Poor design of Railway Stations

[Alex 2901]

By that, i mean stations where there is a noticeable lack of thought towards the actual layout of the station:

Ome example i can come up with is Walsall, where, from the main concourse, only Platforms 2 and 3 can be accessed. Platform 1 can only be accessed by an entrance on Station Street, and apart from being exposed to the elements, the actual street itself is often crawling with loiterers, or worse, especially given i was mugged in that area only a few months ago, while i was heading for my train...

To make matters worse, the main entrance at Walsall is through the Saddlers Centre, fine if you go at 12 noon on a Monday... less so, if its last train on a Sunday, as the only other entrance is on Station Street...

Are there any other examples where a platform can't actually be reached from the main concourse, without having to leave the building?

 

[DynamicSpirit]

Are there any other examples where a platform can't actually be reached from the main concourse, without having to leave the building?

The closest to that I can think of would be, probably a fair few 2-platform stations that are adjacent to level crossings, and where the way you get from one platform to the other is across the level crossing - technically, outside the station. If I recall correctly (I've not been to it for quite a while), Bare Lane would be a good example of that. (And a particularly unfriendly example because trains in each direction can go from either platform: So, unless you know upfront which platform your particular train is scheduled to go from, I imagine it could be very easy to get stuck on the wrong platform and unable to get to your train because the level crossing barriers have come down).

 

[stut]

Are there any other examples where a platform can't actually be reached from the main concourse, without having to leave the building?

Not in the UK, but the first example that came to mind was Copenhagen H, with its famous platform 26, which can only be reached from a road bridge at the end of the main set of platforms. It was put in place to provide additional capacity, but has proven useful for the X2000 services to Stockholm during the reintroduction of passport control.

There's Shipley, Yorkshire's Bermuda Triangle, where platforms 1&2 are across the car park from the main building:

http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/stati...stations-made-easy/shipley-yorks-station-plan

And Liskeard, where platform 3 on the Looe Valley line is in its own little building, across the road from the mainline station:

http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/stations-and-destinations/stations-made-easy/liskeard-station-plan

I wouldn't call them poor design, just coping with the geography they've been given.

 

[pdeaves]

Cardiff platform 0 requires passing out of the barriers and up some (seemingly-) hidden steps.

 

[etr221]

My favorite (?) is Dublin Heuston, where an intra-station bus service is provided to take you to platform 10...

 

[Ianno87]

Absolutely everything about Angel Road station.

 

[transmanche]

Shrewsbury. You have to exit through the barriers and into the station forecourt to access platform 3.

 

[rich r]

I wouldn't necessarily say these are all poorly designed stations, as at the time they were designed they may well have had fewer or more platforms, different bridge/underpass and building layouts - but over time these have changed for one reason or another.
Also the buildings and roads surrounding the station may well have altered since the original design. Sometimes you just have to adapt what you've got to fit, leading to some less than ideal routes to the platforms.

 

[RichJF]

Redhill (post platform 0). No cross platform interchange between 0 &1/2 despite 0 &2 being the northbound platforms. Down some narrow & numerous stairs, along the corridor then back up another flight of stairs at the end of the platform!

Would have been easier to leave 1/2 as the northbound platforms & 0 as the GWR terminating platform.

 

[EbbwJunction1]

Cardiff platform 0 requires passing out of the barriers and up some (seemingly-) hidden steps.

I wouldn't necessarily say these are all poorly designed stations, as at the time they were designed they may well have had fewer or more platforms, different bridge/underpass and building layouts - but over time these have changed for one reason or another.
Also the buildings and roads surrounding the station may well have altered since the original design. Sometimes you just have to adapt what you've got to fit, leading to some less than ideal routes to the platforms.

This describes Platform 0 at Cardiff Central completely. There was never a platform where 0 is now, and it's physically impossible to link it with the existing tunnel between Platforms 1 to 7. The opposite applies to the new Platform 8, where the extension of the facilities at the rear of the station included access to the platform.

