Crowd Control at Birmingham New St

[dvboy]

Crowd control has been put in place at Birmingham New Street for weekends until Christmas, presumably in response to problems last weekend.

The measures include not showing platform numbers on screens until the train arrives (the departure boards now show if a train has "Arrived" rather than On Time or an expected time), and restrictions on movement creating a one-way system around the main entrances - Stephenson Street is exit only, entrance being from the Victoria Square entrance, and passengers barriered to keep to the right, along the northern part of the concourse and through the ticket barrier nearest Boots.

Not showing the platform numbers on the screens caused a little confusion when it last was tried when there was a signalling failure, as it means a lot of frustrated people on the concourse, but it does stop the narrower platforms becoming too overcrowded. This was in place last night but not when I passed through earlier today.

The one way system seemed to be working quite well earlier this afternoon however.

The following is from the London Midland website:

Weekend Passengers Asked to Leave More Time for Their Journeys at New Street

Date: 06 Dec 2013

Passengers travelling from Birmingham New Street station on Friday nights and weekends are being asked to allow extra time for their journeys and take extra care on the station owing to the huge increase in passengers using the station to visit the city over the Christmas period.

From today (Friday December 6) Network Rail will be implementing crowd control measures at the station over weekends to prevent overcrowding on the platforms. At busy times, passengers may be asked to wait a short while on the station concourse to allow platforms to clear.

Steve Lewis, Network Rail station manager said: “We would urge passengers to allow extra time to catch their train from New Street over the next few weekends while we manage the huge increase in passengers using the station.

“The safety of passengers is our priority and last Friday we saw nearly 200,000 passengers use the station, a 75,000 increase on a typical day. We would appreciate their patience while we implement these crowd control measures which are there for the safety of all passengers using the station.”

Over the next three Friday nights and weekends up until Christmas, crowd control measures will be in place at New Street station at the following times:

Friday 1500-2300
Saturday 0900-2300
Sunday 1100-2300

Chief Inspector Kevin Marshall, British Transport Police (BTP) Sector Commander for the West Midlands, added:

“BTP has a number of ongoing operations and patrol strategies in and around Birmingham New Street railway station to assist our partners at Network Rail and the Train Operating Companies in the run up to the Festive period, which is traditionally an extremely busy time for the rail network.

“Safer Travel Team officer are patrolling the German Market and officers are carrying out late-night train patrols, particularly on routes towards the East Midlands.

“We have additional officers on duty in order to provide visibility and reassurance for passengers and rail staff and we will work with industry colleagues to support their crowd management operation at Birmingham New Street station.

“I would also urge passengers to plan their journeys home carefully and allow some extra time as it might take slightly longer to navigate your way through the busy station and onto platforms and trains during the busy period.

“Clearly, we want people using the rail network at this time of the year to enjoy themselves but it is also important to drink responsibly and don't put yourself in a position where you might cause annoyance to others or become a victim of crime yourself.”

http://www.londonmidland.com/about-...e-more-time-for-their-journeys-at-new-street/

 

[Goatboy]

How are you supposed to get from the platform to the train before it departs if the platform number is only announced once it arrives? There are a number of trains which don't sit in New Street for very long.

 

[dvboy]

Mistake in my post, it's announced once the platform is clear of the previous train, or once it's confirmed for delayed trains or those likely to be re-platformed. The idea is to keep people on the concourse until the last possible moment so that platforms aren't crowded with more than one train's worth of people.

 

[trainophile]

Wonder if the platform will still show on NRE before it appears on the boards.

(Christmas needs abolishing)

 

[Rich McLean]

They are also holding pax outside the station itself. 10 minute queue at the moment before they can get on the concourse.

In this situation, passengers on advances could get caught out, especially if making a longer journey

 

[1e10]

They are also holding pax outside the station itself. 10 minute queue at the moment before they can get on the concourse.

In this situation, passengers on advances could get caught out, especially if making a longer journey

If a passenger missed their booked train on an advanced ticket because of this, would they need to purchase a new ticket?

 

[Rich McLean]

If a passenger missed their booked train on an advanced ticket because of this, would they need to purchase a new ticket?

Technically yes, but I would imagine most TOCs operating out of New Street would be aware, and endorse the ticket

 

[SS4]

Doesn't help when everyone knows the Four Oaks trains leave from platform 8a

 

[WestCoast]

Doesn't help when everyone knows the Four Oaks trains leave from platform 8a

Or 11B for Longbridge/Redditch!

 

[edwin_m]

It would also help if they managed to avoid re-platforming trains at the last minute. When this happens a horde of people try to get to the new platform and often as not collide head-on with the people who have just alighted. I was waiting for a Nottingham train a couple of weeks back which was announced as re-platformed to the far end of the opposite platform, then again to the other end opposite the original platform.

