Station bugbears

[daccer]

I am a little interested in the science of station building and operating and more particularly on what makes a good or well run station. In pinpointing what constitutes a favourite station or one I consider to be fit for purpose I sometimes try and identify those features or factors which annoy me and if they are missing on a particular station then I would consider that station to be of merit.

More often than not these bugbears are minor and actually inconsequential but just annoying. My current grievance is with plastic canopies. For some reason they just get on my nerves. It is even worse when they are bolted onto buildings of some historical merit to create a mish mash of design. Examples would be somewhere like Nuneaton or Stockport. Is there anything that just plain gets on your nerves for no good reason or which you would see changed just for a personal preference.

 

[yorksrob]

Particularly awkward to get to platforms - an example being platform 17 Leeds, where you have to take a long detour in the opposite direction to get there.

Lack of anywhere to sit, or put your cup of tea.

Toilets which you have to pay for, but which don't have enough cubicles to sit down in.

 

[AntoniC]

I was at Leeds last saturday for the Pacer bash and got terribly confused when the displays showed a departure from P17 ( I was on P16).

I only realised where P17 was when I went back upto the concourse and could see P17.

 

[yorksrob]

I was at Leeds last saturday for the Pacer bash and got terribly confused when the displays showed a departure from P17 ( I was on P16).

I only realised where P17 was when I went back upto the concourse and could see P17.

Indeed. Even if you know where it is, it can be a pain when you're pushed for time.

 

[GNERman]

I suppose it doesn't help that the stairs down to Platform 16 actually go quite far along, in comparison with where the escalator is.

 

[AntoniC]

Thats very true !

 

[6Gman]

Automated gatelines where the staff are too busy chatting to each other to check tickets.

Automated gatelines which obstruct free movement of passengers (e.g. Chester).

Automated gatelines which open 'the wrong way' or staff stand in such a way that it takes contortions to release them/ get through them.

 

[Cherry_Picker]

More often than not these bugbears are minor and actually inconsequential but just annoying. My current grievance is with plastic canopies. For some reason they just get on my nerves. It is even worse when they are bolted onto buildings of some historical merit to create a mish mash of design. Examples would be somewhere like Nuneaton or Stockport. Is there anything that just plain gets on your nerves for no good reason or which you would see changed just for a personal preference.

Out of curiosity, where are the plastic canopies at Nuneaton?

The only place I can think of would be on platforms 6 & 7 which are new builds and virtually a separate entity to the rest of the station. It does look slightly odd, but then platforms 1, 2 & 3 were clearly built at a later date than platforms 4 & 5 too.

 

[12CSVT]

Platform numbering that can easily confuse first time users to a station (2,1,3,4 at Portsmouth & Southsea being a prime example).

 

[Cherry_Picker]

I'm still not sure why that is allowed to happen. When the bay platforms reopened at Birmingham Moor Street in 2010 the station would have had platforms which read 2-1-3-4 so whoever was in charge of making such decisions simply decided to renumber platforms 1 & 2 so it now reads 1-2-3-4.

 

[tbtc]

Platform numbering that can easily confuse first time users to a station (2,1,3,4 at Portsmouth & Southsea being a prime example).

On a related note, inconsistent numbering.

If 2a is a separate bay from platform 2 then I should also expect 99a to be a separate bay (rather than just to denote the western end of platform 99).

I don't mind splitting a long platform into "a" and "b" where it may have shorter trains stopping at different sections, but in that case I'd expect any bay to have its own number.

Stations should be designed to be busy - if a queue for ticket machines gets so long that it snakes around the concourse (so that other passengers have to walk over/through/across the queue then something is badly wrong.

And, my main bugbear - there should be a monitor/screen showing the next (fast) train to the main half dozen (or so) destinations at every big station. E.g. if I were at Sheffield Midland I'd want an "at a glance" screen for the next train to Meadowhall/ Chesterfield/ Doncaster/ Leeds/ Barnsley/ Meadowhall - since people on the busiest flows won't want to scroll through several lines of information about trains to other places (esp as you can have places like Chesterfield and Meadowhall where nothing terminates, so wouldn't show as a final destination on the big board). Some stations have something like this, but it should be in more places

 

[High Dyke]

My bugbears...

Passengers who have no clue what they are doing...
Death by 'Digital Doris' announcements; far too many pointless ones.
Over-zealous 'jobsworths'.

And to follow on from tbtc regarding CIS screens - at least put them where passengers can see them. e.g. Grantham has departures screens in the ticket hall and at the bottom of the stairs on P1. However on P2-4 the departure screens are not at the foot of the stairs but around the other end of the station building facing P3. P2 has two platform CIS screens at the corner of the building / lift, but P4 is next to the Departure screen (as previously mentioned) so you have to walk along and round the end of the building to find the information. P3 only has a screen sited adjacent to the stops.

 

[BestWestern]

Foot bridges located miles away from the entry/exit point of the station.

