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Railway stations you think need a refurbishment

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whhistle

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Birmingham New Street.
A perfect opportunity to build it like most European stations with one long corridor, escalators off either side.

Instead we have a bit of a mess that's a bit strange to navigate, especially when you get stuck on the other side of the glass screen at one end (platform 1-4?).

Or having to go through one set of barriers which you think is "in" but it's actually out, forcing you to go through yet another set to get back in.

A shame really.
 
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yorksrob

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How about all the reasonably well used stations with no facilities and just a bus shelter for protection.
 

Parallel

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When I was there last week, I'm sure the gents toilets were leaking as there was a puddle of water on the cubical floor when I went in.
I think the toilets have fairly recently been refurbished too, no idea how they have ended up so grim so quickly. When I last used them one of the tap sensors was stuck on with hot water running and everything was covered with condensation!
 

Tony2

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Moorgate, dingy station spoils the image when a nice shiny 717 pulls in.
 

HH

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It would be a shorter thread if you asked which stations don't need a refurb...
 

greyman42

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Last time I went through Bath it looked like it could do with a lick of paint.
 

Glenn1969

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Halifax. The approach bridge is ancient and the platforms are not weatherproof because although they are undercover one side has an automatic door that is permanently open because the mechanism in it has never worked since the refurb
 

700007

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Near a bunch of sheds that aren't 66s.
Mill Hill Broadway springs to mind. For the amount of people that use it and the lovely area it serves, the station is quite dingy and that entrance seriously needs sorting out! Having two ticket barriers and a pretend ticket hall is completely inappropriate and needs to be made bigger through some sort of rebuild.

A lot of Watford DC stations south of Harrow & Wealdstone could do with a refurbishment and better security. Genuinely don't like using them at night unless I have to. Harrow & Wealdstone itself though is for the most of it a delight. Just a shame about the local surrounding area...
 
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Luton Midland - draughty, dingy, dilapidated. The overbridge feels like its about to collapse. Access for mobility impaired passengers is very poor. Passenger information screens are woeful and all in the wrong places. The roof leaks like a sieve and the new waiting shelter is in totally the wrong place.
 

Aictos

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Luton simply because it looks and feels so rundown and has no step free access to platforms, put in a replacement bridge with lifts linking all 5 platforms and that’s a start.

The other issue is the disable loo is only on Platform 5 with the others on Platforms 3/4, would be nice if there were toilets on Platforms 1/2 too including a disable loo.

That’s just for starters mind you!

Course they could always raze everything to the ground and rebuild the station but that’s not going to happen...
 

Ianmel1969

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Fratton.

New ticket barriers have opened it up a bit but for the amount of passengers that use it i really think it needs a total refit. No waiting rooms, crumbling over bridge, uneven paving on the platform, poor toilets.
 

RailWonderer

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LONDON EUSTON!
Awful 60s station, horrible floor tiling, low ceilings by the platform-side shops. Realistically wont happen, but a St Pancras/King's Cross style revamp with nice architecture would be great, and take that out of the HS2 budget.
[ducks for cover]
 

Matt_pool

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Liverpool Lime Street concourse. The platforms have been done, the outside has been done, the concourse seems to of been totally left behind.

I agree with that. You have the newly paved platforms 6-10, then you step onto the concourse with it's uneven, dirty floor. It's also very congested on this part of the concourse because they have left the temporary First Class Lounge up against the wall that is empty and serving no purpose except getting in everyone's way!

At times you have to fight to get past all of the people who congregate in that area who are waiting for trains or who are looking at the departure boards which have been put in a really stupid place at the end of platforms 6 and 7.

And if the queue for the taxi rank is long, which it often can be, it stretches back onto the concourse, blocking the entrance to platform 10 and forcing people to fight to get past to the Skelhorne Street exit/entrance which is still only one set of double doors.

Also, they still haven't replaced the ATM's that used to be halfway up platform 7. The nearest ATM is over the road, hidden away along the side of the Sainsbury's Local!
 

ld0595

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Perth.

It seems like it could be a stunning station - and probably was back in the day, but it's now dark, dingy and not very clean.
 

Nammer

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Portsmouth Harbour. Better still, don't bother and sink the wretched thing into the harbour instead.

