Trivia: Most confusing Station?

[dvboy]

Smethwick Galton Bridge.

Looks simple. Can be confusing in reality.

From the entrance to platform 4 you have to cross a bridge, go down some stairs or a lift, walk along platform 2, and go down some more stairs or a lift.

To get from platform 4 to platform 1, you have to use three seperate sets of stairs. It's unlikely that many people would do this however if you were coming from the Snow Hill direction changing onto a New Street train.

Platform 2 has three seperate staircases and two lifts, and they all look the same, so you really have to look out for the signs.

This diagram is a little simplified:

from http://www.dudleymall.co.uk/loclrail/birmwolv.htm

 

[thenorthern]

For the 12 terminal Platforms at Manchester Piccadilly its a great station but I find the two through platforms (13 and 14) rather hard to navigate to. I always find Manchester Oxford Road rather confusing as platform 1 is furthest away from the entrance and the bay as you walk in is Platform 5 which I keep thinking is Platform 1.

As hideous and ugly as it is I always found Birmingham New Street the easiest to Navigate as the platforms as in a line which makes it easier.

 

[Haydn1971]

Waverley and Stratford for me... Both a mess

 

[SeanG]

I find access to the underground platforms at Glasgow Central confusing. And I suppose ground level could be as some buffer stops are by the departure boards and then to get to the more suburban ones you have to go to the right

 

[IanD]

My first thought on reading the thread title was Stratford. Have to agree with Waverley too. I've only caught trains from London Bridge mainline during the remodelling and find it confusing (hopefully I won't when it's finished). The new layout King's Cross St Pancras underground is really confusing if you follow the recommended routes.

 

[6Gman]

Stratford. Well, quite ...

My problem with 13/14 at Manchester Picc is not finding them but working out where the train is likely to stop!

St Pancras. Shame the EMT platforms are now in Kentish Town! Mind you, the Left Luggage is somewhere in Bedfordshire!

Liverpool James Street. Finding your way out once you get off the train always seems a challenge. Endless corridors with very little/ poor signage.

 

[tripleseis]

No mention of Clapham Junction? Fine if you're heading for Victoria, Waterloo or the Overground but try to head somewhere on the SWT suburban lines and you have to spend a few minutes studying the departure board to know which platform you need to trek to.

 

[Kite159]

No mention of Clapham Junction? Fine if you're heading for Victoria, Waterloo or the Overground but try to head somewhere on the SWT suburban lines and you have to spend a few minutes studying the departure board to know which platform you need to trek to.

Or make use of this sign

http://www.guyroutledge.co.uk/images/IMG_0300.jpg

Edinburgh makes sense if they got rid of the platform 1 becoming platform 20 (and 2 becoming 19) and have it as "1 West" or "1 East" depending which end the train is sat on

 

[iain-j]

Edinburgh makes sense if they got rid of the platform 1 becoming platform 20 (and 2 becoming 19) and have it as "1 West" or "1 East" depending which end the train is sat on

Agreed, as that's how the two outer suburban platforms are now labelled (8 and 9 E and W. With them being labelled as just 8 or 9 if a longer train such as when an HST is in).
Though by that rationale platforms 7 and 11 would need to use a similar convention.

 

[Jegerpizza]

When i was i London i found Bank and London Bridge very confusing.

 

[30907]

Do any UK stations have anything like platform 26 at Copenhagen H?

It's actually a fairly clever solution to a lack of capacity at one point during the day - build a platform outside the station in the sidings. Thing is, to get there, you need to walk 2/3rds the length of one of the (already very long) mainline platforms under the main station building, go up to the public overbridge (which is a busy road), cross the road, and then find the staircase/lift down to the platform on the other side.

Which is a little much.

...

Or until its conversion to tram/train, the branch line platforms at Prague-Smichov, which involved something similar (well, except it was a shorter walk upstairs) but without the platform!

Strasbourg has voie 25, used by the cross border connection to Offenburg, which is like the parcels platform at Padd only twice as far, as I discovered in 28 degree heat in June!

At least Smichov Na Knizneci has a different name, a bit like K X York Road (I presume that's where you mean, though I think its flattering to describe the railbuses as tram-trains).

 

[Philip C]

Could I put a word in for Wolverhampton? This has two annoying features:

The through platforms are logically numbered from 1 to 4 but the bays (5 & 6) are set at opposite ends of platform 1. As I rarely use the station this has never caught me out, however.....

There are two footbridges. One, towards the north end of the platforms, very properly links all platforms (1+5+6) and (2+3) and (4). The other, close by the station entrance, links (1+5+6) and (2+3) but not (4).

On a certain occasion I needed to make a smart connection from platform 3 to platform 4 and failed to observe what I believe to be small signs which would have sent me to the correct bridge. It was only after getting to the top of the wrong stairs that I realised my mistake, but still not knowing the correct route, ended up using the full length of both bridges, half the length of platform 1 and a total of 70 upward stairs before collapsing onto the connecting train.


