Trivia: Most confusing Station?

[SeanG]

Don't forget platform 0 at Cardiff Central.
It is signposted, but the route to it involves exiting the main part of the station and going through the ticket barriers, most normals can't believe that the signs are correct.

Similar situation at Shrewsbury for platform 3 (I think).

 

[cool110]

Liverpool Lime Street is ambiguous with platform 1 referring to both a mainline platform and the Wirral Line platform, with the online departure board needing a permanent service update to clarify which platform 1 each train uses.

 

[DC1990]

Edinburgh isn't so bad once you realise that the platforms are more or less numbered clockwise around the main island. The first time I visited though I was very confused and couldn't figure it out at all.

It's already been mentioned but Stratford has to be one of the worst, I've not used it for a few years now but it's so confusing it's unreal. Platforms seemingly not numbered in any particular order, signs seemingly leading to nowhere/lack of signs to some places and just a general lack of structure.

Leeds is also a weird one. I've used it many times but to those who aren't used to it Leeds is pretty strange. Many platforms carved up into multiple sections with no clear indication of where one ends and another begins and sometimes different platforms having the same number but a different letter. As one friend commented recently upon visiting Leeds station "It's a horrible station and it took me ages to get from platform 2A to platform 36P!

Retford is pretty bizarre as well. Changing from the ECML to the Lincoln/Sheffield platforms is awful, particularly in the dark. It looks like you're walking into complete wilderness, just walking off the end of a mainline platform and carrying on down a little pathway to what looks like nothing more than an eyesore of a concrete tower. I imagine it would be quite intimidating if travelling alone.

 

[greaterwest]

Manchester Piccadilly's platforms 13 and 14 get my vote too, they're a bit confusing to actually get to (I left main station area and had to go back in once I noticed the signage for it). Everyone seems to crowd at the very bottom of the stairs on those platforms too, and there is very little space. Probably because the departure boards are there.

A very unlikely place to put a platform indeed.

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

Manchester Piccadilly's platforms 13 and 14 get my vote too, they're a bit confusing to actually get to (I left main station area and had to go back in once I noticed the signage for it). Everyone seems to crowd at the very bottom of the stairs on those platforms too, and there is very little space. Probably because the departure boards are there.
A very unlikely place to put a platform indeed.

It's so popular they are going to put another 2 platforms there soon...
The "quick" way up to those platforms from the Metrolink platforms is poorly signposted too.
The Fairfield St lift avoids several sets of stairs/escalators and a walk down the full length of the terminal platforms.
You just have to avoid being run down by an arriving tram right at the start.

 

[TheNewNo2]

It's already been mentioned but Stratford has to be one of the worst, I've not used it for a few years now but it's so confusing it's unreal. Platforms seemingly not numbered in any particular order, signs seemingly leading to nowhere/lack of signs to some places and just a general lack of structure.

The platform map signs misspell "Lewisham" too...

 

[dave12435]

At least at Stratford in the subways they have the Platform X Trains towards Y signs by the stairs/lifts the platforms would be really confusing otherwise we have used it several times and not got lost
Kings Cross St Pancras Underground station is very confusing to me

 

[Andyh82]

I would say Waverley as well, it doesn't help that many trains most likely to be used by visitors i.e London & Crosscountry trains leave from the southern most platforms outside the main station, so you can't even physically see them. Plus when you arrive down the ramp you are faced with platforms 1, 2 and then a jump to 14, 15 etc.

I also agree with Stratford. I'm always worried about ensuring I pass through the correct number of barriers/oyster readers, particularly if using the low level platforms but entering from Westfield.

Manchester Piccadilly platforms 13 & 14, again not finding the platforms, but knowing where the train will stop is the issue. It doesn't help that due to the long curved platforms you can wait at the bottom of the stairs not realising that your train is already in but sat right at the top end.

 

[DynamicSpirit]

I think you may be thinking of line 4.

A joint Euston-KX-SP station is was certainly proposed for Crossrail 2 last time I looked. I also hope it would be possible to provide an underground moving walkway link on the unpaid side of the barriers.

Imagine how big that'll get if they then connect Euston Square station to Euston (which I seem to recall is under consideration as part of HS2). How long would the walk from the Euston Square platforms to the Thameslink platforms be...?

Kings Cross underground is by itself quite a pain to get round because of the sheer lengths of the passageways. (Though I'm not sure if 'confusing' is quite the right word as it's usually clear where to go).

 

[edwin_m]

Imagine how big that'll get if they then connect Euston Square station to Euston (which I seem to recall is under consideration as part of HS2). How long would the walk from the Euston Square platforms to the Thameslink platforms be...?

All the trains that call at Euston Square will also call at KXSP sub-surface platforms, and presumably the existing station names will be retained, so I don't think this is at risk of becoming like Chatelet-Les Halles. Probably no worse than the potential confusion today of having one Tube station for both KX and SP.

 

[TheNewNo2]

Just asked my girlfriend on this topic, she says King's Cross because of the stupid tidal escalator.

 

[Taunton]

Imagine how big that'll get if they then connect Euston Square station to Euston (which I seem to recall is under consideration as part of HS2).

I have never understood how, 150 years after the Met was dug right past the front of Euston station, funds have never been found, as they were at Kings Cross in 1940, to provide replacement Circle Line platforms as an integrated part of the Tube and main line station, instead of Euston Square.

