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Manchester Victoria

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Bletchleyite

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Manc Vic really is an oppressively horrible station now, isn't it?

Poor toilets (though at least now free), the new Arena bridge blocking out a load of the light, poor shopping facilities, and the station dominated by a giant gateline made up of a slow, poor design of barrier manned by agency staff who don't care. Add to that the platforms themselves which are like New St but with more DMUs.

How did it go so badly wrong, I wonder? Were passengers not considered when planning the additions like the gateline?
 
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Chester1

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Manc Vic really is an oppressively horrible station now, isn't it?

Poor toilets (though at least now free), the new Arena bridge blocking out a load of the light, poor shopping facilities, and the station dominated by a giant gateline made up of a slow, poor design of barrier manned by agency staff who don't care. Add to that the platforms themselves which are like New St but with more DMUs.

How did it go so badly wrong, I wonder? Were passengers not considered when planning the additions like the gateline?

It was much worse 7 or 8 years ago. The Metrolink stop and platforms 1 and 2 area is vastly improved and makes the most of its historic features. The through platform area is bad but it wasn't touched by the redevelopment. Some pod mini waiting rooms would be helpful to those waiting on a cold day. Part of the roofs of platforms 3 and 4 could be replaced with a see through material to reduce the underground feel. The main block to significant new facilities is the Northern office building along platform 3. There is no obvious place to relocate the staff to and its in a poor state of repair.
 

yorksrob

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I still think the historical parts make it quite a good station in many ways. Also, there are more food choices now.

Another plus is that it's quite easy to get around from entrance to concourse to platform. Being used to plats 13/14 at Pic and 17 at Leeds, that's a bonus.
 

Bletchleyite

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I still think the historical parts make it quite a good station in many ways. Also, there are more food choices now.

Another plus is that it's quite easy to get around from entrance to concourse to platform. Being used to plats 13/14 at Pic and 17 at Leeds, that's a bonus.

True, there is that. I just find that the way the Metrolink is screened off and the large ticket barrier and Arena bridge give it all the ambiance of Luton Airport's security area.
 

yorksrob

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True, there is that. I just find that the way the Metrolink is screened off and the large ticket barrier and Arena bridge give it all the ambiance of Luton Airport's security area.

I think I would have preferred it in its pre 1990's rebuild form !
 

ic31420

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Can't say I can remember it in the unrebuilt state. The Re roofing of the the metrolink side has improved the station but I can help but think they should have tried to enclose it more as it's a bit if a wind tunnel now.

The heavy rail platforms are grim, dark dingy which are difficult if not impossible to improve. The waiting areas are inadequate and not enclosed, but it's difficult to imagine how it could be improved without a blank sheet.
 

Bevan Price

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Can't say I can remember it in the unrebuilt state. The Re roofing of the the metrolink side has improved the station but I can help but think they should have tried to enclose it more as it's a bit if a wind tunnel now.

The heavy rail platforms are grim, dark dingy which are difficult if not impossible to improve. The waiting areas are inadequate and not enclosed, but it's difficult to imagine how it could be improved without a blank sheet.

Assuming we are lumbered with the arena for the foreseeable future, it would improve Platforms 3 to 6 if they added lots of high-intensity lighting; the existing lighting is much too weak and inadequate.
 

td97

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with more DMUs
It's a crying shame that all the expensive electrification infrastructure currently serves 1tp2h (Buckshaw Parkway stopper) + a few peak Chat Moss stoppers + an early morning SuO TPE Scottish service. That's it.
The station is an awful place to have a connection, with no waiting room(s) and no shortage of questionable characters around.
 

Wtloild

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Always feels like there's too much dead space.
poor design of barrier manned by agency staff who don't care
The barriers do seem much less effective, requiring more manual intervention than those elsewhere (e.g. TfL)..
 

BucksBones

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Can't say I can remember it in the unrebuilt state. The Re roofing of the the metrolink side has improved the station but I can help but think they should have tried to enclose it more as it's a bit if a wind tunnel now.