The arrangements at Gatwick Airport are also not without their "features".


But my real favourite is the Waterloo (East)/Southwark interchange arrangements. Here there are two gatelines (one Southeastern, one LUL) and between them a "no man's land" which has no other access. I am unaware of the protocols, but it strikes me that if your ticket is taken by either of these gatelines and you then discover that you lack cash or other means of purchasing a ticket you could, in principle, be trapped for life!

 

[12CSVT]

Platform numbering at Portsmouth & Southsea is 2,1,3,4.

On the subject of Underground stations, Paddington (Hammersmith & City platforms), Hammersmith (Hammersmith & City platforms) and one of the Edgware Road stations should be renamed to avoid being confused with nearby stations which currently have the same name.

 

[PR1Berske]

Preston does that as well with 3&4 with a&b being halves of the mainline platforms with c being a pair of bays between them.

Formerly announced as "beyond the Gold Zone markers", both, though those days have gone....

 

[stut]

At least Smichov Na Knizneci has a different name, a bit like K X York Road (I presume that's where you mean, though I think its flattering to describe the railbuses as tram-trains).

Ah, I was thinking of the old arrangement, before Esko, so may be slightly misremembering.

I suppose Liskeard has a similar arrangement on a smaller scale!

Paris-Lyon is always confusing, the two "plate-formes" are often announced late, with the crowd walking through the booking office a nightmare at holiday times. But that's only if you're at surface level - there are vast, poorly connected and even more poorly signed, underground waiting areas, which you are generally funneled to from the RER. And that's without the weirdness of having to enter and exit the RER (ticket barriers for both) to get to metro line 14.

Montparnasse is another example of Mitterand-era grandiose but not quite there over-engineering. Try to get a Corail to lower Normandy or Brittany from the Vaugirard station, and you're in for quite a trek. Unless you entered the station from the odd drop-off mini-station, perched above the other end of the tracks.

 

[telstarbox]

Both gatelines at Waterloo East/Southwark are manned by SE/TfL.

 

[edwin_m]

Strasbourg has voie 25, used by the cross border connection to Offenburg, which is like the parcels platform at Padd only twice as far, as I discovered in 28 degree heat in June!

At least Smichov Na Knizneci has a different name, a bit like K X York Road (I presume that's where you mean, though I think its flattering to describe the railbuses as tram-trains).

There's also the platform at (using the term loosely) Dublin Heuston, out next to the Phoenix Park line.

 

[Panceltic]

Dijon (Ville) in France is quite confusing, too.

It has platforms lettered: A, then C to J, and two numbered platforms, namely 3 and 37 (the latter is a very long walk away!). What a mess.

 

[Philip C]

Both gatelines at Waterloo East/Southwark are manned by SE/TfL.

Yes, but........ and I know that this is a silly question. If you were between the two, and without means to pay, what would happen (assuming all staff applied rules applicable to the admission of passengers to the 'paid area' correctly)? I don't doubt that my mortal remains would not be left to the cleaners, but are there special rules in place or is it left to 'common sense'? It is a small point but I've always wondered. I'm not even sure whether I'd belong, as a problem, to TfL or SE.

 

[LLivery]

I agree with Stratford. I know Stratford very well, however I've never seen a station which only show the destination station on the departure boards in the ticket halls. If you're going Witham or Diss and have no idea what train goes there you'd be lost. If you're going to an LO station they show all the stations on the signs outside the platforms but they haven't done that for the AGA ones. It is just ridiculous. TfL either don't understand or choose not to understand how to provide information for "proper" rail services and as a result it is far more confusing than it should be. I do wonder if Network Rail or even AGA managed the station would there be better/clearer information? Furthermore the main entrance is now inadequate for the high usage.

 

[Alan White]

Add my vote to Stratford - it's the illogical platform numbering that does it.

I'd also like to nominate Paddington. Recently I arrived on a H&C train at the old Bishops Bridge platforms and needed to get to Ealing Broadway. I'm reasonably familiar with the basic layout of Paddington but I had to walk the entire length of the station - almost to the main entrance in fact - in order to find the departure boards which told me which platform I needed.

Then I had to find the platform: I think it was 13. I followed signs for platforms 12-something and found I was going back the way I'd just come. I walked along dimly-lit passages, through a gateline, found that the signs for 13 had disappeared, walked through a narrow passage that felt like it was the entrance to a toilet, and found myself on platform 13....

...directly opposite the H&C platform I'd alighted at ten minutes earlier.

 

[Statto]

Euston can be confusing as apart from the DC lines, trains hourly or less to the same destination depart from different platforms, like Liverpool Lime Street train can depart from P1, the next Liverpool train from P18.

