Kings Cross Platform Rules

[andy33gmail]

The solution to the crush risk that others are identifying with people rushing from a concourse to the platforms is mitigated by ensuring and making it clear that trains will not leave until they have been displayed a reasonable time - at least long enough for an elderly person with baggage to get from the concourse to the end carriage of the train.

Which they frequently do not do.

I have seen 2 minutes between the train platform showing online & being announced on the tannoy and the driver attempting to close the doors onto boarding passengers

Normally it's less extreme, but waiting by the departure boards, chancing the barriers working correctly, and hoping to still make a train is far too risky.

 

[sharpener]

I have seen 2 minutes between the train platform showing online & being announced on the tannoy and the driver attempting to close the doors onto boarding passengers

Normally it's less extreme, but waiting by the departure boards, chancing the barriers working correctly, and hoping to still make a train is far too risky.

One of the complications is the abysmal topography of the station itself. Much as I dislike Paddington for its noisy atmosphere (as mentioned above) including incessant beeping vehicles you can usually find a seat by the information desk with a good view of the screens, and the Arrivals board helps working out where your train will go from. Then there is just a single row of buffers for the long distance train platforms at which you can see the trains coming and going.

KGX in contrast has a big concourse which has no view at all of the trains at P 0 to 8 which makes pax nervous from the very outset of their journey, very poor psychology. And all the while ppl have to thread through the assembled multitude to get to P 9 & 10 (P11 RIP)

UCL have a facility called PEARL (Person-Environment-Activity-Research-Laboratory) for investigating people flows in public places but it doesn't seem as though anything like this was used before the big rebuild.

 

[andy33gmail]

One of the complications is the abysmal topography of the station itself. Much as I dislike Paddington for it

Yep. You have to bet on one end or the other. Or wait on the concourse (when the escalators aren't closed ... you'll have a bad day trying to rush to platform 0 at the moment)

 

[davews]

As a rare KGX/LNER passenger, I also find the topology confusing.

To seemingly having to wait in a large, largely pretty uninteresting, waiting area watching the departure screens hoping you won't miss the platform being shown and then a significant walk through to the barriers in a platform area you cannot see is far from normal at stations. 15 minutes is an absolute minimum for that arrangement, and they rarely meet it.

I once had a reserved seat on a Peterborough train but the only train departing at that time was not shown stopping at Peterborough - yes, said the woman on the help desk, that is the right train and it definitely stops at Peterborough (as confirmed by one of the train staff when I got to the train even though the platform departure board said no!).

 

[edwin_m]

UCL have a facility called PEARL (Person-Environment-Activity-Research-Laboratory) for investigating people flows in public places but it doesn't seem as though anything like this was used before the big rebuild.

Pedestrian flow modelling is routine for station projects - LEGION is one product I've heard of being used but there are others. I suspect the problem here is that the station is not being operated in the way the designers assumed it would be.

 

[Haywain]

UCL have a facility called PEARL (Person-Environment-Activity-Research-Laboratory) for investigating people flows in public places but it doesn't seem as though anything like this was used before the big rebuild.

Was that around 15-20 years ago? The new concourse opened in 2012 and would have been in the planning and construction for several years before that.

 

[dosxuk]

Which they frequently do not do.

I have seen 2 minutes between the train platform showing online & being announced on the tannoy and the driver attempting to close the doors onto boarding passengers

That's the point - they need to start doing this - and across the network, not just the major stations. Platform alterations are particularly bad, and there should be a minimum amount of time between one being announced and the train being allowed to depart. It should be trivial to report on also, since the time a platform was announced and the time the train departed are both in electronic data feeds - lets have another league table for "most passenger unfriendly platform timings".

Was that around 15-20 years ago? The new concourse opened in 2012 and would have been in the planning and construction for several years before that.

Similar tools have been available for decades, and while the simulation accuracy has improved over time, the overall picture of a particular location is unlikely to have changed much. It's widely used for events / sports venues as part of their licensing so the models are tested and verifiable.

