Worst London station in rush hour

[Bald Rick]

Clapham Junction is pretty scary sometimes. Especially the curved platforms with a vast gap, vertically and horizontally, between train and platform.

Not sure how I forgot Clapham Jn! Definitely the worst non termini in Z1-2.

 

[Dr Hoo]

I would have thought that Sudbury & Harrow Road in the morning peak if you wanted to travel to Sudbury Hill Harrow. In a normal timetable the net train wouldn't be until 1840. A pretty miserable and facility-free place to spend around ten hours.

Of the main termini, my vote would definitely go to Victoria.

 

[Ianigsy]

When I was student in Canterbury I avoided Victoria whenever possible if travelling back to Merseyside with luggage. The journey from Charing Cross might have been slower but it was much more bearable.

 

[Hadders]

Oh god I forgot about Canada Water. One I actively try to avoid.

And it's only 20 years old!

I’d certainly agree with Finsbury Park - awful place at the best of times, and outside is no better.

One that's got worse with Covid due to the ridiculous one way system.

 

[deltic]

A topic that should be in railway history and nostalgia - we are highly unlikely to see rush hour traffic at pre-Covid levels for many years to come if ever. Evidence suggests that working from home will be significantly more common for a high proportion of those who commute by rail

 

[Statto]

Agree with Euston, & it's worst when evening off peak kicks in & scrum for the trains from 6.45pm to 7.30-8pm, doesn't help trains are often called minutes before departure, even if the train has been at the platform for longer than 20 minutes

 

[Southend Rider]

I would say Stratford pre COVID in the evening peak period, especially if it is raining as little cover on platforms 9 / 10.

 

[DorkingMain]

Waterloo? The busiest station in uk pre-covid

Waterloo concourse was horrible during peak hours pre-COVID but Euston's terrible layout makes it far worse.

 

[Timmyd]

Use Victoria (Eastern) daily and never seen the problem. Canada Water heading LO to Jubilee in the morning is (or at least was) terrible.

For termini, getting from the tube to train at Paddington is never straightforward, not helped by the middle fixed staircase from the Bakerloo

 

[RailWonderer]

Don’t us RFers use RTT to avoid the Euston scrum? I certainly do. The worst is Waterloo because the concourse is short and wide, so when you walk horizontally from one platform to the far exits you have to cross commuter scrum at 90 degrees who are trying to board their train.

 

[uvarvu]

Stratford is well grim. Narrow subways and stairways plus crazy queues after alighting from the jubblers. Not a nice experience.

 

[Horizon22]

And it's only 20 years old!

I think its been a victim of its own success and by all accounts passenger numbers vastly outstripped the expected demand. But still, not a great deal of foresight and it will be very expensive to expand.

 

[theironroad]

I think waterloo was generally ok considering how many people used it. Improved when the ex international platforms finally opened. It's a wide concourse and the decluttering of kiosks a few years back helped. Compared to to many stations , there's still plenty of daylight above concourse and platforms.

While it has six entrances plus underground exits, some of the exits could be better laid out, especially the Waterloo arch one form the south bank direction.

However, this is all when it's going well. During even moderate disruption it can (could) get overcrowded very quickly.

These days it's all a bit sedate.

 

[DustyBin]

I think its been a victim of its own success and by all accounts passenger numbers vastly outstripped the expected demand. But still, not a great deal of foresight and it will be very expensive to expand.

The more I think about it the more I think it’s the worst rush hour station I’ve been to. I can’t think of any others where you literally have no choice but to go with the flow and get on a train whether it’s the one you want or not.... I know the big termini can be chaotic but there’s generally space to get out of the way if you find yourself caught up in a stampede. No such luck at Canada Water I’m afraid!

 

[vinnym70]

Another vote for Stratford. Utterly miserable most times of day pre-COVID and post-COVID seems to have an overly high percentage of people not wearing masks.
And I'm still not really sure that the one-way system that was implemented in the peaks pre-COVID actually helped.

(And don't get me started on the lack of shelter on platforms 9, 10, 10A)

 

[Mikey C]

Stratford, Finsbury Park and Clapham Junction are all "challenging" in their own ways...

Euston is flawed, but is less of a commuter station than Victoria and Euston and there is the separate area for the Overground/LNWR trains with a direct connection to the Underground

 

[AlbertBeale]

What's the definition of 'worst' here? Ability to navigate? Time from concourse to train? Bottlenecks?