Yes to Portsmouth Harbour and also Portsmouth and Southsea High level canopy needs a good clean and paint
 

vlad

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A perfect opportunity to build it like most European stations with one long corridor, escalators off either side....

That's what we used to have!

Widening the corridor and giving us more natural light would have been sufficient in my book - but then I don't work for the railway.
 

Buggleskelly

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This.

LONDON EUSTON!
Awful 60s station, horrible floor tiling, low ceilings by the platform-side shops. Realistically wont happen, but a St Pancras/King's Cross style revamp with nice architecture would be great, and take that out of the HS2 budget.
[ducks for cover]

Seriously Euston is the gloomiest, most depressing station that I've ever had to use, whatever they were thinking back in the 60's while rebuilding is beyond me. Thankfully most of the major London terminals were saved from acts of vandalism like this.
 

Bletchleyite

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This.

Seriously Euston is the gloomiest, most depressing station that I've ever had to use, whatever they were thinking back in the 60's while rebuilding is beyond me. Thankfully most of the major London terminals were saved from acts of vandalism like this.

I don't get the hate for Euston - most of the problems with it are down to the operational method. But if you want to change it, that's well in excess of a refurb (which it has had recently and further refurb is in progress) - you're talking about razing and rebuilding.
 

driver_m

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St Helens Junction desperately needs its actual station building updating. Everything else has been improved bar the actual platforms and buildings besides an extra bus shelter on the Liverpool bound platform.

Runcorn needs a better station building too. Too small and cramped at the moment. I’d disagree with Wigan and Warrington though mentioned earlier.
 

BrumKev

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Birmingham Snow Hill

London Euston

Walsall -although to be fair the whole town needs a refurbishment
 

Buggleskelly

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I don't get the hate for Euston - most of the problems with it are down to the operational method. But if you want to change it, that's well in excess of a refurb (which it has had recently and further refurb is in progress) - you're talking about razing and rebuilding.

Well to be honest, it shouldn't have been razed and rebuilt in the first place. The original station building should have been given an extensive modernisation plan to bring it to the new age while still retaining it's Victorian architecture just like Liverpool Street or St.Pancras for example.
 

SS4

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Birmingham Snow Hill and London Euston spring immediately to mind. I'd even say that the Euston rush is dangerous

I'd like to see a general expansion to London Marylebone too with another entrance that has access to platforms - especially platform 6 which feels closer to Wembley than the gateline
 

Jozhua

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Don't mind Manchester Oxford Road, although it does need some TLC. Would much prefer Manchester Piccadilly platforms 13/14 to be sorted with two new platforms and revamped satellite lounge.

That lounge is probably the coldest inhabited place on earth, bar perhaps the far north of russia.

Somehow colder than just standing on the platforms, at least the crowds offer some kind of warmth!
 

yorksrob

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Well to be honest, it shouldn't have been razed and rebuilt in the first place. The original station building should have been given an extensive modernisation plan to bring it to the new age while still retaining it's Victorian architecture just like Liverpool Street or St.Pancras for example.

Unfortunately, most of the Victorian architecture was where the platforms needed to be.

IMO, they did the right thing, however the arch should have been reconstructed where the bus station now is.
 

adamedwards

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St Albans needs the second footbridge and space at the front between cars and the station entrance.
 

Bletchleyite

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IMO, they did the right thing, however the arch should have been reconstructed where the bus station now is.

I don't get the thing about the arch. It shouldn't have been dumped, but I wouldn't be too fussed about keeping it on the site either. I actually think, while impressive, it's a bit ugly.

They did indeed do the right thing - without a rebuild the capacity the station has couldn't have been delivered.

As for the Euston scrum, that's an operational issue that isn't unique to Euston and exists at most other London termini. There are a number of alternatives to it, though it can be avoided by individuals with judicious use of RTT.
 

yorksrob

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I don't get the thing about the arch. It shouldn't have been dumped, but I wouldn't be too fussed about keeping it on the site either. I actually think, while impressive, it's a bit ugly.

They did indeed do the right thing - without a rebuild the capacity the station has couldn't have been delivered.

As for the Euston scrum, that's an operational issue that isn't unique to Euston and exists at most other London termini. There are a number of alternatives to it, though it can be avoided by individuals with judicious use of RTT.

I think that historically it was quite important, and since there was clearly the space for it in the garden area at the front, why wouldn't you ?
 
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