 

[Class83]

Nothings ever perfect on anything with trains, maybe unless you in parts of Japan.
Kings Cross has operated a one way system for donkeys years so all should know apart from tourists that you won't get in at the southern Pancras Road end unless mobility issues.

Worst thing that ever happened for managing passengers was platforms being stated before trains are ready on apps. Great for the user I do it myself but it's not ideal. Unless you work with it your never know. Boarding 600 people who are blocking platform exits with exiting 600 more is problematic for one train. X that by 20 or so in a row in disruption it isn't easy. Could this be controlled better. Maybe. But with the current timetable any disruption now screws the rest of the day. Mix in LNER and GTR you have an ever worse situation.

There are queuing screens on the entry gates but that's not ideal and rarely works well.

Open access go with 10-15 min boarding. Never ideal but they state crew breaks for this. Lner aim for 20 on normal days.

Easy to criticise and say staff are this and that but I guarantee you don't want to be there when ×××× hits the fan lol

If platforms were signed minimum 20 minutes before departure there would likely be far fewer people checking the platforms online, however given the regularity when it's 5-10 minutes before departure the platform goes on the board, paying customers are sourcing information where is is available as the railway isn't providing it.

The railway can choose how they want to communicate, but one of the realities of modern communication is that information is much harder to keep secret, so they'd probably be better announcing the platforms and getting people spread out down them, than having a huddle of people looking at their phones by the barriers.

 

[Sakuradori]

This is another reason why I think all customer facing railway employees should work for GBR, with one rule book for major stations, and no TOC interpretation of any procedures.

I think that's a great idea.

This would be at least ten minutes for somewhere like Kings Cross. Such a rule would focus minds on getting the platform announced and the boarding started in good time, which certainly doesn't seem to be the priority at present.

The "rule" in good service is 20 minutes, as it says on the departure boards, and it's actually met the vast majority of the time. As others have said, open access operators do their own thing. Obviously, in disruption, when trains are arriving 20 minutes before they're booked to depart, this isn't always possible. Suggesting it isn't a priority minimises the effort of the cleaners/stockers to get the train ready asap.

 

[Magdalia]

One of the complications is the abysmal topography of the station itself. Much as I dislike Paddington for its noisy atmosphere (as mentioned above) including incessant beeping vehicles you can usually find a seat by the information desk with a good view of the screens, and the Arrivals board helps working out where your train will go from. Then there is just a single row of buffers for the long distance train platforms at which you can see the trains coming and going.

KGX in contrast has a big concourse which has no view at all of the trains at P 0 to 8 which makes pax nervous from the very outset of their journey, very poor psychology. And all the while ppl have to thread through the assembled multitude to get to P 9 & 10 (P11 RIP)

UCL have a facility called PEARL (Person-Environment-Activity-Research-Laboratory) for investigating people flows in public places but it doesn't seem as though anything like this was used before the big rebuild.

I commuted through Kings Cross most of the way through the rebuild, which was completed not long after I finished commuting. There is a lot of misunderstanding and hindsight here.

The design of the current Kings Cross station was produced more than 20 years ago. It was in the days before smart phones, when long distance rail thought it should run like air travel, and way before the existence of PEARL.

One of the objectives of the design was to separate departing passengers and arriving passengers, like in an airport. 20 years ago that's what the railway thought the travelling public wanted. In that framework, it doesn't matter that the departing passengers can't see the trains, in the same way that, in an airport departure lounge, it isn't necessary for the passengers to be able to see the planes.

The way this was supposed to work was for the barriers at the buffer stops to be for arrivals only, with arriving passengers exiting onto the piazza or onto the southern end of the western concourse.

Departing passengers were supposed to enter midway down the station, through the barrier to what was then platforms 9-11, or at the mezzanine level to platforms 0-8. That's why the bridge only has one escalator to each platform, usually running downwards. Departing passengers were supposed to wait on the mezzanine level (I always do this on the few occasions that I use Kings Cross) or at the northern end of the western concourse.

And is the First Class Lounge still next to the mezzanine barrier? It is also why the signage in the Underground walkways directed exiting passengers to their northern concourse, not up onto the piazza end of the station.

