• Our booking engine at tickets.railforums.co.uk (powered by TrainSplit) helps support the running of the forum with every ticket purchase! Find out more and ask any questions/give us feedback in this thread!

East Croydon chaotic and dangerous

Status
Not open for further replies.

BingBong50

Member
Joined
17 Jan 2014
Messages
130
Location
Coulsdon
I know this has been discussed before in other old threads but the situation at East Croydon seems to be getting worse and worse. The work on the platform roofs still seem a long way from completion, the PA system is often inaudible depending on where you are on the station and the platform passenger information displays often just state "East Croydon" or complete garbage. The amount of obstacles you also have to navigate on the platforms with scaffolding and uneven surfaces is also extremely dangerous. The lifts also don't seem to work properly with the "Doors Opening", "Doors Closing" announcements being completely out of sync.

Does anyone know if there has been some major delay with this work and why it is taking so long?
 
Sponsor Post - registered members do not see these adverts; click here to register, or click here to log in
R

RailUK Forums

Deepgreen

Established Member
Joined
12 Jun 2013
Messages
6,340
Location
Betchworth, Surrey
Completely agree - works seem to have stalled completely and it's a mess. I still find it surprising that the platform edge tactile finish wasn't installed as part of the platform paving rather than adding it later as a potential trip hazard. The information screens are a joke - hard to see for all the obstructions and inaccurate. It's amazing that there hasn't been an accident (at least not that I have heard about).
 
Joined
29 Aug 2010
Messages
696
Once upon a time East Croydon was a fine station. Easy to use from an interchange point of view with it's nice and easy sloped underpasses between the three islands. But someone looked at the underpass and cried, "this is not fit, people are moving too easily with their prams, wheeled luggage and bicycles. Let us build a whopping high incredibly steep bridge with a surface which becomes like an ice rink in wet weather so that it becomes necessary to post staff at the top of each flight of stairs to warn people. We will call it job creation. We will close and fill in that nice easy to use underpass which was dry in wet weather and to compensate we will install lifts which will often fail to work and are too small for real purpose and cause much wailing and gnashing of teeth when trying to pass between platforms when stairs are too much for the reasons previously stated".
And so it came to pass and lo, the rail gods smiled upon their creation stating that it was not only good but better than the travelling populace deserved.
 

NSE

Established Member
Joined
3 Mar 2010
Messages
1,727
I'm a frequent user of East Croydon station so I know all the platforms, calling patterns, what my trains destination is if I'm getting off at an intermediate stop etc etc, but I do feel sorry for those not in the know. With all the building work, and none of the screens work, it's not easy getting round it.
 

asylumxl

Established Member
Joined
12 Feb 2009
Messages
4,260
Location
Hiding in your shadow
I'm a frequent user of East Croydon station so I know all the platforms, calling patterns, what my trains destination is if I'm getting off at an intermediate stop etc etc, but I do feel sorry for those not in the know. With all the building work, and none of the screens work, it's not easy getting round it.

Aaannnddd then there's disruption (as their usually is) and all that knowledge goes out the window :P.
 

RichJF

Member
Joined
2 Nov 2012
Messages
1,099
Location
Sussex
but I do feel sorry for those not in the know. With all the building work, and none of the screens work, it's not easy getting round it.

Or one of the staff last week, when asked by a worried passenger when the first train to Gatwick was, said "look at the screens". The screens were broken & read Welcome to East Croydon. So the passenger asked again & the staff member turned round & ignored him proceeding to chat to their colleague.

I've also noticed it's taking an absolute AGE for trains to be dispatched and depart from the station compared with previous years.

I think the new bridge monstrosity is supposed to connect with the new Westfield centre when it's eventually built!
 

BingBong50

Member
Joined
17 Jan 2014
Messages
130
Location
Coulsdon
Once upon a time East Croydon was a fine station. Easy to use from an interchange point of view with it's nice and easy sloped underpasses between the three islands. But someone looked at the underpass and cried, "this is not fit, people are moving too easily with their prams, wheeled luggage and bicycles. Let us build a whopping high incredibly steep bridge with a surface which becomes like an ice rink in wet weather so that it becomes necessary to post staff at the top of each flight of stairs to warn people. We will call it job creation. We will close and fill in that nice easy to use underpass which was dry in wet weather and to compensate we will install lifts which will often fail to work and are too small for real purpose and cause much wailing and gnashing of teeth when trying to pass between platforms when stairs are too much for the reasons previously stated".
And so it came to pass and lo, the rail gods smiled upon their creation stating that it was not only good but better than the travelling populace deserved.

