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Best and Worst Major Interchange Stations

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ashkeba

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Maybe Farringdon should have an honourable mention. It's not confusing to anything like the degree of New Street or Stratford - I mean it's only got 4 platforms arranged side by side and I don't think it'd be possible to make such a simple platform arrangement all that confusing. But Farringdon makes a pretty good attempt with its maze of bridges across the platforms, with not all bridges going to all platforms, one of them heading off at a strange diagonal angle, and then the wall with its occasional gaps between platforms 2 and 3 (presumably forced by the slight height difference between the tracks).
Will crossrail make Farringdon worse or better?

Birmingham New Street is the worst. Could they really not have put either "railside" or "streetside" traffic on a bridge inside that big shopping centre so multiple barrier lines were not needed? Or put barriers on every platform access like St Pancras and some others? The halfway house mix there has been done in a particularly confusing way.
 
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Dr Hoo

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Birmingham New Street is the worst. Could they really not have put either "railside" or "streetside" traffic on a bridge inside that big shopping centre so multiple barrier lines were not needed? Or put barriers on every platform access like St Pancras and some others? The halfway house mix there has been done in a particularly confusing way.
But there is a "railside bridge" - the one at the 'B' side that many people seem to go out of their way to avoid or decide to leave via the barriers for some unaccountable reason even if they have no intention or need to use the main concourse during a fairly short interchange.

And there is a "streetside bridge" except that it happens to be at Stephenson Place street level, basically across the concourse. Much more direct than the awful old route up the ramp from New Street itself, zig-zagging through the Palisades shopping centre and down the dingy Station Street steps with no lift alternative.

(Other directions of access and approach are available, noting the obvious fact that the station is in the middle of the city centre.)

In the bad old days of the 1960s version there was indeed a single barrier line (ignoring the Navigation Street fire escape bridge) but it was hopelessly congested.

There are indeed "barriers on every platform access" as you suggest, and yet people seem to complain endlessly about them even though multiple barrier barrier passes are usually necessary whilst interchanging at widely praised stations like Glasgow Central.

The hatred directed at New Street is entirely illogical and inconsistent.
 

xotGD

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But there is a "railside bridge" - the one at the 'B' side that many people seem to go out of their way to avoid or decide to leave via the barriers for some unaccountable reason even if they have no intention or need to use the main concourse during a fairly short interchange.
Because they have no idea that there are two separate concourses. They get off their train, go up the stairs/escalator to the concourse and find a glass screen preventing them reaching the platform they need for their next train.
 

BayPaul

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But there is a "railside bridge" - the one at the 'B' side that many people seem to go out of their way to avoid or decide to leave via the barriers for some unaccountable reason even if they have no intention or need to use the main concourse during a fairly short interchange.

And there is a "streetside bridge" except that it happens to be at Stephenson Place street level, basically across the concourse. Much more direct than the awful old route up the ramp from New Street itself, zig-zagging through the Palisades shopping centre and down the dingy Station Street steps with no lift alternative.

(Other directions of access and approach are available, noting the obvious fact that the station is in the middle of the city centre.)

In the bad old days of the 1960s version there was indeed a single barrier line (ignoring the Navigation Street fire escape bridge) but it was hopelessly congested.

There are indeed "barriers on every platform access" as you suggest, and yet people seem to complain endlessly about them even though multiple barrier barrier passes are usually necessary whilst interchanging at widely praised stations like Glasgow Central.

The hatred directed at New Street is entirely illogical and inconsistent.
Adding to zotGD's comments, a good design is intuitive. If people follow every sign, and listen to announcements, chances are they'll get around New Street OK. But I can get around most airport terminals, for example, without needing to do that - just by following what looks like the right flow, chances are you get where you need to go. In New Street, this doesn't happen, because people shouldn't need to read every sign, and not take the staircase nearest to them because the other one is better. Yes, it is entirely possible to navigate the station successfully, but the fact that so many people get it wrong implies a major flaw with the design, not with the people!
 

steamybrian

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Because they have no idea that there are two separate concourses. They get off their train, go up the stairs/escalator to the concourse and find a glass screen preventing them reaching the platform they need for their next train.
I agree and found the screens, ticket barriers and difficult to read direction signs. Last time I was there wanted to do a simple change off a train from Euston to a connecting train for Shrewsbury. After negotiating the stairs it required a walk around screens through two ticket barriers, across the concourse past the shops before descending the stairs. As a rare visitor it took a while trying to locate/follow the directional signs. On the return I changed at Wolverhampton which was far easier...!
 