The relevant stations for comparison are Eurostar, especially Paris Gare du Nord, which, when I last used it (a long time ago now), also had departing passengers entering at a mezzanine level.

In the subsequent 20 years one of the main things that's changed is the smart phone. That isn't just about people being able to look at online departure boards and maps for trains and platforms at Kings Cross, it is also about online sources documenting short cuts through the Underground passageways, so fewer people follow the signs to the northern end of the western concourse.

I can't remember to what extent, if any, that the new design took account of Thameslink, but it probably didn't foresee the future increase in the number of ECML trains.

But what the new design definitely didn't foresee was the child wizard phenomenon, and that the station would become a tourist destination in its own right. Now crowds queuing to have their photo taken pushing a trolley through a wall, and to get into the shop, take up a lot of the space at the north end of the western concourse, that should have been for departing passengers.

Taking all these together, various long distance operators have abandoned any attempts to operate the station in the way it was designed.

 

[BrianW]

I commuted through Kings Cross most of the way through the rebuild, which was completed not long after I finished commuting. There is a lot of misunderstanding and hindsight here.

The design of the current Kings Cross station was produced more than 20 years ago. It was in the days before mobile phones, when long distance rail thought it should run like air travel, and way before the existence of PEARL.

One of the objectives of the design was to separate departing passengers and arriving passengers, like in an airport. 20 years ago that's what the railway thought the travelling public wanted. In that framework, it doesn't matter that the departing passengers can't see the trains, in the same way that, in an airport departure lounge, it isn't necessary for the passengers to be able to see the planes.

The way this was supposed to work was for the barriers at the buffer stops to be for arrivals only, with arriving passengers exiting onto the piazza or onto the southern end of the western concourse. Departing passengers were supposed to enter midway down the station, through the barrier to what was then platforms 9-11, or at the mezzanine level to platforms 0-8. That's why the bridge only has one escalator to each platform, usually running downwards. Departing passengers were supposed to wait on the mezzanine level (I always do this on the few occasions that I use Kings Cross) or at the northern end of the western concourse. And is the First Class Lounge still next to the mezzanine barrier? It is also why the signage in the Underground walkways directed exiting passengers to their northern concourse, not up onto the piazza end of the station.

The relevant stations for comparison are Eurostar, especially Paris Gare du Nord, which, when I last used it (a long time ago now), also had departing passengers entering at a mezzanine level.

In the subsequent 20 years one of the main things that's changed is the mobile phone. That isn't just about people being able to look at online departure boards and maps for trains and platforms at Kings Cross, it is also about online sources documenting short cuts through the Underground passageways, so fewer people follow the signs to the northern end of the western concourse.

I can't remember to what extent, if any, that the new design took account of Thameslink, but it probably didn't foresee the future increase in the number of ECML trains.

But what the new design definitely didn't foresee was the child wizard phenomenon, and that the station would become a tourist destination in its own right. Now crowds queuing to have their photo taken pushing a trolley through a wall, and to get into the shop, take up a lot of the space at the north end of the western concourse, that should have been for departing passengers.

Taking all these together, various long distance operators have abandoned any attempts to operate the station in the way it was designed.

Thank you Magdalia for this consideration of the context in which the arrangements at Kings Cross were conceived. Perhaps as others have commented the arrival of GBR will bring to bear a more considered and consistent application of science and 'what works best'.

 

[zwk500]

The way this was supposed to work was for the barriers at the buffer stops to be for arrivals only, with arriving passengers exiting onto the piazza or onto the southern end of the western concourse. Departing passengers were supposed to enter midway down the station, through the barrier to what was then platforms 9-11, or at the mezzanine level to platforms 0-8. That's why the bridge only has one escalator to each platform, usually running downwards. Departing passengers were supposed to wait on the mezzanine level (I always do this on the few occasions that I use Kings Cross) or at the northern end of the western concourse. And is the First Class Lounge still next to the mezzanine barrier? It is also why the signage in the Underground walkways directed exiting passengers to their northern concourse, not up onto the piazza end of the station.

I used the station between 2013 (1 year after the station rebuild was complete) and 2016, and don't think I *ever* saw the station operated in such a way to funnel all passengers to the mezzanine.