Brilliantly worded. A lot of what has happened at East Croydon makes no sense at all. The old subway was perfectly serviceable and should have been kept even if additional to the new bridge. In fact it is still there but without the ramps down from the platforms. The lift on platforms 5 and 6 (if it is working) goes down there for staff with a pin code.
 

Busaholic

Veteran Member
Joined
7 Jun 2014
Messages
14,029
Brilliantly worded. A lot of what has happened at East Croydon makes no sense at all. The old subway was perfectly serviceable and should have been kept even if additional to the new bridge. In fact it is still there but without the ramps down from the platforms. The lift on platforms 5 and 6 (if it is working) goes down there for staff with a pin code.

On my last visit to London I took one look inside East Croydon and went back outside to take a tram round to West Croydon - easy for me with no time constraints and not particularly caring which central London station I ended up at.
 
Joined
29 Aug 2010
Messages
696
Or one of the staff last week, when asked by a worried passenger when the first train to Gatwick was, said "look at the screens". The screens were broken & read Welcome to East Croydon. So the passenger asked again & the staff member turned round & ignored him proceeding to chat to their colleague.

I've also noticed it's taking an absolute AGE for trains to be dispatched and depart from the station compared with previous years.

I think the new bridge monstrosity is supposed to connect with the new Westfield centre when it's eventually built!

If you think that they're slow dispatching there try any FGW main-line station. There is absolutely no sense of urgency now matter how late the train may be.
 

03_179

Established Member
Joined
13 Aug 2008
Messages
3,360
Location
Croydon
I think the new bridge monstrosity is supposed to connect with the new Westfield centre when it's eventually built!

The Westfield centre will be on the site of the current Whitgift Centre/Centrale.

No where near East Croydon. The building work outside the station is for yet more office space (which inevitably go unused for years) and a bit of housing.
 

edwin_m

Veteran Member
Joined
21 Apr 2013
Messages
24,793
Location
Nottingham
The Westfield centre will be on the site of the current Whitgift Centre/Centrale.

No where near East Croydon. The building work outside the station is for yet more office space (which inevitably go unused for years) and a bit of housing.

The footbridge does link to Lansdowne Road and with the likely removal of the horrible subways under Wellesley Road this will provide an alternative walking route to the Westfield. It's slightly shorter and less crowded than walking alongside the tramway on George Street and over the underpass.
 

03_179

Established Member
Joined
13 Aug 2008
Messages
3,360
Location
Croydon
Lansdown Road will be getting more busy. They intend to to expand the trams along there!

The subways probably will stay as there isn't much scope for change along there.
 

edwin_m

Veteran Member
Joined
21 Apr 2013
Messages
24,793
Location
Nottingham
The subways probably will stay as there isn't much scope for change along there.

They could quite easily be replaced by surface crossings, which would also help to calm the traffic. Maid Marian Way in Nottingham was once voted the ugliest street in Europe, though I never thought it was anywhere near as bad as Wellesley Road, but is now quite pleasant.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/nottinghamshire/4154690.stm

The subway entrance at Lansdowne Road looks to be in the way of the tram track that will turn left onto Wellesley Road to join the existing one, so that at least is likely to go.
 

starglazer777

Member
Joined
27 Mar 2015
Messages
6
The bridge is a ice rink when wet, might as well not bothered providing cover for it the way the rain still pours in!
 

physics34

Established Member
Joined
1 Dec 2013
Messages
3,681
bad designing all round for the footbridge. The displays on the bridge are too high, the floor is too slippery as mentioned,the white edging/side on the stairs is already very dirty as are the glass sides of the footbridge and there is a bad choice of two very poor outlets which i have never seen anyone go to!
 
Joined
29 Aug 2010
Messages
696
There are two mediums that architects working on rail projects should never be let near. Steel and glass.
 

GatwickDepress

Established Member
Joined
14 Jan 2013
Messages
2,284
Location
Leeds
The bridge is a ice rink when wet, might as well not bothered providing cover for it the way the rain still pours in!
Agreed. I usually wear very gripping shoes, and I've still managed to slip over there twice last year! Considering I change there not very frequently, it's an astounding achievement.
 