New-build cheap and nasty footbridges with a roof but open 'grilles' where there ought to have been windows. Or, if you're at Gloucester, even more stupidly glass windows but no roof!

Significant stations with 'bus shelters' where there ought to be a proper waiting room.

Stations (Temple Meads) with a complete lack of any means of litter disposal even though plenty of others have polythene binbags.

Poor modern architecture and poor upkeep (i.e. flaking paint on canopies [Gloucester again], excessive weed growth etc).

Locations with partial ticket barrier coverage (London Paddington); what's the bl**dy point?!

Locations where there clearly ought to be barriers but aren't (Weston Super Mare, i.e. chav kiddie central during the summer hols).

Locations where all of the food outlets close stupidly early (Southampton Central).

Locations offering nothing except Pumpkin and/or Upper Crust outlets. Both brands are outdated and, of all of the SSP monopoly, offer by far the most uninspiring selection. I don't mind Ritazza/Pasty Shop and some of the others so much.

 

[AndrewP]

The simple fact is that a station must be functional above all therefore a simple, logical plan with clear walking routes with minimal conflict, good signage and obvious but unobtrusive retail if appropriate.

From a construction perspective they need to be low maintenance - especially near the track where maintenance is both difficult and expensive due to the obvious dangers or working on or near the track.

 

[brianthegiant]

My current grievance is with plastic canopies. For some reason they just get on my nerves. It is even worse when they are bolted onto buildings of some historical merit to create a mish mash of design. Examples would be somewhere like Nuneaton or Stockport.

What do you propose as an alternative? something which looks heritage would probably cost considerably more and not be an accurate replica of heritage materials & detailing anyway. Channel fours "Restoration Man" is a good insight into current thinking on additions/extensions to historic buildings.
I personally think it's more important to spend money on things which actually make a difference to reliability of passenger comfort. There are plenty of heritage railways where preservation of historic artefacts is the main priority.
I'm not saying we shouldn't be sympathetic to historic buildings operated by Network Rail, just that I think English Heritage/Cadw/Historic Scotland inspectors are picky enough with regards listed buildings & conservation areas as it is. If stations aren't listed buildings or in conservation areas maybe they probably don't satisfy the historic/architectural test anyway.
Sorry..

 

[theboywho]

To be fair, conservation officers have done a great deal for the protection of our buildings. Without such quality control we could potentially end up with all manner of poor alterations.

Unfortunately, in my industry, I find that too many people watch programmes such as Homes under the Hammer and believe they are better qualified to advise than a Building Surveyor.

 

[cuccir]

I'm not anti-barriers, but I do find it irritating at stations - particularly those often in larger towns/cities - which have almost no facilities for people who aren't travelling, as barriers close off almost the entire station. Bath Spa and Lincoln Central are two that spring to mind here, and Derby comes close to it as well.

TVMs on one platform only at stations with multiple entrances/exits is another!

 

[harry42]

Edinburgh example: "Platform change...--:-- to ...... (can't remember now!), not at 1A now at Platform 20. All to platform 20. 2 mins until departure time. 100+ people on platform. Stand for 4 seconds in disbelief then 100 people, including myself run across the station to P20. Platform change...will now depart from 1A. For **** sake were comments among the 100 people! We get to 1A just as it is leaving out.

PLATFORM CHANGES: !!!

 

[Cletus]

Platform Changes

Funnily enough, I was at Hastings last Saturday on platform 3, my train was only about 200 yards from the station, there was a last second change to platform 2 – cue 20/25 people rushing up the stairs, along the walkway and back down!
One man even got on who was going to Bexhill even though the train was going to Ashford.

 

[YorkshireBear]

Platform Changes need to be clearer and dwell times extended if it is done too late. Saw an old lady with a suitcase miss the train the other day. Fortunately a member of staff had been helping her and had asked the train to wait but it didn't. He was pretty furious so she was put on the next train first class with lots and lots and lots of freebies. (she requested assistance and had arrived at the station 45 mins before her train so to be fair i agree, not her fault)
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
And tbtc is quite clearly referring to Sheffield's 2a. Ridiculous along with Leeds' layout and passenger flow routes.

 

[Antman]

Bromley South where four car southbound trains now stop at the far end of the platform meaning there is a long walk to/from the entrance/exit, add to that people running for trains and coming into conflict with passengers who have alighted which obviously presents all sorts of hazards on the fairly narrow island platforms.

 

[Aldaniti]

Toilet facilities that close before the station. Regular moronic announcements about bags, smoking etc.

 

[transmanche]

On a related note, inconsistent numbering.

If 2a is a separate bay from platform 2 then I should also expect 99a to be a separate bay (rather than just to denote the western end of platform 99).

I don't mind splitting a long platform into "a" and "b" where it may have shorter trains stopping at different sections, but in that case I'd expect any bay to have its own number.

Personal bugbear was Reading station; where the old platforms 4a and 4b were the (quite significant) 'bays' for the Waterloo and North Downs services. Yet all the other bay platforms had their own number.