• the Mezzanine is clearly given over to retail space and isn't big enough for more than a small fraction of the passengers to wait
• the footbridge don't appear to be adequately sized for the full passenger load of multiple trains announced in quick succession (given trains are timetabled to depart 3 minutes apart this would hardly be a disruption-only scenario)
• from the photos of the press launch the signage at the southern departure board naturally points people to the buffer stops ticket barriers and
• a significant number of people arriving from buses or on foot would have been expected to use the southern entrance to the concourse from King's Cross Square.
• the 2 departure boards are also clearly intended to space people along the full length of the concourse, with plenty of seating at the southern end.
• There is also the provision of the buffer-stop end platform totems with departure boards, which were there from very early on. If the intent was for everybody to use the footbridge, wouldn't these be redundant?
• The direction totems at half-way point 'Platforms 0-8' towards the buffer stops (this could be a later change but doesn't look to have been modified or replaced)
• The direction totems about 2/3rds of the way north point 'Platforms 0-8' as both via the escalator (presumably footbridge) and along the concourse (again could be a later change but doesn't look to have been modified or replaced).

The station was certainly intended to be operated as "arrivals out before departures in", but IMO the design suggests to me that it was always intended to split departing passengers between the footbridge and buffer stops end, and never be completely segregated flows.

I wasn't involved in the design or concept, so am very happy to be very wrong. It's just my impressions as a semi-regular user immediately after the concourse was designed.

Taking all these together, various long distance operators have abandoned any attempts to operate the station in the way it was designed.

If it was ever the intent, it was abandoned no later than almost immediately on opening.

 

[Western Sunset]

Maybe folks get jittery when they can't see the trains. Even at most airports, one can see the plane you're about to catch from the gate.
The worst rail experiences seem to be where passengers have to wait away from sight of the trains; Euston and now it seems, KX too.

 

[Haywain]

If it was ever the intent, it was abandoned no later than almost immediately on opening.

I worked there throughout that period and the gates from the concourse were considered as the entry to the platforms from day 1.

 

[zwk500]

I worked there throughout that period and the gates from the concourse were considered as the entry to the platforms from day 1.

Did you or any platform staff ever get asked by the designers about the current and new operating intentions?

 

[Bletchleyite]

I too remember reading that what @Magdalia says was the original intention for how it would operate, probably in Modern Railways but it was a while ago! I'd agree I've never seen it work like that though.

 

[BrianW]

I too remember reading that what @Magdalia says was the original intention for how it would operate, probably in Modern Railways but it was a while ago! I'd agree I've never seen it work like that though.

'Googling' took me to this (undated) site, which speaks of the footbridge as a 'short cut': https://showmethejourney.com/train-...ties/london/rail-stations/london-kings-cross/

 

[Magdalia]

If it was ever the intent, it was abandoned no later than almost immediately on opening.

I have now found my copies of the pocket maps produced by East Coast and FCC when the new station opened.

The East Coast Map says this:

Finding your way. One of the striking changes to Kings Cross is the new layout. The introduction of separate departure and arrivals concourses means that to catch your East coast train from Kings Cross you'll need to approach the platforms through the Western Departures Concourse. When your train arrives into the station, you'll exit through the Arrivals Concourse. This creates a 'one-way' system which means no more bumping into other passengers as they head in different directions. From now on everyone will approach the platform from one direction, and leave in another.

- the Mezzanine is clearly given over to retail space and isn't big enough for more than a small fraction of the passengers to wait,

Departing passengers could also wait on the ground floor and use the escalators up to the mezzanine level, at least until most of it was taken over by the child wizard.

the footbridge don't appear to be adequately sized for the full passenger load of multiple trains announced in quick succession (given trains are timetabled to depart 3 minutes apart this would hardly be a disruption-only scenario).