BingBong50

Member
Joined
17 Jan 2014
Messages
130
Location
Coulsdon
As you stand on platform 6 there are about 5 large advertising boards on the other side of the track that have not been used for many years. The area below them has accumulated a great deal of rubbish over the years including some small domestic items some of which have been there for the same amount of time. It looks really unsightly. I wonder when the work on the platform roofs is complete if this area will also be given a clean up and the disused advertising boards removed. They are certainly not a very good advert for the station.
 

JohnElliott

Member
Joined
15 Sep 2014
Messages
230
As you stand on platform 6 there are about 5 large advertising boards on the other side of the track that have not been used for many years. The area below them has accumulated a great deal of rubbish over the years including some small domestic items some of which have been there for the same amount of time. It looks really unsightly. I wonder when the work on the platform roofs is complete if this area will also be given a clean up and the disused advertising boards removed. They are certainly not a very good advert for the station.

I remember thinking of those advertising boards as a barometer of the economy -- they had posters on during the Thatcher / Lawson boom, then went blank during the recession that followed. Presumably the economy's never been strong enough since then to make them pay.
 

BingBong50

Member
Joined
17 Jan 2014
Messages
130
Location
Coulsdon
I remember thinking of those advertising boards as a barometer of the economy -- they had posters on during the Thatcher / Lawson boom, then went blank during the recession that followed. Presumably the economy's never been strong enough since then to make them pay.

I would imagine they were quite expensive to update with new advertising as I guess it would require a track possession and power off to change the posters.
 

BingBong50

Member
Joined
17 Jan 2014
Messages
130
Location
Coulsdon
Was on the new bridge on Friday evening during a very heavy rain storm. The noise on the glass roof completely obliterated the PA system. I guess a similar problem will exist when eventually the part glass roofs of the platform canopies are revealed from underneath the current scaffolding.

Unless you use the absolutely hopeless lifts you cannot get to the main platform areas without getting wet in such circumstances.
 

Andrewlong

Member
Joined
2 Jan 2013
Messages
373
Location
Earley
I used to work at a Home Office building near Sydenham Road and the opening of the new bridge was great for me as I no longer had to exit the station at the front and take the long way around. I was never happy with the slipper surfaces on the bridge though.
 

yorksrob

Veteran Member
Joined
6 Aug 2009
Messages
38,818
Location
Yorks
It might not look pretty, but there's a lot to be said for old fashioned tar-mac.
 

BingBong50

Member
Joined
17 Jan 2014
Messages
130
Location
Coulsdon
From a reply on a recent Southern Passenger Forum apparently the platform canopy works are due for completion by October 2015. After that they state there is a new project starting to raise the level of platforms 1 and 2 to reduce the current gap to/from the trains. While important I wonder how much disruption that will cause during works and for how long!
 

swt_passenger

Veteran Member
Joined
7 Apr 2010
Messages
31,262
After that they state there is a new project starting to raise the level of platforms 1 and 2 to reduce the current gap to/from the trains. While important I wonder how much disruption that will cause during works and for how long!

Unless there is significant rebuilding of the underlying platform structure required, it's the sort of work that is routinely progressed a few metres at a time during overnight possessions, and with reduced platform use on Sundays.
 

Aictos

Established Member
Joined
28 Apr 2009
Messages
10,403
Unless there is significant rebuilding of the underlying platform structure required, it's the sort of work that is routinely progressed a few metres at a time during overnight possessions, and with reduced platform use on Sundays.

It's that what they're doing at Haywards Heath at the moment then?
 

Yabbadabba

Member
Joined
23 May 2014
Messages
385
It's that what they're doing at Haywards Heath at the moment then?

I believe the work at Haywards Heath involves infilling the subway and constructing a new footbridge in its place to connect with the new multi-storey car park.
 

Aictos

Established Member
Joined
28 Apr 2009
Messages
10,403
I believe the work at Haywards Heath involves infilling the subway and constructing a new footbridge in its place to connect with the new multi-storey car park.

The only reason I ask is a few months ago, they seem to be doing something like resurfacing the platform edges with new tactile paving with half the platform surfaces dug up.

What's wrong with the subway anyway?
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Top