D6130

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On the return I changed at Wolverhampton which was far easier...!
On the outward journey it's better to change at Birmingham International, where the majority of Shrewsbury trains turn round. Easier connection and a greater choice of seats if you don't have a reservation.
 

ashkeba

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There are indeed "barriers on every platform access" as you suggest, and yet people seem to complain endlessly about them even though multiple barrier barrier passes are usually necessary whilst interchanging at widely praised stations like Glasgow Central.

The hatred directed at New Street is entirely illogical and inconsistent.
https://www.nationalrail.co.uk/stat...-made-easy/birmingham-new-street-station-plan suggests the above is wrong about barriers and my memory is correct. There barriers are shared: one set for 1A-5A, another for 6A-12A and another for all the Bs and 4C.

Illogical and inconsistent is a good summary of the New Street station design! Any time your designer wants to give the concourse coloured zones (instead of the platforms) send them back to the drawing board.
 

swt_passenger

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The conversion from Motorail bays to passenger platforms 5 and 6 should reduce the confusion, as it explains why those numbers were left unused when the platforms were renumbered at Christmas 2006.
[re: Waverley]

Good point. Surely a good sign that back in 2006 someone had a good view of the future intentions…
 

Robertj21a

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But there is a "railside bridge" - the one at the 'B' side that many people seem to go out of their way to avoid or decide to leave via the barriers for some unaccountable reason even if they have no intention or need to use the main concourse during a fairly short interchange.

And there is a "streetside bridge" except that it happens to be at Stephenson Place street level, basically across the concourse. Much more direct than the awful old route up the ramp from New Street itself, zig-zagging through the Palisades shopping centre and down the dingy Station Street steps with no lift alternative.

(Other directions of access and approach are available, noting the obvious fact that the station is in the middle of the city centre.)

In the bad old days of the 1960s version there was indeed a single barrier line (ignoring the Navigation Street fire escape bridge) but it was hopelessly congested.

There are indeed "barriers on every platform access" as you suggest, and yet people seem to complain endlessly about them even though multiple barrier barrier passes are usually necessary whilst interchanging at widely praised stations like Glasgow Central.

The hatred directed at New Street is entirely illogical and inconsistent.
It may seem entirely illogical to you but I, and clearly many others, find New St utterly confusing.
 

jfollows

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Stratford, London Bridge, Birmingham New Street all appear many times in this discussion. I've found all of them illogical, baffling, annoying, and just plain stupid. I don't want to go to an "orange lounge" or whatever when I go to a station, I want to go to my departure platform. The old New Street was simple and logical in its design, it was vastly improved with the "B" end footbridge, but now it's just bonkers. Others have pointed out that it's akin to airports forcing you to walk through shops - the designers of these new implementations seem to want to force passengers to go shopping, or they're trying to reduce congestion by making people wait in "lounges" rather than on platforms. This last one is a hugely negative step from my perspective because I want to be on a platform and watch what's going on - sadly it's the US implementation in stations such as Philadelphia in which you're compelled to wait above platform level until your train arrives.

I don't think I'm adding to the discussion, I'm just agreeing with the majority. The minority who are in favour of the redesigned New Street, for example, I don't understand, but we're all different.

Finally, I think the new New Street, in particular, is especially baffling for the occasional traveller, the sort of person I used to work with who would be completely competent at work but terrified of changing there. With the old layout I couldn't really understand it, the station might have been busy but it was logical. Now it's busy but illogical, so I can understand them.