I have the GNER 2006 timetable, from when the station was in design. Off peak GNER usually had 3tph with departures at xx00, xx10 and xx30. Multiple departing trains in quick succession wasn't a thing in 2006.

the 2 departure boards are also clearly intended to space people along the full length of the concourse, with plenty of seating at the southern end.
- here is also the provision of the buffer-stop end platform totems with departure boards, which were there from very early on. If the intent was for everybody to use the footbridge, wouldn't these be redundant?
- The direction totems at half-way point 'Platforms 0-8' towards the buffer stops (this could be a later change but doesn't look to have been modified or replaced)
- The direction totems about 2/3rds of the way north point 'Platforms 0-8' as both via the escalator (presumably footbridge) and along the concourse (again could be a later change but doesn't look to have been modified or replaced).

These are things that are relatively easy to change during construction.

 

[zwk500]

I have now found my copies of the pocket maps produced by East Coast and FCC when the new station opened.

The East Coast Map says this:

That doesn't refer to using the mezzanine or footbridge at all, just the 'Western Departure Concourse'

Departing passengers could also wait on the ground floor and use the escalators up to the mezzanine level, at least until most of it was taken over by the child wizard.

In which case, the escalator provision for the entirety of a train load to use the footbridge seems somewhat small. Not impossible that the designers underestimated how bunched people would get, of course.

I have the GNER 2006 timetable, from when the station was in design. Off peak GNER usually had 3tph with departures at xx00, xx10 and xx30. Multiple departing trains in quick succession wasn't a thing in 2006.

If the design for a rebuild of the station to that level was completed with no thought for future growth, that would be extremely reckless design assumption. Again, very possible and wouldn't be the first project to do so, but you'd like to think that NR had some idea of what the future growth plans were. Also, the headway has been 3 minutes for (I assume) since the previous resignalling, so the disruption scenario should at least have been anticipated.

These are things that are relatively easy to change during construction.

Easy to change during early(ish) design, not construction. Departure boards and need wiring and specifying for the CIS. Which suggests the principle of everybody using the footbridge was abandoned reasonably early during the design phase if not earlier.

Reading the East Coast Map extract, I could easily accept that the early concept was hoped to be a single mid-platform bridge to feed departures. It would be quickly following on from St Pancras which uses that concept. But I would contend that the level of provision for the southern end entry to the platforms suggests to me that the change to 2 entries was part of a reasonably early design decision (if not earlier), and not a last-minute realisation.

 

[TonyW590]

Officious staff at Kings Cross? And Blackpool North? Nothing changes. It was the same 50 years ago...

 

[Haywain]

That doesn't refer to using the mezzanine or footbridge at all, just the 'Western Departure Concourse'

The "Western Departure Concourse" is the large semi-circular area at ground level. The "arrivals concourse" is the area between the gate line and King's Cross Square.

 

[teaspoon]

Departing passengers were supposed to enter midway down the station, through the barrier to what was then platforms 9-11, or at the mezzanine level to platforms 0-8. That's why the bridge only has one escalator to each platform, usually running downwards. Departing passengers were supposed to wait on the mezzanine level (I always do this on the few occasions that I use Kings Cross) or at the northern end of the western concourse.

This was also how I remembered it being announced - but I've just dug out the press release from its opening in 2012, and:

Passengers departing from King’s Cross now access the platforms from the new western concourse, either at platform level or by using the new footbridge which extends across the full width of the main station shed and provides lifts and escalator access to all platforms.

(emphasis mine)

however, the concept of the western hall being used to separate waiting passengers from those arriving has been there right from the start - as seen in diamond geezer's write-up of the opening.

The new King's Cross station separates departures from arrivals, just like an airport. You arrive in one part, which happens to be the new western concourse, and you depart through another, which is the existing southern concourse. Network Rail's intended aim is to minimise contact between the two streams of passenger traffic as much as possible, and thus to keep throughflow separated. It'll take some getting used to, which is why several grinning youths were standing around yesterday with giant slip-on hands pointing the correct way into the station. They'll be out again today, at all the former entrances that are now exit only, until everybody's got the hang of things and adapted their behaviour appropriately. Stop thinking of King's Cross as a station and start thinking airport and it'll make a lot more sense.

 

[edwin_m]

Suggesting it isn't a priority minimises the effort of the cleaners/stockers to get the train ready asap.

