What is the most dismal un-passenger friendly large railway station in UK

[Tio Terry]

I don't travel the whole network as much as I used to when I was BRB so am probably out of touch with a lot of particularly northern stations but Wimbledon has always seemed a bad place to me. Very busy, not sure what the passenger throughput is these days but with LU and Croydon Tram along with the various rail routes it's always got something going on. The single footbridge to the country end is nowhere near adequate for the number of people using the place and that overlain office development has proven to be the ideal place for those poor unfortunates wanting to end it all - and because of the poor light I'm sure many a driver has had quite a shock there.

It's said that Crossrail Two will rebuild the station, I do hope so. There was, at one stage, a plan to provide apartments above the station for MP's rather than pay them to have London based homes! That didn't get anywhere, sadly. Last one I got involved with was a combined shopping and housing development but I guess the gradual death of the High St will mean that's a no starter.

 

[Mordac]

What a contrast if travelling from London to Birmingham:

Euston to New St: From one dark hell-hole to another in a vomit-inducing EMU.
Marylebone to Moor St: Two characterful stations, and a big thumping 68 on the front of the train.

I'd also like to give a mention to Coventry and Wolverhampton. Totally devoid of character and both a depressing place to fester for a train.

There may be some things wrong with New Street, but lack of lighting is not one of them!

 

[Ken H]

It has to be said, there are a few out there in the West Midlands that are very aesthetically pleasing, especially those that have been redone in old GWR style (though some have been let to dilapidate a little). For example the Shakespeare line stations, Moor Street, Leamington Spa, Worcester and so on.

Way off topic, but I love foregate st stn. Especially the platform end caff.

 

[yorksrob]

No-one mentioned Stockport yet! Never alighted there but every time I've passed through I've though it looks pretty grim and windswept.

Decent platfgorm buildings and good cover. Pretty good IMO.

 

[AndyHudds]

Wolverhampton isn't great. Dismal exterior and minimal concourse.

It's really cramped when it's busy, especially after football games, there is no flow. The overbridge is terrible when there are big crowds getting off.

 

[GreatAuk]

No-one mentioned Stockport yet! Never alighted there but every time I've passed through I've though it looks pretty grim and windswept.

I agree with the other two posters actually - only used it a few times but Stockport was actually quite nice to use as a passenger as far as I remember (although I've never been in the peak so not sure how busy it gets). There's a fairly modern building, and pleasant-enough outdoor space near the main entrance. My only complaint would be that the big multistory station car park charged £16 a day for parking - while it was quite nice as multistorey car parks go, that just felt extortionate to me.

 

[Andyh82]

Has a major UK station escaped this thread? I haven't seen Newcastle Central mentioned, so I assume it must be superb!

The location of the ticket office is a tad odd. That’s about it.

 

[Dr Hoo]

It's a bit old fashioned in places, but the ticket area is nice enough and it's well-maintained, being a VT station.

Agree with this. I use Stockport regularly at all times of day and there is plenty of reasonable shelter, including waiting rooms. Handy local facilities nearby as well.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

I'm going to mention Wakefield Westgate. Often overlooked when discussing bad stations because Kirkgate is famously inhospitable. Despite the new buildings the staff on the gateline are woefully inattentive and usually behind the desk looking at their mobile phones as a trainload of passengers descend the stairs. The buildings themselves aren't going to win any architectural awards either, and the derelict old building doesn't help.

The only shelter on the Leeds-bound platform is the waiting room in the old building, fine if your train is an LNER service but if it's a Northern one your choice is freeze on the windswept platform or have to sprint down the platform when the train arrives.

 

[SteveM70]

Coventry
Cold, grey, windswept and pretty much unchanged since the 1960s

Piccadilly
Just for 13/14 and the shouty red line gestapo

 

[Matt_pool]

Liverpool South Parkway - I wouldn't call it dismal but there is so much wasted space in the main concourse. Platforms 1-4 could do with enclosed waiting rooms, other wise you have to wait on the foot bridge which at times acts like a wind tunnel and is freezing in the Winter.

Toilet facilities aren't great either with only 3 unisex toilets - one on the main concourse, one on the footbridge to platforms 1-4 after the barrier, and another one after the barrier towards platforms 5-6.

And for some reason the ticket office has moved 3 times since the station originally opened.

 

[Statto]

Think some are forgetting the meaning of this thread.

