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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, with one writer calling it ‘easily the worst station in London’.
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 had 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.’
How will Network Rail fix Euston?
In a major update today (October 4), Network Rail revealed a five-point plan to ‘improve customer experience’ at Euston – including, excitingly, shutting down the use of the huge advertising boards. Here’s the plan:
- Reviewing ‘passenger information provision and circulation’, including shutting down and reviewing the use of the overhead advertising boards
- A review of ‘how passengers are invited to, and board services, especially during disruption’ – in other words, about the last-minute nature of platform announcements
- To create more concourse space and alleviate ‘pinch-points’, plus provide more toilets
- ‘Unifying station operation during disruption to ensure a holistic approach is taken for the benefit of all passengers’, so, making the place less miserable during disruption
- Improving reliability
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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