Euston overcrowding

[Starmill]

The xx:46 LNR Crewe service is a big scrum maker, given its only one an hour. No idea why this service is often suppressed for so long, as when it is finally advertised, the doors have already been unlocked and train has been cleaned.

Advertise services earlier, however keep the doors locked if necessary for cleaning staff and/or if train crew are not here yet. At least pax can wait on the platform, next to their train.

Sometimes there are more people going for that than the xx53 to Manchester Piccadilly. Calling them about the same time around xx40 is always horrendous.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Just seen the BBC reporting that the Transport Secretary has ordered the shutting down of the massive advertising board.

Ooh, sometimes populism can be good!

Next step hopefully: NR buys it from its owners and shoves train departure information up on it. I'm sure it's just a standard computer display these days so they can just configure the existing system that feeds the transverse boards to feed it as well. Could always have some ads at the ends, you don't need the full width for train information, and the old board did have LED type advert boards at each extreme end (roughly TV format in shape).

 

[SCDR_WMR]

The xx:46 LNR Crewe service is a big scrum maker, given its only one an hour. No idea why this service is often suppressed for so long, as when it is finally advertised, the doors have already been unlocked and train has been cleaned.

Advertise services earlier, however keep the doors locked if necessary for cleaning staff and/or if train crew are not here yet. At least pax can wait on the platform, next to their train.

The xx:46 is never locked, the only LNWR trains that are locked are ones that need UPC in the morning or have been split awaiting forward train crew (so rarely).

LNWR service platforms are released once platform staff have arrived so normally plenty of time for passengers, unless there are delays.

 

[jfollows]

I couldn’t find anything from the BBC, but https://www.networkrailmediacentre....-customer-experience-at-london-euston-station

Friday 4 Oct 2024

Five-point plan announced to improve customer experience at London Euston station​

Region & Route: National
Network Rail and the Department for Transport have today (Friday 4 October) announced a five-point plan that aims to improve the functioning of Euston station and deliver a better passenger experience while it undergoes longer-term design changes.

The outdated station is in major need of overhaul and has led to some very uncomfortable and unpleasant conditions for passengers.

The Transport Secretary tasked the station's teams at Network Rail and relevant train operators – including Avanti West Coast and West Midlands Trains – to look again at how the station works on a day-to-day basis and to make immediate improvements wherever possible.

While a major reconstruction of the station is required to meet current demands, the initial five-point plan to ensure a better experience for passengers at Euston includes:

1. Reviewing passenger information provision and circulation, including a shutdown and review of the use of overhead advertising boards
2. A review on how passengers are invited to, and board services, especially during disruption
3. Creating more concourse space and alleviating pinch-points, which will include more, and upgraded, toilet provision
4. Unifying station operation during disruption to ensure a holistic approach is taken for the benefit of all passengers
5. Driving up the reliability of both the infrastructure and train services to reduce disruptive events being experienced at the station

The Transport Secretary says this is a positive first step to getting a grip on overcrowding at the station, but adds that more must be done.

Senior management at Network Rail have been asked to meet with the Secretary of State next week to answer questions on plans for the station and set out a route towards longer-term improvements to the passenger experience.

Transport Secretary Louise Haigh said: “For too long, Euston station simply hasn’t been good enough for passengers.
"That's why I've tasked Network Rail with coming up with a clear plan to immediately improve conditions for passengers. This includes a shutdown of the advertising boards from today to review their use.
"We know Euston needs a permanent solution and are working hard to agree this – but these immediate steps will help to alleviate some of the issues the station has been facing.”
Gary Walsh, route director for West Coast South said: “Passengers haven’t received the experience they deserve at Euston recently and we need to do better.
“Our five-point plan will help improve things for passengers in the short term by creating more space, providing better passenger information, and working as an industry to improve the reliability of train services on the West Coast Main Line.”
Network Rail continues to work with rail industry partners and passenger groups to explore plans and funding options for a major upgrade of the existing station in the long term. This is to deliver a brand-new station concourse that’s fit for the future, brighter, and offers much better facilities to passengers.

Ends

I don’t know about “five point plan” but a five year old could have and probably did work this out ages ago. No disrespect intended to other posters here who also did.

