Stations that should be renamed to a more suitable name.

[busestrains]

Our railway network throughout the UK seems to have an awful lot of stations which are (at least in my opinion) very poorly named.

Some have silly suffixes that are not needed. Some are missing suffixes that would help passengers. Some are named after somewhere far away. A lot have just not been named sensibly.

These are all of the stations i can think of that really ought to be renamed:

• Ashford International -> Ashford (Kent)
• Aylesbury Vale Parkway -> Aylesbury North
• Bath Spa -> Bath
• Bicester Village -> Bicester Town
• Birchington On Sea -> Birchington
• Birmingham International -> Birmingham Airport
• Bodmin Parkway -> Bodmin
• Bristol Parkway -> Stoke Gifford
• Bristol Temple Meads -> Bristol
• Buckshaw Parkway -> Buckshaw
• Cheltenham Spa -> Cheltenham
• Coleshill Parkway -> Coleshill
• Didcot Parkway -> Didcot
• Dover Priory -> Dover
• Droitwich Spa -> Droitwich
• Durrington On Sea -> Durrington
• East Midlands Parkway -> Ratcliffe On Soar
• Ebbsfleet International -> Ebbsfleet
• Ebbw Vale Parkway -> Victoria (Gwent)
• Ebbw Vale Town -> Ebbw Vale
• Edenbridge -> Edenbridge North
• Edenbridge Town -> Edenbridge South
• Edinburgh -> Edinburgh Waverley
• Edinburgh Gateway -> Gogar For Edinburgh Airport
• Goring By Sea -> Goring (Sussex)
• Haddenham & Thame Parkway -> Haddenham & Thame
• Harwich International -> Harwich Ferry Port
• Haymarket -> Edinburgh Haymarket
• Holmwood -> Holmwood & Beare Green
• Horwich Parkway -> Horwich
• Leamington Spa -> Leamington
• Liverpool South Parkway -> Liverpool Airport
• London St Pancras International -> London St Pancras
• Luton Airport Parkway -> Luton Airport
• Milton Keynes Central -> Milton Keynes
• Newhaven Harbour -> Newhaven South
• Newhaven Town -> Newhaven
• Ockley -> Ockley & Capel
• Oxford Parkway -> Oxford North
• Port Talbot Parkway -> Port Talbot
• Prestwick International Airport -> Prestwick Airport
• Rhoose Cardiff International Airport -> Rhoose For Cardiff Airport
• Sandling -> Sandling & Hythe
• Shoreham By Sea -> Shoreham (Sussex)
• Southampton Airport Parkway -> Southampton Airport
• Southampton Central -> Southampton
• Stratford International -> Stratford North
• Stratford Upon Avon Parkway -> Stratford Upon Avon North
• Sutton Parkway -> Sutton In Ashfield
• Tame Bridge Parkway -> Tame Bridge
• Tiverton Parkway -> Sampford Peverell For Tiverton
• Warwick Parkway -> Warwick West
• Westgate On Sea -> Westgate
• Whittlesford Parkway -> Whittlesford
• Witley -> Wormley
• Wivelsfield -> Burgess Hill North
• Worcestershire Parkway -> Norton

What other stations do you think ought to be renamed? I would be interested to hear what others you think could do with renaming?

 

[geoffk]

Whittlesea to Whittlesey, Broad Green to Broadgreen, Cross Gates to Crossgates. Also Lincoln Central to Lincoln, Rotherham Central to Rotherham.

 

[A S Leib]

Bristol Temple Meads -> Bristol
• Cheltenham Spa -> Cheltenham
• Dover Priory -> Dover
• Edinburgh -> Edinburgh Waverley

Inconsistent and seems like change for the sake of change. Why does Edinburgh deserve a suffix and Bristol, Cheltenham, Dover and others don't?

Birmingham International -> Birmingham Airport

I think the NEC's a good enough reason to keep it as something including more than the airport.