I'm not criticising the staff on the ground, rather the management attitude that (from the evidence of this thread) doesn't seem to attach much importance to having the platform posted 20min before departure. Note how Euston improved in this respect when it became a management priority.

The "Western Departure Concourse" is the large semi-circular area at ground level. The "arrivals concourse" is the area between the gate line and King's Cross Square.

It's still possible to have a good degree of segregation if the barrier line behind the buffer stops is split with the gates nearer the western concourse being used for entry.

Like others I can't imagine the footbridge was intended as the only access to the main platforms - far too narrow with only a few gates. To me it looks like the mezzanine is intended for passengers who arrive in good time, who may now be more numerous than when the station was designed because of the increased use of Advance tickets.

The "airport" layout wasn't necessarily a preferred choice - I don't believe there was any realistic alternative. The old concourse behind the buffer stops was temporary in the 1970s and had to be removed for heritage reasons, and the western concourse is about the only place they could have put the facilities without moving the whole lot underground (where the Tube takes up most of the available space anyway) or decking over the trainshed platforms. It's a spectacular solution architecturally, picking up the curve of the Great Northern Hotel, and I believe it could be made to work if only the departures could be posted in good time. As we've seen at Euston and elsewhere this sort of problem arises from how the station is managed, not from use of a particular layout.

 

[sharpener]

Maybe folks get jittery when they can't see the trains. Even at most airports, one can see the plane you're about to catch from the gate.
The worst rail experiences seem to be where passengers have to wait away from sight of the trains; Euston and now it seems, KX too.

I think this is a big unrecognised factor, and also applies to Bhm New Street which I do not like either.

The difference between PEARL and the simulations is that it is newer and uses real ppl. But I agree the simulations have been used for decades and are well validated. However you have to model what is intended and then run the station as intended too or they are meaningless.

There is a long history of architects designing buildings which are then not used as designed. Either the design doesn't conform to the client's requirement, or the client for the construction is not (as here) the same as the client then occupying who may not even have it explained to them. Applies in spades to computerised Building Management Systems, the new Maths Dept in Cambridge being a case in point.

I have been travelling on my own through KGX since I was a child and I don't think I have EVER been on the upper level. Now I am less mobile I want to stay on the flat where possible as you never quite know whether the lift(s) will be out of order or the escalators going in the other direction etc etc and often I have heavy-ish luggage (60 yrs ago used to send it to school PLA!).

 

[jon0844]

I don't think a comparison can be made with Blackpool North, or Euston during various times of experimentation, as King's Cross works well when there isn't disruption. The idea of people going in not mixing with those going out is actually quite brilliant, and will work when services are on time.

Those who go upstairs to eat or relax/sit can use the bridge to get down to the platform quicker and - again - there is no clash with people coming off trains and up to exit that way.

Those arriving and exiting onto the square can get easy access to the underground, or buses, or the local area, or walk alongside into the concourse and over to St Pancras etc.

It's just when things go wrong that perhaps the screens lack the information to give people more reassurance, especially as you can't see the trains (but, let's be honest, at many terminal stations you can't see all trains and even if you could see most, most people won't know what's what - and that's even before we repaint them all).

The concourse does show arrivals, but doesn't show a connection between the inbound and outbound services. We know that some trains will show as On Time until they're late, switching to Delayed. Now if you can fix these issues so someone at the station can see their train isn't even at the station, they may relax a bit more (that doesn't mean they'll be happy, but they at least know).

Will it be beneficial to go to St Pancras to get a train instead? What if the issues are impacting those trains too? Are passengers sufficiently informed to make that call, or do they walk over to try and only then discover it was fruitless - and now they're panicking about rushing back to King's Cross.

If control knows a driver is delayed or needs a PNB, or a unit is going to be swapped, how could this be conveyed to people in a user-friendly fashion to, again, give context and info to allay fears that someone upstairs isn't going to miss their train?

We have the issue of those panicking about missing their train and having to rush last minute (because they literally don't know what's going on), as well as those with the tools to get ahead - but who can cause issues if that information is wrong, or changes unexpectedly. As I said before, a little knowledge can be dangerous because you think you got a head start, but now on the platform and far from the concourse, they're telling people to change platform. Now you're back of the queue. It's the price you pay to effectively gamble.. and some you win, some you lose.

