feature of the new building is that it's airy, however quite prone to crowding when I was there. All 4 times I've been since it opened, the north side gates have been locked open and unattended. The WH Smiths there also looked closed permanently when I went. Unfortunately the rest of Newport is quite disappointing too (and no, I'm not just saying that! It was the first town I ever went to as a youngster and vowed to avoid returning if at all possible!).

 

[Tibbs]

Euston has gotten a lot better over the past few months. They used to leave the barriers in what I assume is the 'morning' configuration all day which was 3 onto the platform and the rest out, which caused massive queues on the way home, which also intermingled with the queue for the ticket windows down by 8-11.

Now they seem to change the configuration throughout the day and have it 50:50 in the evenings.

The staff are also a lot better. They used to hang around in groups and studiously ignore you if you asked for help, but now they man their posts and are very good.

More power to LM.

 

[BestWestern]

Aye, in my eyes they should never have got rid of the old building. They lost a travel centre and significantly more useful gateline when they did. One of the few station rebuilding projects in recent decades that I think has been absolutely dreadful: most are for the better, however the only redeeming feature of the new building is that it's airy, however quite prone to crowding when I was there.

You certainly get the distinct impression that the 'regeneration' work at Newport was a complete rush job because there was a major international gold tournament just around the corner. They made a complete hash of the revised train stopping positions at first as well.

The new building is ugly and the way the whole London end of the station has just been abandoned cancels out any benefit of having a shiny new bit at the other end. Had they done the whole station properly they might have made something good of it, but as it stands at the moment it's a mess. What always tickles me is how the Upper Crust place still operates way down in the creaking depths of the 'old' station', when nobody ever goes down that end any more!

 

[MidnightFlyer]

Indeed. I noticed this when I was there for the first time after the refurb, so timed myself from leaving Upper Crust to getting to the entrance of p4. A train arriving and unloading a good few on p3 didn't aid this, but at normal walking speed it took me 2m 13s. As you way, first rate planning. The UC did look a bit deserted too, like the final open shop in a badly failing shopping centre.

Of course, this is also in addition to the point that from the air it looks like a glass and steel model of the female reproductive system (sorry, it had to be said!)

 

[12CSVT]

Indeed. I noticed this when I was there for the first time after the refurb, so timed myself from leaving Upper Crust to getting to the entrance of p4. A train arriving and unloading a good few on p3 didn't aid this, but at normal walking speed it took me 2m 13s. As you way, first rate planning. The UC did look a bit deserted too, like the final open shop in a badly failing shopping centre.

Of course, this is also in addition to the point that from the air it looks like a glass and steel model of the female reproductive system (sorry, it had to be said!)

From ground level it looks like a giant telephone receiver

 

[DynamicSpirit]

(Re Vauxhall new barriers)

Yes, it already has. There is now a second subway parallel with the other one, with a new array of E2 gates, which leads to the Underground/Bus station. A few times I've been there the 'old' exit leading to the Underground/Bus station has been staffed with operational barriers, but the 'new' exit just the other side of the wall has been unstaffed with the barriers open!

I went through there on Thursday. Quite impressed - a rare example of a station improvement that actually clearly benefits passengers and improves flow. Quite clever use of the arches too. Only minor quibble is the decor looks a little bare.

 

[Goldfish62]

I often find Clapham Junction, though with fully operational barriers, without automatic wide gates (still have, or had the manual ones), the gate staff often are either nowhere to be seen, speaking to colleagues several feet away or just open them upon request, without asking to see tickets...seems to defeat the object to me!

I appreciate it's not all staff, probably just a select few, but it can be annoying and somewhat pointless having the barriers at times!

Yes, I wonder why I bother putting my ticket through the gate when I could just walk past disinterested staff and through the manual gate.

Mind you, I wouldn't like to work on the gateline at CJ...

 

[Bushy]

London St Pancras EMT - Only used it once, had problem with a member of staff not recognising the All Line Rover but thought the amount of platforms and barriers a bit small considering. It was quiet that day, but one of my mates took a photo at rush hour on a friday ...

The only time I've used St.P EM I had no problem. I was on a train due in at 1705 on a week day; it came into the country end of a platform where there was already a train on the platform. I managed to get down the platform, through the barrier, down the stairs to main concourse, across the station, up the stairs and through the barriers to the SE HS Platforms and onto the 1710 Dover train with a small amount of time to spare.