• Harwich International -> Harwich Ferry Port

It might just be that I'm not used to it, but that sounds a lot less appealing to me.

• London St Pancras International -> London St Pancras
• Luton Airport Parkway -> Luton Airport
• Milton Keynes Central -> Milton Keynes
• Newhaven Harbour -> Newhaven South

So you're renaming a station in Essex to specifically include a ferry port whilst removing any mention of one from the Sussex one. Agree with Luton though, especially once the DART's open.

• Prestwick International Airport -> Prestwick Airport

All of Prestwick's destinations are abroad, and I'd imagine most people would just say 'Prestwick' if 'International Airport' or 'Airport' is too long.

• Stratford International -> Stratford North

Agreed.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

• Liverpool South Parkway -> Liverpool Airport

Reckon that would be a tad misleading. Got to be a good three-and-a-half miles from the railway station over to the airport terminal.

P.S. Would seem also that you're not overly enamoured with just about any railway station having 'International' or 'Parkway' in its name?

 

[busestrains]

Inconsistent and seems like change for the sake of change. Why does Edinburgh deserve a suffix and Bristol, Cheltenham, Dover and others don't?

I think the NEC's a good enough reason to keep it as something including more than the airport.

It might just be that I'm not used to it, but that sounds a lot less appealing to me.

So you're renaming a station in Essex to specifically include a ferry port whilst removing any mention of one from the Sussex one. Agree with Luton though, especially once the DART's open.

All of Prestwick's destinations are abroad, and I'd imagine most people would just say 'Prestwick' if 'International Airport' or 'Airport' is too long.

Agreed.

I generally support suffixes if the city or town has more than one railway station. This stops confusion. But if it only has one than suffixes are pointless. So that is my reason for that. That is why i support adding suffixes in some places and getting rid of suffixes in other places.

Lots of foreigners who do not speak English may not know what "International" means but will know what "Airport" means. So using calling it Birmingham Airport is much clearer. Anyway the current name does not include the NEC so i see no reason why this name change would make any difference. Neither the words "Airport" or "International" have anything to do with the NEC so changing the name makes no difference. They can of course still have signs on the platform saying "alight here for the NEC" though. I think Birmingham Airport sounds much better.

Newhaven Town is the station for the ferry port. The ferry terminal building is about a twenty second walk from Newhaven Town station. It is right next door. On the other hand it is nowhere near Newhaven Harbour station. The ferry terminal is nowhere near Newhaven Harbour station. Newhaven Harbour serves nothing. If you get off there for the ferry port you will have a long walk back. So that is why i want to rename Newhaven Harbour so people stop mistakenly alighting there for the ferry port.

 

[A S Leib]

I generally support suffixes if the city or town has more than one railway station. This stops confusion. But if it only has one than suffixes are pointless. So that is my reason for that. That is why i support adding suffixes in some places and getting rid of suffixes in other places.

Newhaven Town is the station for the ferry port. The ferry terminal building is about a twenty second walk from Newhaven Town station. It is right next door. On the other hand it is nowhere near Newhaven Harbour station. The ferry terminal is nowhere near Newhaven Harbour station. Newhaven Harbour serves nothing. If you get off there for the ferry port you will have a long walk back. So that is why i want to rename Newhaven Harbour so people stop mistakenly alighting there for the ferry port.

Fair enough, although I'd imagine that Clifton Down would cause at least as much confusion for parts of Bristol as Haymarket would for Edinburgh, so I'd keep Temple Meads.

 

[busestrains]

Reckon that would be a tad misleading. Got to be a good three-and-a-half miles from the railway station over to the airport terminal.

P.S. Would seem also that you're not overly enamoured with just about any railway station having 'International' or 'Parkway' in its name?

It is still the main station for Liverpool Airport though. It is where you alight for the bus. So no different to Luton Airport really. Maybe it could be called "Garston For Liverpool Airport" but i think just simply "Liverpool Airport" would be best.