And, fortunately, the barriers at New Street aren't often in operation. The concept that I have to use my ticket to change platforms is completely unacceptable to me, I loathe it. As a result, I avoid them and any opportunity for retailers to take money from me, which is presumably contrary to the objective of the redesign.
 

vlad

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York, Newcastle, Derby and Sheffield all sensibly-laid out, airy and pleasant.

It isn't sensibly laid out!

If you arrive to find your train is leaving from platform 9, do you assume that's on the far side of the station near platform 8, or it's by the entrance adjacent to platform 2? ;)
 

Meerkat

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It isn't sensibly laid out!

If you arrive to find your train is leaving from platform 9, do you assume that's on the far side of the station near platform 8, or it's by the entrance adjacent to platform 2? ;)
You look at the signs and see where they tell you to go!
 

Dr Hoo

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Because they have no idea that there are two separate concourses. They get off their train, go up the stairs/escalator to the concourse and find a glass screen preventing them reaching the platform they need for their next train.
This thread (at least in relation to Birmingham New Street) is perhaps suffering from lack of shared understanding about what certain words are intended to mean. I have tried to approach the discussion from the perspective that there is only one 'concourse' - essentially the non-paid/ticketed area that you can walk into from Stephenson Place, The Bull Ring, Hill Street, taxi rank and so forth. I think that you are actually describing the Blue and Green Lounge, which are 'railside'/paid area, albeit at 'concourse' level.

But have no fear! It rarely takes more than a minute to cross from one lounge to the other via two barriers, which is no different from what would be necessary at many other transport interchanges. As other posters have confirmed, pretty much every valid 'ticket'/barcode is usually accepted.

As a tip, anyone who goes up 'stairs' (other than from Platform 1B) is not taking the 'safest' route for interchange. The 'B' bridge/Red Lounge is basically reached by escalators. (I accept that there are lifts at both ends, so the distinction is less obvious if you are using those, and there are escalators at the 'A' end too.) But stairs! Definitely a bad sign.

https://www.nationalrail.co.uk/stat...-made-easy/birmingham-new-street-station-plan suggests the above is wrong about barriers and my memory is correct. There barriers are shared: one set for 1A-5A, another for 6A-12A and another for all the Bs and 4C.

Illogical and inconsistent is a good summary of the New Street station design! Any time your designer wants to give the concourse coloured zones (instead of the platforms) send them back to the drawing board.
My point was that to access any and all platforms at New Street you have to pass a barrier. I.e. it isn't like some other stations, such as Euston or Glasgow Central, that have barriers for some platforms but not others.

Yes, obviously for a two-level, non-terminal station barriers end up being 'shared'. There are actually two sets for 1A-5A (Blue Lounge), two sets for 6A-12A (Green Lounge) [These can also be used for the respective B sections of those groups too if you want! Just talk along the platform.] There are also two sets giving access to the B bridge/Red Lounge and these can be used to give access to any part of any platform, not just the Bs and 4C!

And, fortunately, the barriers at New Street aren't often in operation. The concept that I have to use my ticket to change platforms is completely unacceptable to me, I loathe it. As a result, I avoid them and any opportunity for retailers to take money from me, which is presumably contrary to the objective of the redesign.
I am sorry to hear this. I hope that in your journeys from Wilmslow you never have to try changing at Liverpool South Parkway, Liverpool Lime Street, Glasgow Central, Edinburgh Waverley, onto the Underground with a cross-London ticket at Euston and so on.

Fortunately you never have to use the barriers at New Street if you are just changing trains! Just remember to use the B bridge/Red Lounge (and I can assure you that it isn't compulsory to buy a coffee).

I presume that you never walk past (let alone patronise) any shop, cafe, pub or other retail establishment in the wider world?

Adding to zotGD's comments, a good design is intuitive. If people follow every sign, and listen to announcements, chances are they'll get around New Street OK. But I can get around most airport terminals, for example, without needing to do that - just by following what looks like the right flow, chances are you get where you need to go.
Ah! I think that we may be onto something here.

