Railway stations that need to be refurbished

[SprinterMan]

Am I the only one who likes New Street? Ive never had any problem with it. Always the best place to change trains. Look at the screen. Platform 5000, brilliant, off I trot!
OK I admit its a lot lot worse than it used to be, but thats down to the influx of pendys and vomiter voyagers, and nothing to do with the station.

I like New Street alot, it reminds me of Gatwick Airport South Terminal.

Adam

 

[8J]

To add to the list of merseyrail stations, how could I forget Seaforth and Litherland station! Green lane needs a lot doing I thibk such as repainting for a start and a deep clean.

On the mainline, well I don't like Crewe really, but i havnt been through it recently so don't know if anything has been done to it.

 

[Cherry_Picker]

Am I the only one who likes New Street? Ive never had any problem with it. Always the best place to change trains. Look at the screen. Platform 5000, brilliant, off I trot!
OK I admit its a lot lot worse than it used to be, but thats down to the influx of pendys and vomiter voyagers, and nothing to do with the station.

New Street is just grim. It's dark and unwelcoming and it is a very poor advertisement for Britain's second city in its current state. I know it's difficult to do much with it as it is almost entirely underground (even if this does give it the bonus of having an extremely central location) but if you want an example of everything bad about 1960s architecture and why Birmingham had a reputation as a concrete jungle for so long then just look at New Street station. It has a hell of a lot to answer for when it comes to peoples first impressions of the city.

The outside of the station is just as bad. The Gateway Plus project is money well spent as far as I am concerned, and 2015 cannot come quickly enough.

 

[Proud Salopian]

If you mean the numbers using it, then it is some way down the list after Cardiff Central; Cardiff Queen Street; Swansea and Newport. In fact, Pontypridd is not far behind Salop.

Based on exits/entries? Shrewsbury is also a major interchange.

 

[Gwenllian2001]

Based on exits/entries? Shrewsbury is also a major interchange.

Yes, based on exits/entries. Bear in mind that Cardiff Central; Cardiff Queen Street and Swansea have a great many passengers changing trains.

 

[VTPreston_Tez]

I also nominate Arnside. Too cold in the winter, too hot in the summer and no proper shelter or TVM!

 

[6Gman]

if their posters outside it are anything to go by.

As for ATW's apparent neglect of stations due to their being in England, I would remind the honourable Salopian that
1 - Shrewsbury has a new lift on platform 3
2 - Leominster has just received lifts for its footbridge as well as a new ticket office/window,
3 - Chester railway station has just received £10m worth of regeneration

They spent £10m on that!. In its original condition the booking office was at the station entrance. Then they moved it inside. Now you have to walk past coffee shops and a bookmakers (!) to get to the booking office. Just what you want when you're rushing for the train. The ticket barriers are poorly located and cause congestion. The information screens are badly placed. A horrid, confused mess.
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On the mainline, well I don't like Crewe really, but i havnt been through it recently so don't know if anything has been done to it.

They've done quite a lot of reglazing so you don't get quite as wet when it rains. [But you'll still get wet going to Platform 9 if it's been raining]

 

[WL113]

Am I the only one who likes New Street? Ive never had any problem with it. Always the best place to change trains. Look at the screen. Platform 5000, brilliant, off I trot!
OK I admit its a lot lot worse than it used to be, but thats down to the influx of pendys and vomiter voyagers, and nothing to do with the station.

Birmingham New Street Station has served the city well since 1967. It is nice to see someone appreciate it. Whatever one thinks of the architecture the station is very easy to use.

 

[Badger]

I also don't think New Street is a bad station. But it definately does have capacity issues, which are currently being resolved (but is a refurbishment so yes it's needed).

 

[WL113]

It is a great pity that Snow Hill station was downgraded and eventually closed and demolished after New Street was rebuilt in 1967. Snow Hill was a 12 platform station at that stage and really should have been retained.

 

[172212]

It is a great pity that Snow Hill station was downgraded and eventually closed and demolished after New Street was rebuilt in 1967. Snow Hill was a 12 platform station at that stage and really should have been retained.

That's unfortunate, at least New Street is being refurbished, I think it will look great once it's done. Snow Hill still does get a decent amount of class 172 and 168 stock.

 

[12CSVT]

Carlisle needs urgent attention to those uneven platform surfaces.