 

[sheff1]

Ome example i can come up with is Walsall, where, from the main concourse, only Platforms 2 and 3 can be accessed. Platform 1 can only be accessed by an entrance on Station Street

Walsall station was fine until it was "modernised" in the late 1970s.

A far more recent example is nearby Birmingham New St - never a great station to start with, the modernisation means that it is no longer possible to change between all platforms via the stairs/escalators at the 'a' end without passing through two ticket barriers. Not helpful if you arrive at that end of the platform on a late train and are wanting to make a connection.

 

[johntea]

Platform 17 at Leeds is annoying, even more annoying when since they built the Southern entrance/exit there is an access door at platform level but for staff/fire exit use only! It would be ideal for Platform 17 (and potentially 16) users if that route was open, but as it stands the route is via the bridge which is rather pointless anyway by the time you've got that far!

 

[shredder1]

Walsall station was fine until it was "modernised" in the late 1970s.

A far more recent example is nearby Birmingham New St - never a great station to start with, the modernisation means that it is no longer possible to change between all platforms via the stairs/escalators at the 'a' end without passing through two ticket barriers. Not helpful if you arrive at that end of the platform on a late train and are wanting to make a connection.

Yes i wasnt over impressed with the new look New Street, you can access all platforms bridge at one end of the station without going through the ticket barriers, but I don`t think its common knowledge or well signed.

 

[47271]

I use New Street quite a bit, but there's something about it that confuses me time after time. In saying this, I have almost no knowledge of it pre the Grand Central development.

It's two things.

When I arrive I've got no clue how I should leave the concourse to reach the part of the city centre that I want, all of the exits look the same. More than once I've fired off in the wrong direction and had to return and start again.

When I want to depart I find the platform just about okay via far too many choices of ticket gate, 'lounge', 3a, 3b etc, but I still have no idea which direction my train will be travelling in. I expect it to approach from one direction but it appears from the other. Could they put large arrows on the wall pointing to major destinations, London, Scotland, Bristol etc., then we all might do better?

 

[edwin_m]

The connections round New Street mean that several services can arrive/depart in either direction, so it's not quite that straightforward.

 

[Kite159]

Guide Bridge

For a station where interchanging between platforms is logical as two lines merge close by (Hatfield & line towards Romiley & the Marples) it isn't the nicest or easiest to change platforms. Especially when the ticket office on the Hatfield bound platform is closed

 

[Ianno87]

Guide Bridge

For a station where interchanging between platforms is logical as two lines merge close by (Hatfield & line towards Romiley & the Marples) it isn't the nicest or easiest to change platforms. Especially when the ticket office on the Hatfield bound platform is closed

Possibly easier to walk between Hyde North and Flowery Field instead!

 

[47271]

The connections round New Street mean that several services can arrive/depart in either direction, so it's not quite that straightforward.

So maybe my arrows are a bad idea. But, as a passenger, I'm still confused by this station.

 

[Bevan Price]

Guide Bridge

For a station where interchanging between platforms is logical as two lines merge close by (Hatfield & line towards Romiley & the Marples) it isn't the nicest or easiest to change platforms. Especially when the ticket office on the Hatfield bound platform is closed

It useed to be easier - until some *** set fire to the station and made the(former) footbridge unusable

 

[Kite159]

Possibly easier to walk between Hyde North and Flowery Field instead!

Although IIRC Hyde North is only 2 hourly

----

Wasn't therd a plan with platform 1 at Walsall being closed when the wires go up to avoid having to wire it (with any trains towards Rugeley using platform 2?

 

[martinsh]

Shrewsbury. You have to exit through the barriers and into the station forecourt to access platform 3.

I wouldn't necessarily say these are all poorly designed stations, as at the time they were designed they may well have had fewer or more platforms, different bridge/underpass and building layouts .

I believe Shrewsbury had an overbridge until the 1960s when it was demolished along with the overall roof.