Yes i hate stations having "International" or "Parkway" in their names. They are both silly unnecessary suffixes. There is no need for such suffixes.

 

[Grecian 1998]

Renaming Bodmin Parkway would be 'interesting', given the station is nowhere near Bodmin, and the most direct walking route will direct you to walk along the A38, with its fast traffic and lack of pavements. Might not just cause confusion to the unaware, but also loss of life.

Parkway is a useful suffix as it alerts travellers that 1. there's plenty of parking; 2. the station may not be very close to the place it serves (though not always), just as 'Road' or 'Junction' suffixes used to do. It also highlights that whilst it may not be close to the place it's named after, it probably gives good road connections e.g. Tiverton Parkway (A361) or Bristol Parkway (M32). Changing these to 'Sampford Peverell for Tiverton' or 'Stoke Gifford' would make little sense as most people unfamiliar with the area won't have any idea where those villages are.


It would seem to make sense to rename Moreton in Dorset to Crossways, as the latter is far larger and about the same distance from the station.

It would probably also make sense to rename Liverpool Street to Bishopsgate given the apocryphal tales of tourists ending up in Liverpool by mistake. Alternatively, you could see if Liverpudlians want to change the name of their city to accommodate London, but I suspect they might consider that unreasonable.

 

[The Planner]

The railway is skint as it is, and most of the changes are pointless.

 

[AGH]

Liverpool South Parkway back to Allerton. I'd prefer the Airport to have its own connection be that heavy or light rail. I live in hope.

Widnes to North Widnes. Nowhere near the Town.

Runcorn to Runcorn Central. More accurate bearing in mind there is an east. Arguably Runcorn East might be better as Murdishaw.

Warrington West to Chapelford. More accurate again. Birchwood was never Warrington East...

Salford Central to Manchester Spinningfields.

Rock Ferry to Tranmere?

 

[satisnek]

But some of these are the correct full name for the settlement they serve. I don't think that the locals would be very happy about having their station name abbreviated!

Edenbridge could well be re-named Edenbridge North but Edenbridge Town is just that.

 

[Magdalia]

Yes i hate stations having "International" or "Parkway" in their names. They are both silly unnecessary suffixes. There is no need for such suffixes.

Neither of these are silly or unnecessary. They impart useful information in a succinct way.

Parkway clearly indicates a station with lots of car parking and good access to the motorway network. It was a concept pioneered by Bristol Parkway in 1972 and subsequently replicated elsewhere.

International indicates international connections either by air, rail or sea. It is a suffix pioneered by Birmingham International in 1976 and subsequently replicated elsewhere. In 1976 what I still think of as Elmdon was called Birmingham International Airport, hence the name given at that time, and the use of International as a suffix grew from there.

Lots of foreigners who do not speak English may not know what "International" means but will know what "Airport" means.

There is some inconsistency on when International is used and when Airport is used. I agree that we should be considerate and standardise on what works for people who don't speak English as a first language. If Airport is more helpful than International then that's a good reason for change.

International was consistently applied at the Eurostar stations at St Pancras, Stratford, Ebbsfleet and Ashford. It was needed when Eurostar trains stopped at all of them, but, if Eurostar trains at Stratford, Ebbsfleet and Ashford are gone for the foreseeable future then the International suffix is misleading and should be dropped.

For me the silver lining from junking the International suffix would be at Harwich, I think the only seaport that uses it. Here we could return to its proper name of Harwich Parkeston Quay. The three character station code has remained as HPQ in readiness for this overdue event.

And what don't you like about Spas, On Seas and By Seas!?

 

[Merthyr Imp]

Rock Ferry to Tranmere?

And by analogy, perhaps Longport to Port Vale??

And what don't you like about Spas, On Seas and By Seas!?

Perhaps Leamington Spa should be Royal Leamington Spa.