Same goes to the north end of platform 1 at Grantham.

 

[asylumxl]

I add Luton to the list.

 

[bb21]

Wakefield Kirkgate is an obvious one, and by refurb I mean full, top to toe refurb to completely sort it out.

Judged by this picture I took last year, it looked deceptively cosy.

 

[172212]

Judged by this picture I took last year, it looked deceptively cosy.

It looks like a nice quiet station from that picture, although it's hard to tell

 

[fgwrich]

It is a great pity that Snow Hill station was downgraded and eventually closed and demolished after New Street was rebuilt in 1967. Snow Hill was a 12 platform station at that stage and really should have been retained.

I'll agree with that, especially after the revitalisation of almost neighbouring Moor Street Station.

In fact, anyone wants’ to work out how Snow Hill would probably look like now, id recommend Open Bves Network West Midlands for that - it's a pretty realistic resemblance of how the station would probably look like without BR's Modernisation & the Midland Metro, just a shame that the real station doesn’t look as appealing! Still, at least some extra plaform space will be created when the Midland Metro moves out and onto it's new viaduct / station.

As for Stations to refurbish...*Cough FGW Cough* Some of their stations could do with a tart up, as well as SWT's Micheldever - which to me has always felt like a forgotten station on the mainline.

(First picture from Wikipedia)

 

[pitdiver]

The picture of Snow Hill as it was looks better than New Street did when I last saw it about 9 months ago

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

The railway station that I nominate is Salford Central because of what is up at platform level did not appear to be as important to those who made a decision to make a glass enclosed lower level entrance far more of a priority than the general decrepitude that greets passengers on finally attaining the platform areas.

 

[bAzTNM]

I was going to mention Dumbarton East, like somebody else in the thread has. Just a dark, wet, depressing place, which looks like it didn't get the tidy up Dumbarton Central got.

Yoker quite depresses me due to the fact somebody has went mental with an airgun from the flats opposite and used the Yoker sign as a target. YOU could be next.

Croftfoot looks a bit grim whilst it is pouring of rain. Lochwinnoch probably for that reason (great location outside of the station though)

 

[Rhydgaled]

Beat me to it!!!! The outside looks good but stand on platform 3 and look around for a few mins and you soon realise its very tired and very mid 90s in a Regional Railways sort of way!

Nothing wrong with most of the architecture of Shrewsbury station, just alot of it (on the Platform 1, 2 and 3 side especially) needs repairing and cleaning up. I'm only talking about the inside of the station though, I've only changed trains there never actually left the station.

Weeley station on the Clacton-on-Sea line is pretty poor with it's boarded up old station building.

If you think that's awful Whitland is worse, by virture of some doors having been painted in ATW turquoise and the station building being a less interesting design to start with. I'm only going by your picture of Weeley though, the other side could be worse.

Work is underway on some tidying up at Whitland, which is a step in the right direction, but they haven't decided what to do with the main building. As awful as it is right now, I think demolishing it (one of the options being considered) would be a mistake. The station is a junction, it needs a waiting room in there really.

On the other hand, I think Aberystwyth is in less need of a refurbishment than the powers that be seem to think (the canopy is rather grubby and rusty, and does need work, but the rest is fairly well kept). It could use a waiting room though, I hope that's in the refurb plans.

 

[MattRobinson]

Wakefield Kirkgate has some beautiful architecture, but the fact remains that it's one of the most notorious places in Wakefield for violent crime does rather suggest that something needs to be done.

The link that says that they're installing CCTV doesn't seem much use, they seem to be able to collect evidence of crimes taking place but not be able to prevent them- public opinion suggests that it should become a staffed station, but unfortunately, none of the railway companies will pay the wages of any member of staff. The link also says that they're improving the entrance to the station, unfortunately, that seems to consist of repainting the entrance hall (if it can be described as such) and not a lot else.

Kirkgate was sidelined by the railways because it wasn't on a direct line to Leeds, but don't let that fool you into thinking that it's an underused station. It isn't.

There's a thread asking about remodelling the layout of the station, lets hope that the station itself is improved. I know that when I was commuting to Huddersfield for college, I'd make the slightly longer journey to Wakefield Westgate to avoid Kirkgate.

It's well deserving of the title that Andrew Adonis gave it a few years ago: 'the worst station in Britain'

 

[6Gman]

Llandudno.