 

[bramling]

I too remember reading that what @Magdalia says was the original intention for how it would operate, probably in Modern Railways but it was a while ago! I'd agree I've never seen it work like that though.

I wonder if this is one of those urban myths that has crept in and never gone away. I can’t see it was ever designed for the footbridge to be the main departures route, it just isn’t big enough.

I’ve always wondered if it would better with the footbridge being used for arrivals, reducing congestion around the buffer stops end.

 

[Dr Hoo]

The mid-platform bridge makes sense in a world where you want to distribute passengers along the full length of the train (rather than cramming in through the first Standard Class door. It makes far less sense when most trains are heavily reserved in practically all carriages and there are very few un-reserved shorter distance trains using the main sheds.

There are many more 5-car short trains across four operators (often double-docked) rather than ubiquitous ‘long’ HSTs and Mark IV sets in days of old.

 

[IlkleyRunner]

I've been using KGX for about 40 odd years now, and even with the occasional chaos there currently it's much much better than it was before the rebuild. My impression is that relatively few people use the bridge - not even all of the people in the first class lounge which is just beside it. It mostly is those who know where to go - the bulk tend to stand in front of the southern departure screen waiting for the off. Some know they can go through before that (even without access to platform info) since the train shows on the front of platform indicators at the same time as the screens. And of course now almost all of the train have electronic destination boards themselves people just go hunting. None of this really matters in the normal course of events since the departures and arrivals are staggered and there's plenty of space. It's only really when two arrivals turn up late on adjacent platforms and people know they're supposed to be the trains they're leaving on as well that things can get crushed. Again just an impression but they don't seem to care if they've put a barrier up at the front end that some people come across the bridge simply because so few do. They can't really manage the bridge easily as there's usually only one person there, and it serves all of the platforms and not just the ones they are trying to manage.

 

[BrianW]

I've been using KGX for about 40 odd years now, and even with the occasional chaos there currently it's much much better than it was before the rebuild. My impression is that relatively few people use the bridge - not even all of the people in the first class lounge which is just beside it. It mostly is those who know where to go - the bulk tend to stand in front of the southern departure screen waiting for the off. Some know they can go through before that (even without access to platform info) since the train shows on the front of platform indicators at the same time as the screens. And of course now almost all of the train have electronic destination boards themselves people just go hunting. None of this really matters in the normal course of events since the departures and arrivals are staggered and there's plenty of space. It's only really when two arrivals turn up late on adjacent platforms and people know they're supposed to be the trains they're leaving on as well that things can get crushed. Again just an impression but they don't seem to care if they've put a barrier up at the front end that some people come across the bridge simply because so few do. They can't really manage the bridge easily as there's usually only one person there, and it serves all of the platforms and not just the ones they are trying to manage.

Another website from back at the construction stage, 2011: https://londonist.com/2011/08/a-tour-of-the-new-kings-cross-station
It speaks of the likely inadequacy of the footbridge.

IIRC it is quite constricted- one, maybe two gates?- one member of staff, and the lifts and escalators (down?) quite small- maybe it would have been okay for passengers being spread out rather than a 'swarm'- there's really not enough room on the footbridge for people waiting for a lift down. I like it myself- quite quiet!!

 

[edwin_m]

The concourse does show arrivals, but doesn't show a connection between the inbound and outbound services. We know that some trains will show as On Time until they're late, switching to Delayed. Now if you can fix these issues so someone at the station can see their train isn't even at the station, they may relax a bit more (that doesn't mean they'll be happy, but they at least know).

Some stations, including St Pancras EMR platforms, now have a line on the screen that (sometimes) says "The train to form this service is currently between St Albans and Radlett" or whatever.

An "Expected boarding at <time>" might be useful too.

I’ve always wondered if it would better with the footbridge being used for arrivals, reducing congestion around the buffer stops end.

No way would that work with a trainload of people all trying to exit that way at the same time.