 

[zwk500]

You may enjoy this thread: https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/stations-you-would-rename.212826/

Personally, I would say that if two stations start with the same word, they should both have suffixes, so in your examples, Bristol, Newhaven etc I wouldn't simplify.
Some stations have lost relevant services but in theory only temporarily, so I wouldn't rename them yet. Parkway and International are useful designations, I wouldn't get rid of them unless the station genuinely isn't a parkway, and I wouldn't rename Bristol Parkway to Stoke Gifford as that name means nothing to people, but Bristol Parkway is obviously a station near, but not in, Bristol.

You just seem to have it in for certain endings, like 'by-sea' or 'parkway'.

 

[Basil Jet]

• Luton Airport Parkway -> Luton Airport

How would you differentiate between a ticket which included the DART and a ticket which didn't?

As I said recently, I think Acton Main Line is a ridiculous name, and would prefer Acton Elizabeth. The northernmost of the three Canary Wharf stations could be Canary Elizabeth as well.

 

[43096]

International was consistently applied at the Eurostar stations at St Pancras, Stratford, Ebbsfleet and Ashford. It was needed when Eurostar trains stopped at all of them, but, if Eurostar trains at Stratford, Ebbsfleet and Ashford are gone for the foreseeable future then the International suffix is misleading and should be dropped.

Even there, use of International is inconsistent: Stratford has never been served by Eurostar.

 

[SargeNpton]

Whittlesea to Whittlesey, Broad Green to Broadgreen, Cross Gates to Crossgates. Also Lincoln Central to Lincoln, Rotherham Central to Rotherham.

Lincoln lost its "Central" suffix years ago.

 

[Turtle]

Our railway network throughout the UK seems to have an awful lot of stations which are (at least in my opinion) very poorly named.

Some have silly suffixes that are not needed. Some are missing suffixes that would help passengers. Some are named after somewhere far away. A lot have just not been named sensibly.

These are all of the stations i can think of that really ought to be renamed:

• Ashford International -> Ashford (Kent)
• Aylesbury Vale Parkway -> Aylesbury North
• Bath Spa -> Bath
• Bicester Village -> Bicester Town
• Birchington On Sea -> Birchington
• Birmingham International -> Birmingham Airport
• Bodmin Parkway -> Bodmin
• Bristol Parkway -> Stoke Gifford
• Bristol Temple Meads -> Bristol
• Buckshaw Parkway -> Buckshaw
• Cheltenham Spa -> Cheltenham
• Coleshill Parkway -> Coleshill
• Didcot Parkway -> Didcot
• Dover Priory -> Dover
• Droitwich Spa -> Droitwich
• Durrington On Sea -> Durrington
• East Midlands Parkway -> Ratcliffe On Soar
• Ebbsfleet International -> Ebbsfleet
• Ebbw Vale Parkway -> Victoria (Gwent)
• Ebbw Vale Town -> Ebbw Vale
• Edenbridge -> Edenbridge North
• Edenbridge Town -> Edenbridge South
• Edinburgh -> Edinburgh Waverley
• Edinburgh Gateway -> Gogar For Edinburgh Airport
• Goring By Sea -> Goring (Sussex)
• Haddenham & Thame Parkway -> Haddenham & Thame
• Harwich International -> Harwich Ferry Port
• Haymarket -> Edinburgh Haymarket
• Holmwood -> Holmwood & Beare Green
• Horwich Parkway -> Horwich
• Leamington Spa -> Leamington
• Liverpool South Parkway -> Liverpool Airport
• London St Pancras International -> London St Pancras
• Luton Airport Parkway -> Luton Airport
• Milton Keynes Central -> Milton Keynes
• Newhaven Harbour -> Newhaven South
• Newhaven Town -> Newhaven
• Ockley -> Ockley & Capel
• Oxford Parkway -> Oxford North
• Port Talbot Parkway -> Port Talbot
• Prestwick International Airport -> Prestwick Airport
• Rhoose Cardiff International Airport -> Rhoose For Cardiff Airport
• Sandling -> Sandling & Hythe
• Shoreham By Sea -> Shoreham (Sussex)
• Southampton Airport Parkway -> Southampton Airport
• Southampton Central -> Southampton
• Stratford International -> Stratford North
• Stratford Upon Avon Parkway -> Stratford Upon Avon North
• Sutton Parkway -> Sutton In Ashfield
• Tame Bridge Parkway -> Tame Bridge
• Tiverton Parkway -> Sampford Peverell For Tiverton
• Warwick Parkway -> Warwick West
• Westgate On Sea -> Westgate
• Whittlesford Parkway -> Whittlesford
• Witley -> Wormley
• Wivelsfield -> Burgess Hill North
• Worcestershire Parkway -> Norton

