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Travelling through Euston station has never been fun, but in recent months it’s got a lot worse. The busy travel hub, which has been waiting for a huge £2.2 billion HS2-related redevelopment for nearly a decade, has been plagued by overcrowding and poor organisation for months. Now, things appear to have reached a tipping point..
An independent transport watchdog has warned that travellers are being put ‘in danger’ due to ‘high levels of overcrowding’ at Euston. London TravelWatch said the station, which acts as a main travel hub to Birmingham, Liverpool and Glasgow, was ‘struggling to cope’ because of copious train delays and last-minute announcements that cause passengers to ‘rush’ to platforms.
London TravelWatch said: ‘Even on good days, the passenger experience at London Euston fails to match its importance as the capital's main rail gateway to four of the UK's largest cities.
‘But it is when train services are disrupted that the station really struggles to cope, with high levels of overcrowding putting passengers in danger.’
It added that staff ‘appear overwhelmed by the sheer numbers of people’.
London TravelWatch met with Network Rail, which owns Euston, almost a year ago to discuss the issues, but said that the rail company has done little to change things since then.
Network Rail said it wanted to redevelop the station, but this is subject to government funding. A Network Rail spokesperson said: ‘Euston was designed for a different era and we acknowledge that it is in need of major investment and modernisation. However, safety is at the heart of our operation and something we would never compromise on in any of our stations.’
It added: ‘For the majority of the time the station works, however during times of disruption, there simply isn't enough room for passengers and we know this can make for an uncomfortable and unpleasant environment.’
Here’s what people on the internet are saying about Euston station.
Euston is easily, easily the worst main station in Western Europe. It’s like being taken away to be machine gunned in the woods by various mobile phone and soft drinks companies. Congrats to everyone involved pic.twitter.com/uclZj46awK
— Barney Ronay (@barneyronay) September 22, 2024
Euston is easily the worst station in London. Why is the massive screen just for adverts?? I just want to know what platform my train is going from pic.twitter.com/9Cq9w4Q300
— Rachael Burford (@RachaelBurford) September 29, 2024
More on Euston
It’s the saga that never stops. After its cost doubled to £4.8 billion, HS2 in London was canned by the Tories, but not before beloved local businesses in the area were put in danger of closing down. Now, however, apparently HS2 is coming to Euston station after all.
Did you see that south London will be massively disrupted by train station closures this Halloween and half term?
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