In my experience I don't think it's the terminuses - there's always space even at the worst of times. Mainline suburban stations on the other hand get ridiculously and dangerously crowded at both ends of the day. Well, they used to.

If it's ability to navigate, I'd vote for the new London Bridge. With the other terminus stations, even when they're chokka, you can easily understand where you're trying to get to.

 

[Bald Rick]

If it's ability to navigate, I'd vote for the new London Bridge. With the other terminus stations, even when they're chokka, you can easily understand where you're trying to get to.

I’m rather surprised at this. I think it’s straightforward, and a vast improvement on what was there before.

 

[Robertj21a]

I think its been a victim of its own success and by all accounts passenger numbers vastly outstripped the expected demand. But still, not a great deal of foresight and it will be very expensive to expand.

Probably won't now need to be expanded.

 

[hermit]

Among London termini, Waterloo works efficiently, Victoria (Brighton side) cannot cope at busy times (and the unnecessarily long walk to platforms 15-18 since they shortened them is always annoying); but the worst must be Euston - horrible soulless building, awful scrum when platforms are (finally) announced, and high proportion of long-distance passengers who don’t know what they‘re doing. And a high likelihood of delays and cancellations, leading to total chaos in the concourse.

 

[pompeyfan]

I have to say I think Waterloo wasn’t that bad during normal working. It tended to flow well due to the sheer volume of trains leaving, so as soon as there was a cough or a fart it began to get pretty unpleasant.

 

[nlogax]

Don’t us RFers use RTT to avoid the Euston scrum? I certainly do. The worst is Waterloo because the concourse is short and wide, so when you walk horizontally from one platform to the far exits you have to cross commuter scrum at 90 degrees who are trying to board their train.

Absolutely. In my experience RTT is key to a successful Euston experience about 80-90% of the time. I rarely have problems at Waterloo unless there's something blocking the lines and the place resembles Saigon in 1975.

 

[flitwickbeds]

Before the second (much wider) footbridge and stairs plus lifts went in, West Hampstead Thameslink was impossible.

I remember frequent 10 minute waits on the platform just to get to the start of the staircase.

 

[Trackman]

Stratford is well grim. Narrow subways and stairways plus crazy queues after alighting from the jubblers. Not a nice experience.

They should have it on the Krypton Factor or a similar show for platform numbering and how the hell to get there.

 

[D6975]

Victoria probably gets my vote, but for all those criticising Victoria's layout, don't forget that it was actually 2 different company's stations originally. It isn't alone in this, there are several badly laid out stations where it's down to the current station being formed of the stations of more than one company built adjacent to one another.

 

[Horizon22]

If it's ability to navigate, I'd vote for the new London Bridge. With the other terminus stations, even when they're chokka, you can easily understand where you're trying to get to.

Really? It's one big concourse all in a straight line with escalators down/up. The way the southern side bolts on to the Shard entrance is a bit odd but again you can access every platform from the main concourse.

 

[tommy2215]

The concourse at St Pancras for the EMR platforms is bad during busy hours and disruption. Its fairly small so everyone gets packed together like sardines.

 

[nlogax]

The concourse at St Pancras for the EMR platforms is bad during busy hours and disruption. Its fairly small so everyone gets packed together like sardines.

That concourse does feel like a bit of an afterthought in the context of the rest of St Pancras.

 

[Cherry_Picker]

I would have thought that Sudbury & Harrow Road in the morning peak if you wanted to travel to Sudbury Hill Harrow. In a normal timetable the net train wouldn't be until 1840. A pretty miserable and facility-free place to spend around ten hours.

I’m guessing you’ve got your tongue firmly in your cheek here, but the stations are about a 20 minute walk from each other. Sudbury Town is a five minute walk from Sudbury and Harrow Road and Sudbury Hill is barely a minutes walk from Sudbury Hill Harrow so the journey is practically mirrored by the Piccadilly Line.

 

[Dr Hoo]

I’m guessing you’ve got your tongue firmly in your cheek here, but the stations are about a 20 minute walk from each other. Sudbury Town is a five minute walk from Sudbury and Harrow Road and Sudbury Hill is barely a minutes walk from Sudbury Hill Harrow so the journey is practically mirrored by the Piccadilly Line.

Yes; tongue in cheek (although I have done the journey in the evening). Just made sure that I only arrived with a few minutes to wait.

The OP set no criteria, so why should crowding or navigability be the only yardstick?