Thankfully this has now been sorted.

PLATFORM CHANGES: !!!

And sticking with Reading; in the evening peak, the slightest disruption could lead to a situation of the PIS showing two (sometimes three) trains all arriving at the old platform 5 at exactly the same time. It was obvious that at least one of them would have to be re-platformed, but this wouldn't be shown until the train was actually pulling in to the platform. Not too bad if it went to platform 8, a right pain if it went to platform 9.

 

[Statto]

Stations like Euston were the platforms feel like they're miles away from the concourse[Euston is not helped either by mainly VT trains having short turnaround times].

 

[AlexS]

Platform Changes need to be clearer and dwell times extended if it is done too late. Saw an old lady with a suitcase miss the train the other day. Fortunately a member of staff had been helping her and had asked the train to wait but it didn't. He was pretty furious so she was put on the next train first class with lots and lots and lots of freebies. (she requested assistance and had arrived at the station 45 mins before her train so to be fair i agree, not her fault)
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
And tbtc is quite clearly referring to Sheffield's 2a. Ridiculous along with Leeds' layout and passenger flow routes.

In that kind of situation I delay the train. Last minute platform alterations are not the passenger's fault and I see no reason for them to miss the train. Quite happy for Network Rail and the station operator to argue out the delay minutes based on whether the signaller changed the platform without informing the staff or whether the wrong platform was displayed in the first place.

 

[Drsatan]

The main two bugbears I have are the following:

Not enough ticket machines and/or ticket windows open for everyone to use (Southampton Central)

Barriers at stations which shouldn't justify them (Polegate station).

I understand that the DfT insists on barriers at even small stations, but I wish barrier staff were firstly informed about ticket types and restrictions (evidence on this forum says many don't), and that there were enough barrier staff at stations to avoid the use of remote monitoring. A good example of remote monitoring not working is at Polegate where I had to wait for three minutes to be allowed onto the westbound platform with my bike.

 

[BestWestern]

I have another -

The particularly irritating announcement sometimes heard at SWT stations which goes along the lines of "The next train at platform X, for the XX.XX service to..."

I presume it is a glitch they can't be bothered to fix, but it is very clearly a mish-mash of two separate auto announcements, and sounds awful.

And worse still, also at SWT (maybe elsewhere too, I don't know?), is "The xx service is delayed due to - BIG GAP - We are sorry for the delay to your journey etc..."

If we must have Digital Doris and Electronic Ed, at least fill in the blanks with an explanation!

 

[CC 72100]

I have another -

The particularly irritating announcement sometimes heard at SWT stations which goes along the lines of "The next train at platform X, for the XX.XX service to..."

Not just SWT stations... have heard it at Exeter St Davids before now and thought that it was a combination of two separate announcements. It works in the sense that everyone knows what it means, but grammar wise... not so.

 

[brianthegiant]

To be fair, conservation officers have done a great deal for the protection of our buildings. Without such quality control we could potentially end up with all manner of poor alterations.

From the point of view of protecting heritage in the national interest the system probably works quite well. From the perspective of homeowners and and of energy efficiency I think there are real problems. I think the system is unfair for owners of property who's properties become listed while in their possession, so that maintenance costs become substantially higher, since the materials which can be used are restricted & often costly. In many cases this can come completely out of the blue. A minority of owners are thus hit heavily in the pocket to maintain heritage buildings in the national interest.

My point about railway stations is that I would be against shifting the priority more towards preservation and away from providing a comfortable, affordable and reliable railway network. We would probably achieve a better result for less money giving out some grants to heritage railways.

 

[The Barlow Boy]

A year ago using East Croydon as an interchange was easy and pleasurable. Then a desk jockey at Network Rail thought that it was time to cause some grief to us punters.
Now, for those not familiar the station has three islands forming six platforms. Generally 1,2 and 4 are up platforms and 3,5 and 6 are used as down platforms. 2 - 5 are actually reversible with 1 and 6 being able to be used as terminating and starting back platforms. These three islands were linked by a slope accessed underpass which made life for people wheeling bicycles, prams/buggies, wheelchairs, luggage etc quite easy. It was - and still is - possible to use the slope accessed overbridge which is at the platforms entrance adjacent to the ticket barriers but that's awkward because of the volume of people entering and leaving the station - it's a very busy station.
So what did "they" the magnificent "they" do?
Well the underpass has been blocked/filled in and replaced by a footbridge which forms part of a new side entrance. It has of course been built at electrification height for when the Brighton line is converted to overheads. This means that it's high and the steps are particularly steep - it's not just me, everyone using the station that I've spoken to has said the same. It's also not that wide as the platforms are narrow(ish) where it's been built. Lifts have been provided but guess what? They've not been commissioned yet!
So now if you're coming off a fast train on P1/2 and wanting to cross to P4/5 for a slow one or vice versa and you've got a buggy and a small child in tow your life has just got a whole more difficult. Use the slope at the station entrance? You'll be like a Salmon swimming upstream.