This thread is obviously about 'Interchange Stations'. Whilst New Street is certainly a key interchange it is important to realise that the substantial majority of its users alighting from a train are likely to be exiting the station rather than switching to another platform. Quite probably the regulars will be making a point of deliberately not using the B bridge/Red Lounge in the interests of leaving the station quickly and in a slightly less crowded environment. So if you are 'following the flow', you are likely to end up in the Blue or Green Lounges!

Obviously your tactic can work in some places. Alighting at Wembley en route to the stadium you are probably OK following several hundred other folk wearing similar fan gear or else at Weston-super-Mare following masses of bucket and spade toting families to the beach. But a bad idea in Brum.


As a final thought, I was on a CrossCountry train earlier this week through New Street. The Train Manager had helpfully given the usual arrival remarks about connections and the B bridge. An American at the next table was engrossed in watching a film on a laptop whilst wearing headphones and clearly heard none of this helpful advice. We pulled up in the platform and my fellow passenger came to his senses with a start. "Hey, Bud, is this Birmingham New Street?" I confirmed that it was. He snapped his laptop shut, scooped it into his bag and ran for the door...

This had all the potential to end badly but none of it was due to either front line rail staff or the architects of the station.
 

DynamicSpirit

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You look at the signs and see where they tell you to go!

To some extent you're correct, but this also relates back to @BayPaul's point about that things should be intuitive:

Adding to zotGD's comments, a good design is intuitive.

If you always have to look at the signs to see where to go, then that suggests a bad design. In the context of platform numbering, there's a shared understanding amongst most rail users that platforms are usually numbered sequentially in order from one side of the station to the other. That convention and shared understanding aids people in finding their platform because it means that you have an idea of roughly where to go even if you haven't seen a sign that specifically gives directions for the particular platform you're looking for. Not following that convention is therefore a bad design [1] - it makes people work a bit harder than they would have had to. I'm not familiar with Newcastle, the station that this sub-discussion is about, but a quick look at the station map seems to show that Newcastle's platforms are not numbered in the conventional way.

[1] Acknowledging that there are some stations like Stratford where it's impossible to follow that convention because some platforms are at right angles to other platforms.
 

trebor79

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Adding to zotGD's comments, a good design is intuitive. If people follow every sign, and listen to announcements, chances are they'll get around New Street OK. But I can get around most airport terminals, for example, without needing to do that - just by following what looks like the right flow, chances are you get where you need to go. In New Street, this doesn't happen, because people shouldn't need to read every sign, and not take the staircase nearest to them because the other one is better. Yes, it is entirely possible to navigate the station successfully, but the fact that so many people get it wrong implies a major flaw with the design, not with the people!
It took me 5 minutes to work out how to get into the Leon for breakfast! All the glass partitions etc had me convinced the entrance was behind a barrier line, and it was only quite by accident as I was trying to work out how to get out of the concourse/shopping centre that I discovered the way in.
This thread is obviously about 'Interchange Stations'. Whilst New Street is certainly a key interchange it is important to realise that the substantial majority of its users alighting from a train are likely to be exiting the station rather than switching to another platform. Quite probably the regulars will be making a point of deliberately not using the B bridge/Red Lounge in the interests of leaving the station quickly and in a slightly less crowded environment. So if you are 'following the flow', you are likely to end up in the Blue or Green Lounges!
TBH I found it confusing to use as an end/ start of journey station too. Upon arriving late at night I followed signs for taxis and ended up in some dingy covered roadway, not a taxi in site. I eventually wandered out into some plaza and ended up ordering an Uber, which arrived on a road that went below the one I was standing on. Unfortunately the stairs down to it were closed because some workmen were hosing copious quantities of vomit and bodily fluids out of it.

The whole place is just a confusing mess IMO. The 1960s version may have been a carbuncle, but at least it functioned properly as a station.
 

Meerkat

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If you always have to look at the signs to see where to go, then that suggests a bad design. In the context of platform numbering, there's a shared understanding amongst most rail users that platforms are usually numbered sequentially in order from one side of the station to the other.
I think that is “a little bit of knowledge is a dangerous thing”.
Look at the signs and follow them. To use your intuition approach you would need to know what platform you are on to start with - so either you have to look at signs (so why not just look for the sign to where you want to go rather than where you are……) or you recognise the platform so you probably already know where you are going.
 