 

[12CSVT]

Or 11B for Longbridge/Redditch!

No doubt people travelling on the Cross-City route who are savvy enough could simply use Five Ways station instead of New Street

 

[The Planner]

That's one hell of a walk!

 

[Cherry_Picker]

The problem they were having when I passed through the station earlier is that hordes of people getting off trains are meeting hordes of people who want to catch trains on the stairs. It's caused a logjam several times by the looks of things. The fact that a sizeable portion of the passengers are half cut because they have been drinking at the German market all day doesn't help, if people start shoving because they think they will miss their train then it could become very unsafe very quickly.

 

[Trog]

Unwise post.

 

[rdeez]

The problem they were having when I passed through the station earlier is that hordes of people getting off trains are meeting hordes of people who want to catch trains on the stairs. It's caused a logjam several times by the looks of things. The fact that a sizeable portion of the passengers are half cut because they have been drinking at the German market all day doesn't help, if people start shoving because they think they will miss their train then it could become very unsafe very quickly.

I found this as well at the weekend. Also keeping people on the concourse is fine, but what happened is that huge groups formed around the departure screens - I had to say a lot of "excuse me's" to get to the escalator for my platform!

 

[YorkshireBear]

Is any of this likely to be helped when full station development opens with the large concourse?

 

[Cherry_Picker]

I think so, yes. The problems I saw yesterday were at the A end of the platforms where platform access via stairs is somewhat limited and the concourse is narrow. Hopefully this is only a temporary thing because if these problems are repeated when the station is fully open in 2015 then there has been a catastrophic failure at the design level.

 

[306024]

There certainly were huge numbers using New St yesterday, but that is hardly surprising. The incident at South Kenton caused additional crowding, the 17.50 to Euston had four train loads of passengers according to the conductor. Very cosy.

 

[The Planner]

Surprised the Pendo said yes to that, they get excited and refuse to move if they get overloaded.

 

[WestCoast]

No doubt people travelling on the Cross-City route who are savvy enough could simply use Five Ways station instead of New Street

If they fancy the walk! Much greater chance of getting a seat from New Street, some of the Saturday shopper loads have been quite something (although AFAIAA Cross City services aren't lengthened to 6-cars on Saturdays).

 

[D1009]

I think so, yes. The problems I saw yesterday were at the A end of the platforms where platform access via stairs is somewhat limited and the concourse is narrow. Hopefully this is only a temporary thing because if these problems are repeated when the station is fully open in 2015 then there has been a catastrophic failure at the design level.

The reason the crowd control is being implemented is becuase of overcrowding on the platforms, not the concourse. When the rebuilding is complete the platforms won't be any wider than they were following the previous rebuilding of the station in the 1960s, so the problem could well still be there.

 

[Mugby]

The reason the crowd control is being implemented is becuase of overcrowding on the platforms, not the concourse. When the rebuilding is complete the platforms won't be any wider than they were following the previous rebuilding of the station in the 1960s, so the problem could well still be there.

Absolutely.

However much money is spent on the concourse, the platforms will never be any wider.

 

[dvboy]

Actually, some of the platforms are narrower than normal at the moment because of the work being carried out, there is also one less platform in use than normal.

There will also be an escalator further down the A-end of the platform. At the moment, if a train is in the A-end, you have pretty much two whole train loads passing each other as the exit is beyond the end of the train; when the new escalator opens, people will naturally be a bit more spread out along the platform.

 

[Cherry_Picker]

The reason the crowd control is being implemented is becuase of overcrowding on the platforms, not the concourse. When the rebuilding is complete the platforms won't be any wider than they were following the previous rebuilding of the station in the 1960s, so the problem could well still be there.

Maybe, but I think yesterday was caused by people upstairs having nowhere to go. If the concourse upstairs is small like it is at the moment then you will have a situation where two separate large crowds of people heading in totally opposite directions meet head on in a place too small to accommodate them.
When it's fully open then you should be able to spread the people in the station more evenly including having multiple access points to individual platforms.

 

[Kettledrum]

I think so, yes. The problems I saw yesterday were at the A end of the platforms where platform access via stairs is somewhat limited and the concourse is narrow. Hopefully this is only a temporary thing because if these problems are repeated when the station is fully open in 2015 then there has been a catastrophic failure at the design level.

There were always limitations about what could be done with New Street, and this was probably the best that could be achieved within the remit.

There were many who had concerns about the whole idea of re-building New Street and an argument was made for a whole new station for Central Birmingham (aka Grand Central) on the Eastside Park site, and simply use the remaining New Street as a commuter station only. Birmingham City Council would not support the alternative, hence the current re-build of New Street, with all its limitations.