What other stations do you think ought to be renamed? I would be interested to hear what others you think could do with renaming?

How about the Crawley area?
Three Bridges = Crawley East
Crawley = Crawley Central
Ifield = Crawley West

 

[DanNCL]

Dinsdale should be renamed Middleton St George, as that’s where the station actually is and serves.

Heighington could probably be renamed Aycliffe South, or indeed Merchant Park as per the Hitachi plant. Either way it isn’t in the village called Heighington!

 

[Bletchleyite]

• Milton Keynes Central -> Milton Keynes

No, for two reasons.

1. There are six stations serving the City of Milton Keynes (I can now say that! ) - Wolverton, Bletchley, MKC, Fenny Stratford, Bow Brickhill and Woburn Sands. Where there is more than one in a built up area with significant destination traffic it is sensible to have a suffix indicating which one is the main one you should get off at if you want the centre. I'd be more about adding those where they're missing than removing this one.

2. The area it is in is actually called "Central Milton Keynes".

A few I'd change:

Birmingham International -> Birmingham Airport (sign suffix: for the NEC and Resorts World). It actively confuses people, I've been asked more than once "is this for the city centre". The Germans would probably call it "Flughafen-Messe", or these days possibly "Airport-Messe" because for some reason their language seems not to be good enough for them, but sadly we don't have a short word for a trade fair venue (hence why this is never Anglicised in Germany). I suppose you could call it "Birmingham NEC-Airport" or vice versa but it feels clunky.

Cark and Cartmel -> Cark and Flookburgh. It isn't sensible to go here for Cartmel unless you like a long walk (and while small Cartmel is a tourist destination and one for the races); the (sparse) bus service is from Grange over Sands, plus it's half way between the two.

Bow Brickhill -> Tilbrook for Caldecotte. It's not really in Bow Brickhill, and this renaming might make more people use it if they realised where it was - a lot of employment in those two places.

London St Pancras Intl -> London Agincourt Intl (this is a joke! )

I see the point about Luton Airport Parkway post-people mover. A simple renaming like "Luton Airport & Parkway" would make it clearer that it's actually connected to the airport (well, no less than Birmingham Intl is) but that it is also a Parkway. Almost nobody would expect to see reasonably priced parking at a station just called Airport.

Luton -> Luton Town (or Luton Central) for the reason noted above. It's informally called that anyway.
St Albans -> St Albans City (or St Albans Central), again see above.
Perhaps St Albans Abbey -> St Albans South, but most users know where it is so that's probably a waste of effort.

Horwich Parkway could probably become Middlebrook Stadium & Parkway, or even Bolton Stadium. It's in that development, everyone local is going to know that, Horwich is not a significant destination (but Middlebrook is) and when I was passing frequently watching it being built I was amazed that that wasn't its name when it opened.

Around that area (ish) I always thought it a massive shame that Buckshaw Parkway wasn't called Euxton ROF and didn't keep some of the 1930s features rather than being a mid 2000s Network Rail identikit Lego station. The platforms did need to move but they could have built it to look a bit more Art Deco, keeping stuff like the style of lighting and windows. It's an origin rather than a destination and locals are likely to know that's what the area was.