The heavy rail platforms are grim, dark dingy which are difficult if not impossible to improve. The waiting areas are inadequate and not enclosed, but it's difficult to imagine how it could be improved without a blank sheet.


It was a wonderful, atmospheric “proper” station with plenty of capacity. I know much of that capacity was unused by the early ‘90s so it probably did need streamlining; however that arena not only killed any chance of regaining any of the lost capacity in the future but also made the through platforms unbearably dingy and smoky. A very short sighted decision (especially when you consider that Manchester and Salford weren’t exactly over-developed at the time; I’m sure there would have been better sites for an arena than on top of a station).
 

BucksBones

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The Re roofing of the the metrolink side has improved the station but I can help but think they should have tried to enclose it more as it's a bit if a wind tunnel now.

I have to be honest; I was hoping for better with that new roof. Not only is it a wind tunnel but it looks cheap and nasty and leaks like a sieve.
 

yorksrob

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It's a crying shame that all the expensive electrification infrastructure currently serves 1tp2h (Buckshaw Parkway stopper) + a few peak Chat Moss stoppers + an early morning SuO TPE Scottish service. That's it.
The station is an awful place to have a connection, with no waiting room(s) and no shortage of questionable characters around.

I don't think its that bad to get a connection. There are places to get a cup of tea, or a beer, or a sausage roll etc. I think the station has a more relaxed atmosphere than Piccadilly, due in large part due to there being lesss volume of passengers.

I have to be honest; I was hoping for better with that new roof. Not only is it a wind tunnel but it looks cheap and nasty and leaks like a sieve.

At the time, I stated on here that I would have preferred them to fully restore the existing train shed. I still feel that, however I still like the station.
 

The_Train

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I've only visited twice, once was many years ago before the changes took place but I can't remember much about it as it was simply for a connection. My more recent visit wasn't all that enthralling to be honest although I must admit I did like the new area around the Metrolink and platforms 1/2 and actually thought the canopy style roof looked nice and seemed to fit in with the older buildings (not that I'm any sort of architectural expert). However, the through platforms are very dingy and the lighting is poor - this being worsened by the fencing between the through platforms and the area under the new roof (I assume this isn't a permanent feature as it appears to be protecting a works area?)
 

LNW-GW Joint

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The lack of escalators at Victoria after modernisation is remarkable.
Yes there are lifts but they can't take the crowds.
The retail stuff is paltry, although Greggs is handy.
The homely old refreshment room has been turned into an overpriced Beer House.
The station is at least dry and spacious (not the gloomy P4-6).
The empty space next to P1, which had some quiet seating, now has a seemingly permanent construction barrier making it pretty much unusable.
With more passengers using the station after the TPE reroutings, it should be better than it is.
Oxford Road is also in a poor state for its footfall (no escalators either, and a tiny lift), and the rebuild in prospect there has seemingly vanished off the agenda.
 

Hadders

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It's far from perfect but it's a far better than it was 10-15 years ago.
 

Bletchleyite

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Assuming we are lumbered with the arena for the foreseeable future, it would improve Platforms 3 to 6 if they added lots of high-intensity lighting; the existing lighting is much too weak and inadequate.

I think a combination of that and stylish lighting (uplighters against a cleaned ceiling and spots) would enhance the main platforms as much as is feasible. But the main bit that disappoints is the concourse - the prominence of the Arena bridge and the ticket gates make it all about enforcement, not about being a pleasant place to be.
 

KevinTurvey

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While the Metrolink and circulation areas pleasant enough, platform 4 5 and 6 and the footbridge really are the pits. A deep scrub, some new column cladding and some new LED lighting would help massively.

Here are a few pics from 1993 showing much of the station now gone with Arena construction starting. Some poor decisions were clearly made at the time.
 

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superkev

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A station of 2 characters. The newly done concourse is very good but the claustrophobic through platforms are awfull and reek with diesel fumes. Most unhealthy.
K
 

RWill35396

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I think the general consensus is that Victoria needs to be looked at again, the decision to put the Arena where it is was massively short-sighted and enclosing platforms 3, 4, 5 and 6 they way they have, on what is a mainly diesel line at the current time is a major health hazard with all the fumes that accumulate in there with no effective way to disperse due to the low headway.
 