 

[Callum]

Platforms 6 and 7 in Aberdeen are both split into North and South. I have witnessed some people appearing a little confused if their train heading south is departing from 6N or 7N.

 

[chris89]

Smethwick Galton Bridge.

Looks simple. Can be confusing in reality.

From the entrance to platform 4 you have to cross a bridge, go down some stairs or a lift, walk along platform 2, and go down some more stairs or a lift.

To get from platform 4 to platform 1, you have to use three seperate sets of stairs. It's unlikely that many people would do this however if you were coming from the Snow Hill direction changing onto a New Street train.

Platform 2 has three seperate staircases and two lifts, and they all look the same, so you really have to look out for the signs.

This diagram is a little simplified:

from http://www.dudleymall.co.uk/loclrail/birmwolv.htm

Wouldn't say Galton Bridge is confusing myself. Just more incredibly annoying by amount of times you got to go up and down stairs etc.

 

[HonorlessMink]

In terms of potential to confuse, I don't think we have anything remotely comparable to Chatalet les Halles.

I just googled this. I've never been there, but there's 750m between the lines. That's quite a trek, especially if you're carrying stuff or you're elderly/disabled.

 

[CC 72100]

In terms of potential to confuse, I don't think we have anything remotely comparable to Chatalet les Halles.

As well as being borderline in whether all of it can be considered the same station. The trek from the 'wrong' metro station to the RER on the broken travelator feels very long!

 

[hassaanhc]

I agree with Stratford. I know Stratford very well, however I've never seen a station which only show the destination station on the departure boards in the ticket halls. If you're going Witham or Diss and have no idea what train goes there you'd be lost. If you're going to an LO station they show all the stations on the signs outside the platforms but they haven't done that for the AGA ones. It is just ridiculous. TfL either don't understand or choose not to understand how to provide information for "proper" rail services and as a result it is far more confusing than it should be. I do wonder if Network Rail or even AGA managed the station would there be better/clearer information? Furthermore the main entrance is now inadequate for the high usage.

It would be. TfL love making it difficult for passengers to use rail services not run by them :roll:. Their journey planner has a bias towards their services, even when they take 10-15 minutes longer and require more changes. And see how hard it is to get the full "London's Rail & Tube services" map in leaflet form at any station. I only found it by chance at Liverpool Street mainline. No shortage of the "Tube map" (basically the TfL-only map :roll anywhere.

 

[CC 72100]

I just googled this. I've never been there, .

Don't.

 

[hassaanhc]

Add my vote to Stratford - it's the illogical platform numbering that does it.

I'd also like to nominate Paddington. Recently I arrived on a H&C train at the old Bishops Bridge platforms and needed to get to Ealing Broadway. I'm reasonably familiar with the basic layout of Paddington but I had to walk the entire length of the station - almost to the main entrance in fact - in order to find the departure boards which told me which platform I needed.

Then I had to find the platform: I think it was 13. I followed signs for platforms 12-something and found I was going back the way I'd just come. I walked along dimly-lit passages, through a gateline, found that the signs for 13 had disappeared, walked through a narrow passage that felt like it was the entrance to a toilet, and found myself on platform 13....

...directly opposite the H&C platform I'd alighted at ten minutes earlier.

I was waiting for someone to post about Paddington. I'm now familiar with it but I remember having to walk long distances like you did when I didn't know which service was going to stop at Southall and needed to check the full list of calling points. Or which Heathrow train is a Heathrow Connect. There is a portable screen showing "next fastest train" near the Hammersmith & City Line station but it isn't good. Signage is also designed to send people along the taxi rank rather than using the old footbridge next to the Hammersmith & City Line Stations. Especially P12 which is easier to access via Platforms 13/14, but has no sign on the footbridge. I feel for anyone who is waiting on P12 and their train gets altered to P11 .

Stratford is one I've found confusing too, especially the secondary subway that only links to the other one and not an exit. Often I've come down the wrong stairs.

Bank is also very confusing. To go between either the DLR or Northern Line the signs send you via the Central Line platforms. Surely there must be a quicker way to go than that? :?

Can't believe Smethwick Galton Bridge hasn't been mentioned more. What a maze that is, with platforms not signed properly and some exits going to some platforms but not others.

 

[HonorlessMink]

Stratford is one I've found confusing too, especially the secondary subway that only links to the other one and not an exit. Often I've come down the wrong stairs.

Bank is also very confusing. To go between either the DLR or Northern Line the signs send you via the Central Line platforms. Surely there must be a quicker way to go than that? :?

I remember the first time I went to Stratford about 10 or so years ago. The signage then was so bad I stood and cried because I couldn't figure out what platform I needed for Chelmsford and there was no-one around to ask.

My boss says there is an alternative at Bank to cut out the Central Line platforms and it requires taking a tunnel that is otherwise unmarked. I think I'll ask him again and then take my GoPro at some point to figure this out.