 

[satisnek]

Totally agree about New Street - in my view it's a result of opening the bit at the 'B' end first and then gutting and rebuilding where the original station facilities were. I can't help feeling that that if things had been concentrated on the Navigation Street entrance plus a temporary footbridge at the 'A' end, all with the necessary Portakabins, then this would have left a 'clean slate' on which to develop in the middle and things would have been much better. Yes, there would have been a greater degree of inconvenience but the end result would have been vastly superior!

Walsall was rebuilt in the post-Beeching era when all that was left was a half-hourly EMU service to Birmingham. I find it surprising that Platform 1 actually survived at all - would it have been for parcels traffic or something?

Similarly for Shrewsbury. In the 1980s(?) BR concentrated all passenger traffic on the island platform with two south-facing bays. It worked fine until the upturn in usage during the following decade when things started to get a bit busy...

 

[tomuk]

Similarly for Shrewsbury. In the 1980s(?) BR concentrated all passenger traffic on the island platform with two south-facing bays. It worked fine until the upturn in usage during the following decade when things started to get a bit busy...

Platform 3 (plus 1&2) fell out of major use during the sixties with beeching meaning the end of express GWR services from Paddington to Birkenhead and the closure of local lines eg Severn Valley.

For many years the main station building was virtually derelict with the ticket office being at the top of the stairs from the subway to the platform 4-7 island. In 1984-87 the station building was restored and the current ticket office and travel centre built. The ticket office blocks the original access to Platform 3.

Platform 3 only saw sporadic use until the start of the Cardiff to Holyhead services which tend to use it now.

 

[yorksrob]

Platform 17 at Leeds is annoying, even more annoying when since they built the Southern entrance/exit there is an access door at platform level but for staff/fire exit use only! It would be ideal for Platform 17 (and potentially 16) users if that route was open, but as it stands the route is via the bridge which is rather pointless anyway by the time you've got that far!

Agree wholeheartedly about 17, which is a PITA, particularly as the stairs take you further in the opposite direction along platform 16 than for the other islands.

Another sub-optimal feature of Leeds is the separate ticket office and travel centre, which means that since the travel centre opening hours were reduced, its now not possible to buy a number of products before 9:00.

 

[transmanche]

I believe Shrewsbury had an overbridge until the 1960s when it was demolished along with the overall roof.

I think an overbridge is still there, it's just not available to station users. It's used to provide a walking route to pass over the station from the (former) prison area.

 

[Altfish]

Are there any other examples where a platform can't actually be reached from the main concourse, without having to leave the building?

Platform 0 at Stockport is on the 'wrong' side of the barriers; if arriving by train you have to exit the station to access the platform.

I can think of many stations where access between platforms is either via a level crossing or an adjacent (usually over) bridge. Most of the stations on the mid Cheshire line are like that.

 

[njamescouk]

platform 1a at Sheffield: massive bottleneck caused by walled off never used empty space by the lift entrance.

 

[pdeaves]

Reading, getting from the overbridge to platforms 1-3 is a nuisance. You have to head off the bridge the wrong way and double back under it. I am sure there are reasons why there are no stairs on the west side (there is no space now, but maybe the whole design could have been different, bridge in a different place, etc.).

 

[DanTrain]

Platform 4 at Oxford: as you come down the steps onto the platform, it's far from obvious that the platform is actaully mostly behind you - long services pull up to the end, leaving people to have to dash most of the way down the platform when you realise how long it is. Probably more of a problem when it's busy so there isn't much room to see the rest of the platform, and so everyone congregates on the sheltered area with the shop, assuming that's the whole platform.

 

[whhistle]

Another one for Birmingham here.

I have no idea how I usually manage to end up there but I don't get it.
I think it's platforms 1-4 or somewhere that when you're walking towards them, you're barriered off by a glass partition. Then you have to take some sort of detour, and I'm certain at some points I have exited the barriers only to enter some others just to get round to platform 1 because Im at the wrong A or B end.

I'll have to take stock next time I am there and report back.

Have no idea why it wasn't organised with a central atrium, barriers, platforms in a nice rectangular-ish shape, like it sort of is on the continent.