Chester1

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Platforms 3 and 4 have canopies which block out light, its not just the arena creating the underground feel. If the canopies where replaced with transparent material then it would add a lot of natural light. Its pretty astounding that this, more lights and pod waiting rooms where not done when the other half of the station was redeveloped. The amount of money such a project would cost compared to the main development is tiny.
 

Bletchleyite

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A station of 2 characters. The newly done concourse is very good but the claustrophobic through platforms are awfull and reek with diesel fumes. Most unhealthy.
K

I think the concourse is terrible. It should be a pleasant place to wait and it isn't. The station is a bit like Bristol TM in having no nice waiting place.
 
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I think the concourse looks great - and the retail facilities have vastly improved on what was there before. I agree though that the through platforms need better lighting, Proper heated waiting rooms and the overbridge area smells really bad of diesel fumes. On e-mailing northern about the bad air quality on the footbridge, I received a reply saying - Most of our services will soon be electric traction. What about now northern? Freeze waiting for a train or choke whilst crossing the platforms.
 

Ken H

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I remember man Vic in the 1980's. It was the main trans-pennine station then. (staylybridge -vic -chat moss - liverpool)

it was a dreary place. Overall roof had been cut back, all run down and tired. The half demolished Exchange station didnt help the general feeling of decay.
 

Bevan Price

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I remember man Vic in the 1980's. It was the main trans-pennine station then. (staylybridge -vic -chat moss - liverpool)

it was a dreary place. Overall roof had been cut back, all run down and tired. The half demolished Exchange station didnt help the general feeling of decay.

We can thank Herr Hitler for the state of part of the old roof at Victoria, and yes, the old station did look very rundown in its final years. But the rebuilt version of the through platforms is even worse, quite apart from the reduction in numbers of through platforms (down from 6 to 4.)
 

Ken H

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We can thank Herr Hitler for the state of part of the old roof at Victoria, and yes, the old station did look very rundown in its final years. But the rebuilt version of the through platforms is even worse, quite apart from the reduction in numbers of through platforms (down from 6 to 4.)
didnt know that. ta
 
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We can thank Herr Hitler for the state of part of the old roof at Victoria, and yes, the old station did look very rundown in its final years. But the rebuilt version of the through platforms is even worse, quite apart from the reduction in numbers of through platforms (down from 6 to 4.)
There was also two through lines.
 

LNW-GW Joint

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On e-mailing northern about the bad air quality on the footbridge, I received a reply saying - Most of our services will soon be electric traction. What about now northern? Freeze waiting for a train or choke whilst crossing the platforms.

It's also nonsense.
There will only be a few electric trains at Victoria for many years.
The majority will remain diesel, with a few services converting to bi-modes and switching in the station.
 

Bletchleyite

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Went through again yesterday afternoon, and I noted that the footbridge is filthy - just keeping it clean would be a good start.

But I just think the barriers, hoardings and massive overhead signage structures kill it - they are just ugly and makes it feel like an airport security area.
 

ic31420

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The foot bridgenis filthy and always has been. Making it out of perspex was always going to mean indoors filthy.

Is the current ceiling height of the through platforms a function of an existing limit when the arena was built or did they intentionally build it so low.

This lack of height is a key problem in improving the conditions lighting and ambiance etc. IMHO .
 

Bletchleyite

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The foot bridgenis filthy and always has been. Making it out of perspex was always going to mean indoors filthy.

Is the current ceiling height of the through platforms a function of an existing limit when the arena was built or did they intentionally build it so low.

This lack of height is a key problem in improving the conditions lighting and ambiance etc. IMHO .

I still think a programme of frequent cleaning and atmospheric LED lighting would sort it out. Though this is now much more difficult - there should have been some sandblasting/high pressure hose cleaning before the wires went up.
 
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