End of .....

 

[172212]

Birmingham New Street Station has served the city well since 1967. It is nice to see someone appreciate it. Whatever one thinks of the architecture the station is very easy to use.

I love Birmingham New Street, for an enthusiast it's train heaven, but I think it's in dire need of a refurb

 

[telstarbox]

New Street is just grim. It's dark and unwelcoming and it is a very poor advertisement for Britain's second city in its current state. I know it's difficult to do much with it as it is almost entirely underground (even if this does give it the bonus of having an extremely central location) but if you want an example of everything bad about 1960s architecture and why Birmingham had a reputation as a concrete jungle for so long then just look at New Street station. It has a hell of a lot to answer for when it comes to peoples first impressions of the city.

Sorry to go off-topic but did The Specials invent the phrase "concrete jungle"? Their song of the same name appears to pre-date the other uses of the term here.

 

[SS4]

I like New Street myself. The platforms are easy enough to get to and they're always cool and dark when the sun is out (but not too dark). By sticking a John Lewis on top of the new station they've proved that they've learnt nothing though.

Lichfield Trent Valley could do with a refurb, if only to put the ticket office in a permanent building!

 

[daccer]

Interesting thread. It does seem that after many years of neglect the stations of Britain are finally getting some tlc. Awhile back there was a thread about the ten worst stations in the country and the top four or five stations always seemed to be the same. New St, Kirkgate, Sunderland, Man Victoria seemed to always be there.

I believe that Sunderland has been done up and there are extensive plans for the other three which have started or are about to start. Also on this thread I believe there are plans in place for Llanduno and Luton.

Maybe a better title might be for stations that need work but for which no plans exist.

I would like to see Crewe returned to its former glory. Get rid of all the nasty 60's and 70's additions and build a proper station building.

I think with the NSIP and Network Rail finally getting to grips with the station situation maybe threads like these will be a lot shorter in the future!

 

[Class315]

Maryland station is a station I'd nominate, it is evident through the years of neglect is in dire need of improvement, yes I know crossrail is a few years away. But couple of weeks ago I was on a metro service which was stuck behind a broken down metro train at Forest Gate. Two carriages out of the eight ground to a halt before the starter signal outside Maryland on the Down Electric Line, needless to say train reversed and we was advised to travel to platform four, where metro trains where supposed to set down but didn't.

Whilst walking down the stairs to platform four, their was numerous puddles of urine on the stairs, it reminds of a news article regarding Sudbury & Harrow Road station a couple years ago.

 

[WL113]

I'll agree with that, especially after the revitalisation of almost neighbouring Moor Street Station.

In fact, anyone wants’ to work out how Snow Hill would probably look like now, id recommend Open Bves Network West Midlands for that - it's a pretty realistic resemblance of how the station would probably look like without BR's Modernisation & the Midland Metro, just a shame that the real station doesn’t look as appealing! Still, at least some extra plaform space will be created when the Midland Metro moves out and onto it's new viaduct / station.

As for Stations to refurbish...*Cough FGW Cough* Some of their stations could do with a tart up, as well as SWT's Micheldever - which to me has always felt like a forgotten station on the mainline.

(First picture from Wikipedia)

What makes the loss of Snow Hill harder to accept is the fact that the Station was resignalled in 1963. A new panel box was opened at the south end of platform 5. 4 years later the Station lost it's main line services, 2 years after that Snow Hill tunnel closed and in 1972 the last 2 platforms of what had become the largest unstaffed Station in the UK finally closed.

BR and the government of the time really have a lot to answer for.

 

[LE Greys]

While I agree with most of the above (especially New Street), may I add Stevenage. It has three problems.

1. The fact that the platform goods lifts are the only form of level access, not helped by the fact that they are outside the ticket gates
2. The cramped booking office arrangement
3. The lack of canopies, making it windswept, rain-soaked and concentrating the passengers at the foot of the stairs

New lifts (planned) would help the first. The third could be done by putting up canopies to the 8-car stops on both sides (and symmetrically backwards). The second would need a total rebuild of a big structure directly over the fast lines, which is a bit tricky.

 

[asylumxl]

[*]The lack of canopies, making it windswept, rain-soaked and concentrating the passengers at the foot of the stairs

The waiting room doors also slam open at the slightest wind or passing train which becomes incredibly grating after a few minutes.