Worst UK station in rush hour.

[faltskog36abba]

Having read the [Worst stations in London] in rush hour,
I would like to know what you think of other stations in the UK..
Mine would be EDINBURGH-many platforms many trains complete madness if there is a Platform change.
The same goes for LEEDS-especially if there is a delay with TPE heading towards Manchester Stations/Liverpool -When the platforms get very overcrowded.
Over to you, Your thoughts?.

 

[SteveM70]

Manchester Victoria when Northern was broken. Too many people, too little space, too many platform changes, the random unit generator morphed into a random shortforms generator. It was awful

 

[miami]

Euston with the scrum. Honourable mention to P13/14 at Manchester Piccadilly.

 

[GRALISTAIR]

Honourable mention to P13/14 at Manchester Piccadilly.

Agreed. Unpleasant to say the least

 

[fgwrich]

Birmingham New Street. Dividing the passenger areas into two narrow concourses still hasn't really fixed the problem, it's still a congested maze and when passengers use the escalators, some of which are incredibly slooooow, the passengers then back up along the platform exits.

 

[Nean]

Trying to commute opposite to the flow at Oxford Road was pretty bad... Nobody seemed to heed the "keep left/right" (can't remember which) signs on the overbridge which was always super fun when a Bolton/Liverpool train dumped an entire load onto platform 1.

Then again, going against the flow at any major station's probably not going to be any different!

 

[Bald Rick]

St Albans, pm peak. 2 x 12 car 700s can arrive from London within a minute of each other (on P2, then P4), and about 1000 people try to use a 3 metre wide footbridge.

 

[DB]

Leeds is pretty horrible, especially if transferring from the bays on the west side to the through platforms - you have to cross right across the main flow through the barriers.

 

[86247]

Manchester Piccadilly P13/14 again for me its pandemonium in the rush hour everyone tightly packed together, plus the last time I was there you had the red line police telling everyone to get back which made it worse.

 

[Robertj21a]

1. Birmingham New St
2. Piccadilly 13-14

 

[camflyer]

Cambridge can get worryingly overcrowded at peak times. It's slightly better since the ticket office was enlarged but you still get a lot of passenger flow and crowds on the main platform especially with all of the retail being there and bad traffic congestion outside. The station really needs a second entrance on the eastern side.

 

[Dr_Paul]

Platform 7/8 at Vauxhall used to be pretty awful at rush hour, with one staircase up to it and not much room on either side of the staircase on the platform. Things are somewhat better now that another staircase has been built, but it can still get rather crowded, especially when passengers alight from a train before those from the preceding one have all gone downstairs.

 

[nlogax]

Another vote for those Piccadilly platforms. I try to avoid boarding TPE services there, it’s easier and less stressful to double back at the airport.

 

[Andy Pacer]

Another vote for those Piccadilly platforms. I try to avoid boarding TPE services there, it’s easier and less stressful to double back at the airport.

Agreed too. And dare I mention the security staff on there too?

 

[FQ]

Another vote for those Piccadilly platforms. I try to avoid boarding TPE services there, it’s easier and less stressful to double back at the airport.

Unless I'm reading wrong you seriously go 10 miles out of your way (in each direction) just to avoid p14 at Piccadilly? Surely that'd extend a journey by over half an hour?? I'd say either Oxford Road or Victoria would be a better idea if you wanted to avoid p14 that much

 

[Andy Pacer]

Unless I'm reading wrong you seriously go 10 miles out of your way (in each direction) just to avoid p14 at Piccadilly? Surely that'd extend a journey by over half an hour?? I'd say either Oxford Road or Victoria would be a better idea if you wanted to avoid p14 that much

I also read it this way.

 

[jfollows]

Another vote for those Piccadilly platforms. I try to avoid boarding TPE services there, it’s easier and less stressful to double back at the airport.

Yes, I was surprised at this too - it's much easier for me, if I want to catch a train from platform 14 I can usually travel via Manchester Airport to catch it there instead. Just requires a bit of analysis of the timetable to work out the train's previous working and a check of Realtime Trains to ensure it's running reasonably well on-time first though.

 

[Bald Rick]

I often use 13/14 at Piccadilly, and honestly it’s not that bad compared to a whole host of stations elsewhere.

 

[nlogax]

Unless I'm reading wrong you seriously go 10 miles out of your way (in each direction) just to avoid p14 at Piccadilly? Surely that'd extend a journey by over half an hour?? I'd say either Oxford Road or Victoria would be a better idea if you wanted to avoid p14 that much

You read correctly.

Piccadilly is no place to begin a long journey north if you can spare a bit of time and catch the train right at the start of the route.

 

[Andy Pacer]

You read correctly.

Piccadilly is no place to begin a long journey north if you can spare a bit of time and catch the train right at the start of the route.

But don't you have to board anyway in order to "double back" or do you board elsewhere?

 

[Western Sunset]

Wimbledon, with basically only a single platform in each direction for South Western services.

 

[Yodiethedog]

Plymouth in rush hour is... Well... It's not a nice station at the best of times... All the subways are too narrow for the volume of people and there aren't enough lifts. Also, all the peak hour services seem to illogically depart from the far platforms, when platform 1 and 3 are empty.

 

[Dr_Paul]

Wimbledon, with basically only a single platform in each direction for South Western services.

And especially now that the South-Western platforms (5/6, 7/8) both have a fence running the whole length about seven or eight feet in from the fast line platform edge. The fences prevent people getting too close to the fast lines, thus making things safer, but in doing so they reduce the area of each platform by about 40 per cent, thus increasing crowding at rush hour.

 

[ijmad]

Canada Water was pretty horrific in the morning peak in times before the pandemic. The single escalator down from the Northbound plaform to the Jubilee line is unhelpful.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Piccadilly is no place to begin a long journey north if you can spare a bit of time and catch the train right at the start of the route.

Does that mean paying an extra fare for the Manchester -> Manchester Airport (and return) "wrong way" leg?

 

[nlogax]

But don't you have to board anyway in order to "double back" or do you board elsewhere?

Plenty of options beyond p13 for the airport.

Does that mean paying an extra fare for the Manchester -> Manchester Airport (and return) "wrong way" leg?

Yes. Well worth it to me for just a few quid more.

 

[Class195]

Leeds platform 16 has been the most dangerously overcrowded platform for me.

 

[TT-ONR-NRN]

Battersea Park’s dangerous little wooden hut staircase on the only functional Victoria platform (5/6) is almost scary in rush hour

 

[Chris Hamilton]

I’ve not tackled it in a couple of years, but Bristol Temple Meads was awful at rush hour. Only had something like 4 or 5 barriers in operation. If you timed it badly, and arrived at the same time as a couple of other services, it could take a good 5 mins to get from the subway to the outside.

Going against the flow was equally as bad, with often just a single barrier open, and every man and his dog ignoring the ”Keep Left” markers.

 

[Ianno87]

Another vote for those Piccadilly platforms. I try to avoid boarding TPE services there, it’s easier and less stressful to double back at the airport.

I often use 13/14 at Piccadilly, and honestly it’s not that bad compared to a whole host of stations elsewhere.

I sampled the Platform 2/3 island at Oxford Rd in the evening peak a while back, and that was far worse than Piccadilly.