If renaming Runcorn, go with Runcorn West, Runcorn North or Runcorn Bridge (I like the latter), or even Runcorn General signifying that it's the main station but not in the middle (perhaps we should resurrect that suffix for such stations). Neither of them is in the centre, which is the Shopping City. The centre of the old town is a non-place, irrelevant to almost everyone. Other option would be Runcorn East -> Murdishaw, and it is very much like the French word sounding similar!

I agree on Stratford being renamed but I'm not quite sure how I'd do it. Both are in the centre, and North/South tends to imply it's out on a limb. Stratford Centre North and Stratford Centre South for the two, perhaps? It's clearly never going to see international trains, and if Westfield was put in the name you might need another rename if that company rebranded, which shopping centres often do.

Can't think of any more off hand. Certainly not get rid of Parkway suffixes as people know that as "station that isn't in the named place but with a decent car park so you can drive there" - it's a successful brand BR came up with and should stay, and probably be added to more stations in that position, though I think "Dent Parkway" might be overdoing it

 

[steamybrian]

A few station names locally to me-
Edenbridge Town to Edenbridge South???? Edenbridge Town is centrally situated for the the town not south of it.
Edenbridge (on Redhill- Tonbridge line) is actually situated in Marlpit Hill.

As mentioned in previous discussion groups many stations are sited in different places than the station name.
Penshurst station is in the village of Chiddingstone Causeway
Frant station is in Bells Yew Green
Wadhurst station is nearer to Durgates village
Knockholt station is 3 miles from the village of that name. It is situated between the delightfully named Pratts Bottom and Badgers Mount.

One I would agree with renaming is Bat & Ball to Sevenoaks North. The pub called " Bat & Ball" was closed many years ago and the station name gives little clue of the location. The main road junction near the station is called "Bat & Ball Junction" but little else reflects that name.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Thinking on Carlisle -> Carlisle Citadel. A lot of people call it that anyway.

Edinburgh Waverley might as well have it on the signs. Almost everyone calls it that.

 

[zwk500]

I agree on Stratford being renamed but I'm not quite sure how I'd do it.

Stratford High Speed would be my personal suggestion, although Stratford Javelin could also work.

 

[geoffk]

Thinking on Carlisle -> Carlisle Citadel. A lot of people call it that anyway.

Edinburgh Waverley might as well have it on the signs. Almost everyone calls it that.

Are names like Darlington Bank Top and Hull Paragon still used locally?

 

[Bletchleyite]

Are names like Darlington Bank Top and Hull Paragon still used locally?

I've only been to Hull once, but I did see the word Paragon more than once. Don't know about Darlo.

 

[D6130]

Are names like Darlington Bank Top and Hull Paragon still used locally?

Yes....very much so!

 

[lxfe_mxtterz]

• Horwich Parkway -> Horwich

I would rename Horwich Parkway to Middlebrook, and rename Blackrod (the closer station to Horwich) to Horwich and Blackrod. There's really no point in removing the "Parkway" suffix but keeping Horwich as it's nowhere near the town centre.

 

[telstarbox]

Around that area (ish) I always thought it a massive shame that Buckshaw Parkway wasn't called Euxton ROF and didn't keep some of the 1930s features rather than being a mid 2000s Network Rail identikit Lego station. The platforms did need to move but they could have built it to look a bit more Art Deco, keeping stuff like the style of lighting and windows. It's an origin rather than a destination and locals are likely to know that's what the area was.

From some Lancashire stations you would then potentially have Euxton / Euston confusion which wouldn't be ideal.

 

[Bletchleyite]

From some Lancashire stations you would then potentially have Euxton / Euston confusion which wouldn't be ideal.

It's pronounced "Exton", so no, you wouldn't. (Both are traffic sources, not traffic sinks - if you're going there to visit someone you'll know).

Also, there's already Euxton Balshaw Lane.

 

[silexa]

I don't see a reason for changing Leamington Spa to Leamington. The town's name is Royal Leamington Spa so it makes complete sense