 

[Bletchleyite]

LNWR service platforms are released once platform staff have arrived so normally plenty of time for passengers, unless there are delays.

Is that what it is? It seemed totally random to me. And yet they don't care if people go down early, so it can't be security related - if it was they'd surely leave the gates shut until the platform staff arrived. I've only been questioned for going down for a LNR train before it called once, and that was by the BTP because they thought I was headed for the staff-only tunnel (I wasn't, I was just going to stand by the rearmost passenger door). On me telling them where I was actually going and why they were OK with it.

There are basically always platform and/or gateline staff on 8-11 so that's another reason not to suppress anything going from there.

Edit: Well, the above sounds a start as long as they actually do it!

 

[SCDR_WMR]

Is that what it is?

Pretty much, certainly my observation from daily use working out of there.

Nobody will challenge you entering the platform unless services are suspended. Or going for an Avanti train lol

There is always gateline staff at the barriers and often there are dispatch staff but not necessarily the ones who are working those platforms. Ideally, there would be a member of the dispatch team for each set of platforms plus floating staff for the badly curved platform dispatches. That way as soon as the inbound train is clear, the outbound can be released. Or even give the cleaners 2 minutes work then do it.The only time I appreciate platform suppression is when splitting or attaching units. Other than that, advertise the platform.

 

[londonmidland]

Just seen the BBC reporting that the Transport Secretary has ordered the shutting down of the massive advertising board.

Just saw this on X:

Giant advertising boards at Euston to be shut down immediately as part of review of the poor "passenger experience" at the station - ordered by Transport Secretary @LouHaigh

 

[williamn]

Ooh, sometimes populism can be good!

Next step hopefully: NR buys it from its owners and shoves train departure information up on it. I'm sure it's just a standard computer display these days so they can just configure the existing system that feeds the transverse boards to feed it as well. Could always have some ads at the ends, you don't need the full width for train information, and the old board did have LED type advert boards at each extreme end (roughly TV format in shape).

Its a detail, but one thing that bugs me with the new screens is that previously it would display the carriage letter and level of reservations at once, now it cycles through them on separate pages, so you have to memorise what letter corresponds with which little icon. The prior displays were much easier in this regard. I use this feature a lot to find less busy carriages.

 

[oversteer]

It annoys me that they waste screen time with "Meet the manager on..." and "Engineering works in months time>" messages, especially on the WH Smith side - I wonder if they do this to stop loitering, but when I'm just passing through it would be nice to actually see some content rather than have to walk into the middle of the hall to see a screen

 

[takno]

I couldn’t find anything from the BBC, but https://www.networkrailmediacentre....-customer-experience-at-london-euston-station

I don’t know about “five point plan” but a five year old could have and probably did work this out ages ago. No disrespect intended to other posters here who also did.

I think possibly part of the problem is that people are experiencing discomfort but complaining about safety, probably because they've recognised that that's a magic word which makes people listen.

Unfortunately as a result Network Rail have been doing what they need to do to make it safe, which involves rather unpleasant things like forcing the crowds into better locations and shouting at people as required. The upshot has been a pretty safe but even less pleasant station. Your personal space is intruded, you can't sit, and people are shouting at you, but there's no actual crush going on anywhere.

Now people are furious because the station has gone from unpleasant to dystopian, partly because of the safety activities, partly because of the ill-judged advertising, and largely because Avanti's contribution to the whole thing seems to have been to call platforms even later. As they don't manage the station and haven't been getting any of the heat of complaints, this may have seemed like an appropriate course of action.

The main thing which seems to have happened now is that it's getting attention at ministerial level. Moreover the ministers in question are just waiting for Avanti to put a big enough foot wrong. Minds have therefore been concentrated, and the two biggest comfort issues - timely announcement of trains and the stupid advertising screen - are being addressed.

 

[sigma421]

Details from The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2024/oct/04/euston-station-advertising-screens-network-rail

"...I’ve tasked Network Rail with coming up with a clear plan to immediately improve conditions for passengers. This includes a shutdown of the advertising boards from today to review their use."