What's the score with this 'video link' business then, I have to say I've never come across it on my 'patch', I always thought they had to be manned by real life human beings!

Ashford Kent International domestic has unmanned barriers in the exit to the Eurostar Ticket Hall. There is a call button with video communication and ticket viewer which links, I think, to the ticket office. The barriers often get left open if the TO staff are busy .

A very interesting fact about barriers at stations I would like answering is who pays for them to be installed ? the TOC or Network Rail as its there station and only leased to the TOC or is it the government paying for them indirectly?

I believe that the TOC pays for them on leased stations. NR are responsible for them on NR managed stations. They are certainly a major element considered on NR congestion relief schemes. A lot of work goes into PEDMOD of any proposed changes.

Regards

Bushy

 

[philjo]

I think the whole of Newport is appalling. Each direction only has a single ticket gate, and there is also one wide aisle gate. For a station that was built with barriers in mind (they were put in when the current entrances were constructed) I am shocked they were even allowed to do this.

Never had to use the barriers at Newport but when changing trains between the Paddington & Marches line services I find that: you now have to walk a long way in the open as the new bridge is not connected to the platforms canopies. The lifts are far too small - had to let it go twice before I could use it as they were full.

I preferred using the old subway along with its dampness & moss growing everywhere! Far less distance to walk than you have to go now, making some connections very tight as you only have 5 minutes.

 

[steamybrian]

The barrier staff at Tonbridge were awful although they have been some recent staff changes and the "rogues" may have gone elsewhere.
Imagine long queue at the ticket office and barrier staff comes across to me and says "You can get your ticket from the ticket machine" I said "No" . He said "It issues all tickets to all destinations" . I said "Will you show me which button to issue me a privilege ticket?" . He then spends about one minute looking at every button and finally gives up and walks away.
A few days later a friend walks in the ticket office and joins a similiar queue. Same man walks across and says you can buy any ticket from the machine. My friend says I want an Advance return ticket with a Senior Citizen Railcard to Tywyn in Wales. Ticket barrier man walks away feeling beaten.
On many occasions the ticket barriers are left open.

 

[Waddon]

Any Southern station which has remotely operated barriers, where the inspector is across the track at another position and you have to hold a ticket up to a camera if it doesn't go through... good idea in principle but in practice when you have a line of confused tourists and pensioners blocking the (often single) gate and a rush hour trainload of passengers waiting to get through. Took nearly 10 minutes to get through the barriers at Reigate last week....

 

[BestWestern]

Any Southern station which has remotely operated barriers, where the inspector is across the track at another position and you have to hold a ticket up to a camera if it doesn't go through... good idea in principle but in practice when you have a line of confused tourists and pensioners blocking the (often single) gate and a rush hour trainload of passengers waiting to get through. Took nearly 10 minutes to get through the barriers at Reigate last week....

That's totally unacceptable.

Bearing in mind that false imprisonment laws have been waged at rail staff in the past, I'd be interested to know the legalities of that situation. If you have a valid ticket and are committing no offence of any sort, I'd be surprised to hear that the railway can legally 'detain' you inside a station gateline for ten minutes once you have legitimately completed your journey, simply due to inadequate staffing arrangements.

I have to say that if it was me and I was in a major hurry I'd be reaching for the big red plunger...

 

[trc666]

I wouldn't go down the false imprisonment line simply because staff are not deliberately detaining people with valid tickets, there is a way out albeit a slow one, but yes it is a right pain when there are very few gates available for a certain direction.

If I am working a particularly narrow gateline (platform 11 at Waterloo springs to mind) sometimes it is easier to open the wide aisle gate and manually check tickets as you tend to get a lot of people from long distance trains that have non-standard tickets / passes (Megabus reservations on paper or phones, BR boxes, Status Passes etc) and those that don't know how to (or simply don't want to) put their tickets through the barriers. We have the option of using the vehicle gates on other platforms but I don't like doing this as people tend to just march through waving Oyster cards at staff without touching in or out despite us instructing only those with paper tickets to come through, I only do it when we have severe overcrowding and on the advice / at the request of the control room or managers.