DynamicSpirit

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I think that is “a little bit of knowledge is a dangerous thing”.
Look at the signs and follow them. To use your intuition approach you would need to know what platform you are on to start with - so either you have to look at signs (so why not just look for the sign to where you want to go rather than where you are……) or you recognise the platform so you probably already know where you are going.

You're at - say - Waterloo station (Just picking a station at random here). You've read the departure board so you know your train leaves from platform 10. You can't offhand immediately see a sign for platform 10 (maybe you've missed it, maybe the viewing angle isn't right or it's hidden behind something), but you can see platform 9 and a moment ago you saw the sign for platform 12, so you make a guess that platform 10 is between the two. You can do that and it works fine because Waterloo is actually well laid out and the platforms are numbered in a completely logical way. Would you say that's a bad thing because 'a little bit of knowledge is a dangerous thing'? Personally I think that convention is a great way to help passengers.

Do you think it would be acceptable if the platforms at Waterloo were numbered something like 1-5-18-2-6-10-7- etc.? After all, that would mean people would always have to look at the signs and follow them when trying to find their platform, so there'd be no danger of 'a little bit of knowledge is a dangerous thing' ;)
 

casual onion

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I find Doncaster easy to use. One tunnel linking every platform (bar 0) and easy access to the Frenchgate.

New Street is horrible, but the worst for me is Leeds. It's far too big, platforms in seemingly random places and just feels a bit dull inside.
 

Robertj21a

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This thread (at least in relation to Birmingham New Street) is perhaps suffering from lack of shared understanding about what certain words are intended to mean. I have tried to approach the discussion from the perspective that there is only one 'concourse' - essentially the non-paid/ticketed area that you can walk into from Stephenson Place, The Bull Ring, Hill Street, taxi rank and so forth. I think that you are actually describing the Blue and Green Lounge, which are 'railside'/paid area, albeit at 'concourse' level.

But have no fear! It rarely takes more than a minute to cross from one lounge to the other via two barriers, which is no different from what would be necessary at many other transport interchanges. As other posters have confirmed, pretty much every valid 'ticket'/barcode is usually accepted.

As a tip, anyone who goes up 'stairs' (other than from Platform 1B) is not taking the 'safest' route for interchange. The 'B' bridge/Red Lounge is basically reached by escalators. (I accept that there are lifts at both ends, so the distinction is less obvious if you are using those, and there are escalators at the 'A' end too.) But stairs! Definitely a bad sign.


My point was that to access any and all platforms at New Street you have to pass a barrier. I.e. it isn't like some other stations, such as Euston or Glasgow Central, that have barriers for some platforms but not others.

Yes, obviously for a two-level, non-terminal station barriers end up being 'shared'. There are actually two sets for 1A-5A (Blue Lounge), two sets for 6A-12A (Green Lounge) [These can also be used for the respective B sections of those groups too if you want! Just talk along the platform.] There are also two sets giving access to the B bridge/Red Lounge and these can be used to give access to any part of any platform, not just the Bs and 4C!


I am sorry to hear this. I hope that in your journeys from Wilmslow you never have to try changing at Liverpool South Parkway, Liverpool Lime Street, Glasgow Central, Edinburgh Waverley, onto the Underground with a cross-London ticket at Euston and so on.

Fortunately you never have to use the barriers at New Street if you are just changing trains! Just remember to use the B bridge/Red Lounge (and I can assure you that it isn't compulsory to buy a coffee).

I presume that you never walk past (let alone patronise) any shop, cafe, pub or other retail establishment in the wider world?


Ah! I think that we may be onto something here.

This thread is obviously about 'Interchange Stations'. Whilst New Street is certainly a key interchange it is important to realise that the substantial majority of its users alighting from a train are likely to be exiting the station rather than switching to another platform. Quite probably the regulars will be making a point of deliberately not using the B bridge/Red Lounge in the interests of leaving the station quickly and in a slightly less crowded environment. So if you are 'following the flow', you are likely to end up in the Blue or Green Lounges!