I do wonder if the advertising screen has become a bit useless because of all the controversy. I'd be reluctant to put my ads on it.

 

[jfollows]

Now people are furious because the station has gone from unpleasant to dystopian, partly because of the safety activities, partly because of the ill-judged advertising, and largely because Avanti's contribution to the whole thing seems to have been to call platforms even later. As they don't manage the station and haven't been getting any of the heat of complaints, this may have seemed like an appropriate course of action.

Not helped by Avanti adding calls and reducing turn-round times at Euston - my Manchester via Wilmslow used to depart xx40 after arriving xx06, now it departs xx33 after arriving xx09. If that’s not too short a time - they might have changed the diagrams also.

 

[Dr Hoo]

Now we have an indication of how the novel ‘Passenger In Chief’ role will be exercised. It will be interesting to see how and where it will be applied next.

 

[Snow1964]

Bit of Nostalgia time.

The concourse looks very spacious in this 1968 film of it opening (before it was filled with various spurious stuff), and the departure indicator board was massively long to spread people out.

THE QUEEN OPENS EUSTON STATION

Queen+Elizabeth+opens+Euston+train+station+in+London.

www.britishpathe.com

 

[Starmill]

Not helped by Avanti adding calls and reducing turn-round times at Euston - my Manchester via Wilmslow used to depart xx40 after arriving xx06, now it departs xx33 after arriving xx09. If that’s not too short a time - they might have changed the diagrams also.

Given they've extended most of the journey times since 2019, cutting the turnaround times isn't really avoidable I guess.

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

At a political level, why does it need the SoS to issue instructions when she has a Rail Minister and three (four since yesterday) top SGBR bods who seeming were unable to sort the problem before it blew up in their faces?
The Hendy role is particularly unfortunate, as you'd expect him, and NR, to take the lead.

 

[Starmill]

I think possibly part of the problem is that people are experiencing discomfort but complaining about safety, probably because they've recognised that that's a magic word which makes people listen.

Unfortunately as a result Network Rail have been doing what they need to do to make it safe, which involves rather unpleasant things like forcing the crowds into better locations and shouting at people as required. The upshot has been a pretty safe but even less pleasant station. Your personal space is intruded, you can't sit, and people are shouting at you, but there's no actual crush going on anywhere.

Now people are furious because the station has gone from unpleasant to dystopian, partly because of the safety activities, partly because of the ill-judged advertising, and largely because Avanti's contribution to the whole thing seems to have been to call platforms even later. As they don't manage the station and haven't been getting any of the heat of complaints, this may have seemed like an appropriate course of action.

The main thing which seems to have happened now is that it's getting attention at ministerial level. Moreover the ministers in question are just waiting for Avanti to put a big enough foot wrong. Minds have therefore been concentrated, and the two biggest comfort issues - timely announcement of trains and the stupid advertising screen - are being addressed.

I agree the risk of crushing may have been reduced but if that were the case if was incumbent on Network Rail to be transparent about that. It's for them to answer the question, as London Travelwatch say, and for them to assuage any fears among the general public. That's just inherent to the job of being a large public sector organisation.

A little bit of honesty goes a long way. Unfortunately some senior people are clearly allergic to it.

 

[Bletchleyite]

It annoys me that they waste screen time with "Meet the manager on..." and "Engineering works in months time>" messages, especially on the WH Smith side - I wonder if they do this to stop loitering, but when I'm just passing through it would be nice to actually see some content rather than have to walk into the middle of the hall to see a screen

That one is set up like that to stop people standing blocking the main access route from the Tube. At very quiet times it's sometimes on, but rarely.

 

[Starmill]

At a political level, why does it need the SoS to issue instructions when she has a Rail Minister and three (four since yesterday) top SGBR bods who seeming were unable to sort the problem before it blew up in their faces?
The Hendy role is particularly unfortunate, as you'd expect him, and NR, to take the lead.

Clearly Haigh isn't daft and knows the same things we all do - that her Rail Minister and Network Rail executives have lost their credibility to deal with this issue.

 

[DynamicSpirit]

Details from The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2024/oct/04/euston-station-advertising-screens-network-rail

"...I’ve tasked Network Rail with coming up with a clear plan to immediately improve conditions for passengers. This includes a shutdown of the advertising boards from today to review their use."