Chester, very bleak even in summer, not much in scenery either, same goes for Crewe, hate those stairs at Crewe going from platforms to the overbridge for the entrance/exit, sometimes it feels like i'm going to topple over the side of the staircase, both Crewe & Chester are miles away from the town/city centres as well

 

[MalaiseForever]

Think some are forgetting the meaning of this thread.

Chester, very bleak even in summer, not much in scenery either, same goes for Crewe, hate those stairs at Crewe going from platforms to the overbridge for the entrance/exit, sometimes it feels like i'm going to topple over the side of the staircase, both Crewe & Chester are miles away from the town/city centres as well

Both Crewe and Chester, are, at most, a 20 minute walk from the town centres with good bus links.

 

[WYSH]

I'm going to mention Wakefield Westgate. Often overlooked when discussing bad stations because Kirkgate is famously inhospitable. Despite the new buildings the staff on the gateline are woefully inattentive and usually behind the desk looking at their mobile phones as a trainload of passengers descend the stairs. The buildings themselves aren't going to win any architectural awards either, and the derelict old building doesn't help.

The only shelter on the Leeds-bound platform is the waiting room in the old building, fine if your train is an LNER service but if it's a Northern one your choice is freeze on the windswept platform or have to sprint down the platform when the train arrives.

I don’t think it’s too bad now it’s been refurbished. There are certainly worse about also never had a problem with staff when passing through

 

[Matt_pool]

Both Crewe and Chester, are, at most, a 20 minute walk from the town centres with good bus links.

Chester is more like a 10 minute walk to Eastgate Clock in the centre. Or walk half way down City Road and you can go down onto the canal tow path and walk into the centre that way.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Think some are forgetting the meaning of this thread.

Chester, very bleak even in summer, not much in scenery either, same goes for Crewe, hate those stairs at Crewe going from platforms to the overbridge for the entrance/exit, sometimes it feels like i'm going to topple over the side of the staircase, both Crewe & Chester are miles away from the town/city centres as well

I don't like the "new bit" of Chester, the copper roofing doesn't give a premium look but instead looks like washed-out Arriva turquoise.

 

[js1000]

Since May 2018, Piccadilly platforms 13 and 14 are a complete and utter disgrace.

No assistance for anyone, including the elderly with carrying luggage up the 30 steps who have just arrived from Manchester Airport, or at the very least a member of staff beckoning at the bottom of the stairs them to get the lift behind the stairs and everyone else can safely alight the platforms more swiftly.

All the "red waiting area" does at peak time is push passengers to walk alongside other side of platforms with their backs turned away from oncoming trains. An insane and counter-intuitive arrangement.

Even with the above risk of passengers falling onto the tracks or down the stairs, the idiotic third party gestapo just stand on the platform and hurling abuse at passengers for stepping out of the red waiting area by 1mm.

00:32 to Manchester Airport needlessly moved to platform 14 from platform 13 when the station is dead. I ask the Northern dispatcher "what's all that about?" - "f*** knows, they're don't give a s*** upstairs". The situation has clearly generated poor staff morale which isn't good for passenger safety.

Having talked to a supervisor manager there someone is going to get seriously hurt sooner or later. Yes many stations are cold, uncovered or too big but at least they don't try to seemingly set out to deliberately injure passengers at Piccadilly.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Having talked to a supervisor manager there someone is going to get seriously hurt sooner or later. Yes many stations are cold, uncovered or too big but at least they don't try to seemingly set out to deliberately injure passengers at Piccadilly.

I completely agree. The situation is dangerous and unpleasant, and until P15/16 can be built the only fix I can see is to cut services - probably about 3tph need removing from those platforms, and I still hold the view that it should be last in, first out, i.e. mothball the Ordsall Chord until P15/16 is built - in particular because it's the TPE Newcastle services that are causing most of the issues due to their very heavy passenger loadings. If the direct Picc-Vic link is considered too useful to lose, run something that's EMU-worked with light loadings that way just for the half hourly link. Maybe even consider moving the Scottish services to Vic too as they are the other cause of the severe overcrowding.

 

[Roger100]

Windsor and Eton Central. The train shed was fine but alas the tracks have been reduced to one and it stops outside the shed.

 

[Taunton]

Manchester Piccadilly. Used to be alright but the new red box system with petty jobsworths literally yelling at passengers on P13/14 is a truly awful experience that should not exist in this day and age.