 

[DynamicSpirit]

I have never understood how, 150 years after the Met was dug right past the front of Euston station, funds have never been found, as they were at Kings Cross in 1940, to provide replacement Circle Line platforms as an integrated part of the Tube and main line station, instead of Euston Square.

1940????? Are you sure of that? That would have been right in the middle of the 2nd World War. I have no knowledge of the history of Kings Cross, but I'd have thought the Government would have had certain other priorities at the time!

 

[transmanche]

1940????? Are you sure of that? That would have been right in the middle of the 2nd World War. I have no knowledge of the history of Kings Cross, but I'd have thought the Government would have had certain other priorities at the time!

It was actually March 1941 when the new platforms opened. Lots of work on the 1935-1940 New Works Programme carried on after WW2 started.

For example, the Northern line extension to High Barnet opened in 1940, the Mill Hill East branch in 1941 (these were LNER branches electrified and converted to tube use, the latter branch served an Army barracks).

 

[Busaholic]

Stratford, for all the reasons stated, but would like to add the presence of Stratford International in case anyone was desperate for a quick but overpriced trip to St Pancras.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

Leeds is also a weird one. I've used it many times but to those who aren't used to it Leeds is pretty strange. Many platforms carved up into multiple sections with no clear indication of where one ends and another begins and sometimes different platforms having the same number but a different letter. As one friend commented recently upon visiting Leeds station "It's a horrible station and it took me ages to get from platform 2A to platform 36P!

There aren't any duplicated numbers at Leeds! I agree though that the layout is a bit confusing, particularly the few very long platform faces which are split into a, b, c and d sections and occasionally have three different services departing in close succession. I've known visitors get completely spun around by the fact that from the ticket barriers there are trains in three or four different directions.

 

[yorksrob]

Platform 17 is a particular pain to get to.

One of the things it takes a bit of getting used to at Leeds is knowing which footbridge it's quickest to use and when, however the numbering of the platforms is logical enough (the old platform W might have led to some head scratching though).

I found Waverley very confusing recently. Something to do with the signage resulted in me walking up and down the footbridge a couple of times before eventually getting to the right place.

 

[edwin_m]

I have never understood how, 150 years after the Met was dug right past the front of Euston station, funds have never been found, as they were at Kings Cross in 1940, to provide replacement Circle Line platforms as an integrated part of the Tube and main line station, instead of Euston Square.

The expansion of Kings Cross was helped by there being a spare tunnel they could use, apparently intended as a link from the Metropolitan to the main line station at Euston, so moving the station would have involved little or no disruption on the surface. Moving Euston Square would have meant digging up the Euston Road outside Euston Station to excavate platforms alongside the tracks, which (depending on the exact position of the tracks) may have had to undercut the buildings on the south side. However I do agree it's surprising Euston Square hasn't acquired exits at the east end of its existing platforms, which would roughly halve the walking distance to Euston.

 

[damo44]

I've certainly got confused changing at Smethwick Galton Bridge, from the Birmingham-bound low level line to the Kidderminster-bound high level line.

I though it was just me that did that, if I'm not paying close attention I usually end up on the platform facing the one I actually wanted

 

[duffield]

I though it was just me that did that, if I'm not paying close attention I usually end up on the platform facing the one I actually wanted

Same here.
The first time I changed there I wasn't paying attention and ended up on the right platform anyhow. The second time, I went what I thought was the right way and ended up on the wrong platform. The third time, I thought I'd got it cracked - and ended up on the same wrong platform *again*...
I would probably have been OK except each time it was a short connection so I was in a hurry (less haste, more speed etc.).

 

[Taunton]

Paddington has a notably confusing concourse gateline arrangement, given that half the platforms have gates and half do not, randomly mixed, and that there are separate little clusters of a few platforms being gated together, it not being possible to get directly from one group to another. I once just breezed through thinking it would lead to my platform, and I've noticed many others doing the same and getting stuck, the platform numbering not being particularly well signed at the crucial point. Up on the footbridge, the alternative platform entrance, there is some confusing signage, and I've stood up there and looked at some signage (was it to 13?) and thought that the arrow indications are just wrong. Given I've known the station all my life, it's not so much a problem, but others must find it sometimes challenging.

 

[dvboy]

I though it was just me that did that, if I'm not paying close attention I usually end up on the platform facing the one I actually wanted

The thing with SGB is that it can be somewhat confusing if you have a good sense of direction - it doesn't seem right to be travelling North East to go towards Birmingham Snow Hill, in your head you expect to be going South East.

If you come off a New Street bound train and head upstairs for a Snow Hill bound train (for example to avoid a walk from New Street to Moor Street instead), it can feel like you're going in the wrong direction.

 

[Statto]

The thing with SGB is that it can be somewhat confusing if you have a good sense of direction - it doesn't seem right to be travelling North East to go towards Birmingham Snow Hill, in your head you expect to be going South East.

If you come off a New Street bound train and head upstairs for a Snow Hill bound train (for example to avoid a walk from New Street to Moor Street instead), it can feel like you're going in the wrong direction.

It can be disconcerting due to the North/South layout of the Snow Hill lines but the line bends at The Hawthorns towards Snow Hill.

Some of the DC stations between Euston & Willesden Junction similar feel but with East/West layout then the line branches South at Camden Junction to Euston.