Euston £50m upgrade

[Sorcerer]

Merely moving the passengers from the concourse to the ramps to face the famously friendly and competent Avanti gateline staff isn't achieving anything.

I wouldn't even say the ramps, I'd want to allow passengers to actually be able to wait on the platform even if the train isn't ready yet. I've never seen Liverpool Lime Street close off the platform, they either just let people on, or keep the doors locked until it's ready. But in Euston it genuinely feels like a criminal offence to even hang around on the ramp. It feels more like an international airport than a public transport hub.

 

[Bletchleyite]

I wouldn't even say the ramps, I'd want to allow passengers to actually be able to wait on the platform even if the train isn't ready yet. I've never seen Liverpool Lime Street close off the platform, they either just let people on, or keep the doors locked until it's ready. But in Euston it genuinely feels like a criminal offence to even hang around on the ramp. It feels more like an international airport than a public transport hub.

It was designed to work like that when airports were considered the height of modernity, to be fair, and during that period when hiding the planes was the thing to do (that too no longer is).

 

[SCDR_WMR]

I wouldn't even say the ramps, I'd want to allow passengers to actually be able to wait on the platform even if the train isn't ready yet. I've never seen Liverpool Lime Street close off the platform, they either just let people on, or keep the doors locked until it's ready. But in Euston it genuinely feels like a criminal offence to even hang around on the ramp. It feels more like an international airport than a public transport hub.

Platforms do get closed off at Lime St, presumably you do mean 6-10 as they aren't barriered, but only for large events. Usually managed by TOC revenue and BTP teams.

It's probably down to passenger numbers - for example;
LNWR Euston - Crewe regularly has 400-500 passengers boarding
LNWR Liverpool - New St regularly has 150-180 boarding.

Now granted, the trains are longer for Euston services than Liverpool, and would hopefully spread out down the platforms, the reality is both stations have big issues with crowding at the concourse end of platforms, making it difficult for those departing the train to get off and subsequently leave the platform.

This is something I see every weekend at Lime St for instance, and something that I'm glad I don't have to see at Euston (other than when platforms are announced ahead of the incoming train service which has happened before and is a very dangerous situation)

 

[Sorcerer]

It was designed to work like that when airports were considered the height of modernity, to be fair, and during that period when hiding the planes was the thing to do (that too no longer is).

This is true, and it was very much reflective of a society where politicians didn't understand or care to understand public transit that wasn't cars or aviation. But given that Euston won't be getting rebuilt for today's needs I think the very least that could be done is allow passengers to disperse more around the station including waiting on the platform. Boarding ten minutes before departure would feel a lot less chaotic than it would from the concourse.

Platforms do get closed off at Lime St, presumably you do mean 6-10 as they aren't barriered, but only for large events. Usually managed by TOC revenue and BTP teams.

It's probably down to passenger numbers - for example;
LNWR Euston - Crewe regularly has 400-500 passengers boarding
LNWR Liverpool - New St regularly has 150-180 boarding.

Now granted, the trains are longer for Euston services than Liverpool, and would hopefully spread out down the platforms, the reality is both stations have big issues with crowding at the concourse end of platforms, making it difficult for those departing the train to get off and subsequently leave the platform.

This is something I see every weekend at Lime St for instance, and something that I'm glad I don't have to see at Euston (other than when platforms are announced ahead of the incoming train service which has happened before and is a very dangerous situation)

Yes, I did mean platforms 6-10. Quite often when I've gone there, be it either passing through, meeting someone or getting a train, I've never seen anyone be prevented from walking down the platforms beyond a ticket inspection. Even platforms 1-5 with the ticket barriers people are free to wait on the platforms even when the train isn't ready to go yet (and sometimes when the train hasn't even arrived). Lime Street is a small station as far as terminus stations go, but it's very much operated like a railway station where you can walk in and get your train no hassle, unlike Euston which was rebuilt to work like an airport and still does to this day.

 

[ScottGallagher]

The thing with not advertising the train because the cleaners need time to pass through and clean the train uninterrupted... what does that cleaning actually involve? Is it much more than a sweep through for Starbucks coffee cups and sandwich packets? Because... don't a lot of other operators manage to do that while the train is moving, with passengers on board? Is there anything to stop Avanti from doing the same, other than 'this is the way it's always been done'?

Avanti do have roving on board cleaners/litter pickers during the journey for that reason and so did Virgin before that and i think even BR before that !!

 

[Taunton]

With the litany of excuses about why passengers have to be kept on the concourse until the last second, one wonders how through stations that are major termini, such as Leeds or Newcastle, seem to manage without issue.

It seems the principal Euston issue is about management of resources, something which a different management could be expected to address. The quoted new expenditure may seem attractive, but Euston really needs new procedures, rather than having all the money scooped up by suppliers of assets, whose salesmen must now be licking their lips at what they can flog there, regardless of whether it makes any improvement to things or not. One is reminded of airports which take 30 minutes to get through security while five of the eight security checkpoints are unstaffed, coming up with a solution - to buy more checkpoints.

Back at Euston, new seats by the truckload are possibly attractive, we will have to trust they are not sited somewhere where you can't see the departure screens. Management of the train cleaning staff so they are ready as the train arrives rather than reporting job completion 5 minutes before it leaves again, and similar issues, do not really seem to need £50m to handle.

 

[mmh]

If Euston changed to encouraging waiting on the platform all that would happen on the forum is all the complaints about having to wait on the concourse would be replaced with Manchester Victoria / Birmingham style complaints about the platforms.

It's not that bad a station, but any "improvement" plan isn't going to do much when it's constrained by having a lot of semi-umderground platforms in a straight line with relatively restricted access in a corridor in front of them. And that's not getting changed without rebuilding that'd cost a lot more.