These boxed areas seem to be spreading, London Waterloo is the latest to get them (although yellow - nothing like consistency). Large boxed areas on the concourse with draconian "don't stand here" admonitions - so friendly. Waterloo went through a big programme a few years ago to clear all the retail unit clutter off the concourse into the refurbished buildings, to make more space. It even got a feature article in Modern Railways. Guess what, the concourse units are rapidly creeping back and eating into the floorspace of the concourse again. Revenue generation triumphs over operational yet again.

 

[Whattraintoday]

Really? It’s the only station I’ve ever had to ask for directions in.

I think it’s knocked Reading off the top spot for my own personal worst station rankings, and that’s a bleak, cold, and I’ll sign posted mess.

New Street is the only station where I've had to ask for directions just to leave the station!

 

[Bletchleyite]

These boxed areas seem to be spreading, London Waterloo is the latest to get them (although yellow - nothing like consistency). Large boxed areas on the concourse with draconian "don't stand here" admonitions - so friendly. Waterloo went through a big programme a few years ago to clear all the retail unit clutter off the concourse into the refurbished buildings, to make more space. It even got a feature article in Modern Railways. Guess what, the concourse units are rapidly creeping back and eating into the floorspace of the concourse again. Revenue generation triumphs over operational yet again.

Is that "don't stand here" hatched boxes on the concourse? That is a bit different, and Euston could do with some of those, essentially there needs to be a clear path from the entrance doors on either side to the platforms, and often there isn't. (Turning off the departure screens in the platform "tunnel" solved people clogging that up, but the issue is now on the main concourse itself).

 

[frodshamfella]

I'm surprised nobody mas mentioned London Charing Cross. Used to be a lovely bright station with a really airy feel. Since they built the office block on it, it has felt like walking into a coffin.


Now there's an oxymoron if ever I heard one


For that very reason Perth is one of my favourite stations. I loved stations in East Anglia in the late 70s and early 80s for that feeling of time having stood still.

Totally agree, ruined it when the glass roof went, awful now.

 

[DavidGrain]

New Street is the only station where I've had to ask for directions just to leave the station!

Agreed. And if by chance you are at either of the two barrier lines that face the Bull Ring exit you probably don't want to go that way either.

 

[Kite159]

These boxed areas seem to be spreading, London Waterloo is the latest to get them (although yellow - nothing like consistency). Large boxed areas on the concourse with draconian "don't stand here" admonitions - so friendly. Waterloo went through a big programme a few years ago to clear all the retail unit clutter off the concourse into the refurbished buildings, to make more space. It even got a feature article in Modern Railways. Guess what, the concourse units are rapidly creeping back and eating into the floorspace of the concourse again. Revenue generation triumphs over operational yet again.

The yellow hatched boxes at the top of the escalators from the Jubilee Line area?

It's an attempt to stop folk stopping at the top of the escalators to release the handle on their suitcase/to look up which platform their train is due to leave from and to keep a passenger flow for passengers

 

[Bletchleyite]

The yellow hatched boxes at the top of the escalators from the Jubilee Line area?

It's an attempt to stop folk stopping at the top of the escalators to release the handle on their suitcase/to look up which platform their train is due to leave from and to keep a passenger flow for passengers

People stopping at the end of escalators is really dangerous, FWIW. And it is wheely luggage that is causing it.

 

[yorksrob]

People stopping at the end of escalators is really dangerous, FWIW. And it is wheely luggage that is causing it.

Don't get me started on wheely luggage !

 

[Gareth]

It’s wheely dangerous.

 

[backontrack]

Totally agree, ruined it when the glass roof went, awful now.

When you walk out of the Strand exit it's like walking into a wind tunnel. The platforms remain swamped in dreary sepia as well.

 

[urbophile]

Chester (despite the pleasant external architecture) is a confusing maze. I'm rarely there long enough to hang around but apart from the couple of coffee shops there doesn't seem to be a passenger-friendly waiting area.

Clapham Junction is scary. The crowds combined with the dangerously low and wide step down from the train to most platforms is certainly not passenger friendly. Difficult to know what to do about it because it would be impossible to straighten the platforms or reduce the footfall, but it doesn't make for a relaxing experience. The clutter of buildings etc on the platforms doesn't help, but I assume most are necessary. Though the footbridge at the west end has been improved recently.