I do wonder if the advertising screen has become a bit useless because of all the controversy. I'd be reluctant to put my ads on it.

Well that's a nice surprise! It does seem to show that someone high up is starting to pay attention to people's concerns. I'd love to see those boards returned to their proper role of showing train information. The only snag here is that if all they are doing is shutting the boards down, that's not by itself going to make any difference at all, unless/until they do actually start using them for train info.

I'm also a bit surprised that they can shut them down at such short notice. Doesn't Network Rail have contracts with advertisers that they'll need to honour?

 

[sprunt]

Just seen the BBC reporting that the Transport Secretary has ordered the shutting down of the massive advertising board.

Good from an aesthetic point of view, but unless you use the screens to display the departures instead it's not going to make a difference is it? The adverts were a symptom, not the cause of the problems.

 

[CharlieSpotted]

I'm also a bit surprised that they can shut them down at such short notice. Doesn't Network Rail have contracts with advertisers that they'll need to honour?

Contracts can have all sorts of get-out clauses built in to them, of course. Could government interference be considered "force majeure" ?

Good from an aesthetic point of view, but unless you use the screens to display the departures instead it's not going to make a difference is it? The adverts were a symptom, not the cause of the problems.

Shutting them down will make some difference, in that it might stop passengers thinking that Network Rail are just taking the p*ss.

 

[Dr Hoo]

Bit of Nostalgia time.

The concourse looks very spacious in this 1968 film of it opening (before it was filled with various spurious stuff), and the departure indicator board was massively long to spread people out.

THE QUEEN OPENS EUSTON STATION

Queen+Elizabeth+opens+Euston+train+station+in+London.

www.britishpathe.com

Nice clip - thanks, but the original Solari board wasn’t ’massively long’, at least as far as Departures were concerned. The boards on right were for Arrivals. There were only 10 columns, of which one was kept for the Watford ‘DC’ local. Even by 1975 it was unable to keep up. With Friday evening and summer Saturday morning extras the ‘horizon’ could get heavily squeezed, down to less than 25 minutes with many destinations ‘invisible’ at times when the station was at its busiest.
It was also between two huge illuminated advertising displays, albeit not ‘dynamic’ ones. The centre of the concourse used to get absolutely rammed until suddenly a Holyhead or Glasgow train was ‘revealed’. Far fewer reservations in those days too.
I was there!

 

[HSTEd]

Anyone know what the resolution of the display is in terms of pixels per inch?

Is it high enough that you could reprogramme it to make a huge departure board?

 

[8ace]

EUSTON STATION - British Pathé

"Passengers look at the Arrivals board."
shame the film is so dark

 

[ABB125]

Anyone know what the resolution of the display is in terms of pixels per inch?

Is it high enough that you could reprogramme it to make a huge departure board?

I'd have thought it's just a load of entertainment industry-standard video wall panels, which aren't necessarily the most pixel-dense (128x128 in a 0.5m square is common, for example).
Network Rail may well have gone for some bespoke solution though.

It's fairly likely that the advertising screen itself belongs to the advertising "partner" (eg: Global, ClearChannel et al, not sure which one operates Euston) and Network Rail simply rents them the space. So the screen may have to be removed.

 

[deltic]

Just seen the BBC reporting that the Transport Secretary has ordered the shutting down of the massive advertising board.

So can we now expect the SofS to get involved in all sorts of minutiae of railway operations? The micro-management of the rail network by politicians and DfT rarely ends happily.

 

[Horizon22]

Thanks for posting that - the Economist is wrong as usual!

This won't be the Economist; they are only reporting on it. A transport planning consultancy would have done the data analysis on this for urban realm and pedestrian movement studies

 

[DanNCL]

Clearly Haigh isn't daft and knows the same things we all do - that her Rail Minister and Network Rail executives have lost their credibility to deal with this issue.

Then she needs to get on with sacking them.

 

[londonmidland]

I wonder if Network Rail will remove the departure screens currently located in the middle of the concourse and install new white LED Infotec screens in the original location?