Obviously your tactic can work in some places. Alighting at Wembley en route to the stadium you are probably OK following several hundred other folk wearing similar fan gear or else at Weston-super-Mare following masses of bucket and spade toting families to the beach. But a bad idea in Brum.


As a final thought, I was on a CrossCountry train earlier this week through New Street. The Train Manager had helpfully given the usual arrival remarks about connections and the B bridge. An American at the next table was engrossed in watching a film on a laptop whilst wearing headphones and clearly heard none of this helpful advice. We pulled up in the platform and my fellow passenger came to his senses with a start. "Hey, Bud, is this Birmingham New Street?" I confirmed that it was. He snapped his laptop shut, scooped it into his bag and ran for the door...

This had all the potential to end badly but none of it was due to either front line rail staff or the architects of the station.
Blimey - no wonder most of us are totally confused!!

Utterly bonkers.
 

Mat17

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I haven't set foot in Birmingham New Street since 2007. From the thread so far, I'm confused about the whole B and A footbridge thing. I suspect I'd be totally lost. It seems the great refurb hasn't helped the platform area get any better.

My take home from it is basically the whole station needs demolishing, including the buildings built above it and it needs rebuilding as a non-underground, more traditional station. Which is never going to happen, so basically New Street has been a dump since the 1960s rebuild and still is. I guess it'll remain that way whilst ever it stays subterranean.
 

Djgr

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This thread (at least in relation to Birmingham New Street) is perhaps suffering from lack of shared understanding about what certain words are intended to mean. I have tried to approach the discussion from the perspective that there is only one 'concourse' - essentially the non-paid/ticketed area that you can walk into from Stephenson Place, The Bull Ring, Hill Street, taxi rank and so forth. I think that you are actually describing the Blue and Green Lounge, which are 'railside'/paid area, albeit at 'concourse' level.

But have no fear! It rarely takes more than a minute to cross from one lounge to the other via two barriers, which is no different from what would be necessary at many other transport interchanges. As other posters have confirmed, pretty much every valid 'ticket'/barcode is usually accepted.

As a tip, anyone who goes up 'stairs' (other than from Platform 1B) is not taking the 'safest' route for interchange. The 'B' bridge/Red Lounge is basically reached by escalators. (I accept that there are lifts at both ends, so the distinction is less obvious if you are using those, and there are escalators at the 'A' end too.) But stairs! Definitely a bad sign.


My point was that to access any and all platforms at New Street you have to pass a barrier. I.e. it isn't like some other stations, such as Euston or Glasgow Central, that have barriers for some platforms but not others.

Yes, obviously for a two-level, non-terminal station barriers end up being 'shared'. There are actually two sets for 1A-5A (Blue Lounge), two sets for 6A-12A (Green Lounge) [These can also be used for the respective B sections of those groups too if you want! Just talk along the platform.] There are also two sets giving access to the B bridge/Red Lounge and these can be used to give access to any part of any platform, not just the Bs and 4C!


I am sorry to hear this. I hope that in your journeys from Wilmslow you never have to try changing at Liverpool South Parkway, Liverpool Lime Street, Glasgow Central, Edinburgh Waverley, onto the Underground with a cross-London ticket at Euston and so on.

Fortunately you never have to use the barriers at New Street if you are just changing trains! Just remember to use the B bridge/Red Lounge (and I can assure you that it isn't compulsory to buy a coffee).

I presume that you never walk past (let alone patronise) any shop, cafe, pub or other retail establishment in the wider world?


Ah! I think that we may be onto something here.

This thread is obviously about 'Interchange Stations'. Whilst New Street is certainly a key interchange it is important to realise that the substantial majority of its users alighting from a train are likely to be exiting the station rather than switching to another platform. Quite probably the regulars will be making a point of deliberately not using the B bridge/Red Lounge in the interests of leaving the station quickly and in a slightly less crowded environment. So if you are 'following the flow', you are likely to end up in the Blue or Green Lounges!

Obviously your tactic can work in some places. Alighting at Wembley en route to the stadium you are probably OK following several hundred other folk wearing similar fan gear or else at Weston-super-Mare following masses of bucket and spade toting families to the beach. But a bad idea in Brum.


As a final thought, I was on a CrossCountry train earlier this week through New Street. The Train Manager had helpfully given the usual arrival remarks about connections and the B bridge. An American at the next table was engrossed in watching a film on a laptop whilst wearing headphones and clearly heard none of this helpful advice. We pulled up in the platform and my fellow passenger came to his senses with a start. "Hey, Bud, is this Birmingham New Street?" I confirmed that it was. He snapped his laptop shut, scooped it into his bag and ran for the door...

This had all the potential to end badly but none of it was due to either front line rail staff or the architects of the station.
This so reads like clues for an Escape Room!
 

Meerkat

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You're at - say - Waterloo station (Just picking a station at random here). You've read the departure board so you know your train leaves from platform 10. You can't offhand immediately see a sign for platform 10 (maybe you've missed it, maybe the viewing angle isn't right or it's hidden behind something), but you can see platform 9 and a moment ago you saw the sign for platform 12, so you make a guess that platform 10 is between the two. You can do that and it works fine because Waterloo is actually well laid out and the platforms are numbered in a completely logical way. Would you say that's a bad thing because 'a little bit of knowledge is a dangerous thing'? Personally I think that convention is a great way to help passengers.

Do you think it would be acceptable if the platforms at Waterloo were numbered something like 1-5-18-2-6-10-7- etc.? After all, that would mean people would always have to look at the signs and follow them when trying to find their platform, so there'd be no danger of 'a little bit of knowledge is a dangerous thing' ;)
Waterloo is entirely different having a concourse along the ends of the platforms.
 

ashkeba

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Waterloo is entirely different having a concourse along the ends of the platforms.
New Street could have had a single concourse, either all inside the ticket barriers with ticketless through walkers going on a balcony upper level, or with barriers at the top of each platform access. Instead the rebuild is split it into at least four zones and it is neither one thing or the other and confuses tons of people every day.
 

xotGD

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This whole multicoloured lounge malarkey at New Street just adds a whole extra tier of confusion into the mix. I've never even noticed any reference to colour coded 'lounges' (they aren't lounges anyway) while attempting to change platforms.

And the notion that climbing a flight of stairs is somehow wrong. I'm sorry, but how?
 

Grumpy Git

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Liverpool
This whole multicoloured lounge malarkey at New Street just adds a whole extra tier of confusion into the mix. I've never even noticed any reference to colour coded 'lounges' (they aren't lounges anyway) while attempting to change platforms.

And the notion that climbing a flight of stairs is somehow wrong. I'm sorry, but how?
More like hospital waiting rooms than lounges, and every bit as "exciting".
 

61653 HTAFC

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18 Dec 2012
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17,624
Location
Another planet...
Leeds,

I don't think it has got any two platforms the same length, numerous bays in various locations, most of them are curving this way or that and quite a few are on a lower level to complicate things even more.

It really wants straightening out with a massive rolling pin!
The weird thing with Leeds is that it is apparently at capacity, but some of the central through platforms don't seem to get that much use to the casual observer- particularly the narrow(ish) 9-11 island.
 

Dr Hoo

Established Member
Joined
10 Nov 2015
Messages
3,912
Location
Hope Valley
This whole multicoloured lounge malarkey at New Street just adds a whole extra tier of confusion into the mix. I've never even noticed any reference to colour coded 'lounges' (they aren't lounges anyway) while attempting to change platforms.

And the notion that climbing a flight of stairs is somehow wrong. I'm sorry, but how?
May I suggest a visit to an optician? (Not my image but came up in the first hit on a well-known search engine.)

[Edit: To comply with forum etiquette, attached image shows one of the massive Blue Lounge signs and internationally recognised pictograms indicating that it is a passenger waiting area. This just one example of the signage and way finding at New Street.]
 

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