Change called for at ‘dangerous’ station

“Slow down! Slow down!” A member of staff has just yelled at us as we descend down the ramp towards the train. People are running.

This is the Euston rush at 18:30 on a Friday.

It is by no means a new thing but it seems to have become a little bit worse and a little bit more frantic of late. It has certainly been hitting the headlines.

There has always been a bit of a scramble to the trains. But something seems to have changed.

I use Euston now and again. I actually like the station, with its marble floors and the open space inside. I might be in a minority.

The huge announcement board that stretched across the station was turned into an advertising screen in January, but this was turned off last week as part of a review ordered by Transport Secretary Louise Haigh.

New announcement boards have been introduced right in the middle of the concourse. They are not easy to see, and seem to condense the crowd into a tight area.

When a train platform is announced, the crowd bullets en masse towards the train and gathers speed down a ramp.

The problem gets worse when there are delays to trains. If you have mobility issues or small children it would be very difficult.

The rush is such an issue that if you are an Avanti Silver member, the train operator sends you a text with the platform number before the station announcement on the boards – so you can dodge the dash.

When people start running it gets even worse.

The basic problem is too many passengers are trying to get through a small space in a limited time.

Francesca Peschier, who regularly uses Euston, says “it’s just always a crush”.

“What’s awful is there’s no predictable time that you know it’s going to be busier than other times,” she said.

“They announce the trains two minutes before you have to get on it. It’s always a massive surge.

“I’ve had it multiple times I’ve not been able to get on the train. It is actually just dangerous.

“You’re so hemmed in you can’t get back out of the station. You have no chance of getting back through.”

She thinks there needs to be more trains.

Richard Bowker, the former head of the Strategic Rail Authority, told the Green Signals podcast last week that he has been unimpressed with the response so far.

“Everyone knows Euston is substandard in many ways,” he said.

“It is having to cope with a far greater number of passengers than it had to cope with 15 years ago.

“That is not new. You have two options: you can either close it or you put a robust management plan in place to deal with these kinds of events.”

“No-one should expect Euston to be sorted out overnight. What they can expect, and should expect, is operational management plans in place in the short term to deal with incidents,” Mr Bowker said.

“You need to get it sorted now Network Rail: it’s your station. Somebody has to take a lead and somebody has to get a grip.”

Euston station, and the whole area, is in a state of uncertainty. It was meant to be redeveloped as part of HS2.

It’s not clear if that’s going to happen and work nearby has been mothballed for two years.

A decision is expected soon from the government on whether HS2 will go into London.

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan believes Euston needs be redeveloped as part of HS2.

“Euston is a mess,” he said. “If you use Euston on a daily basis, the congestion, the platforms, the screens, the concerns of danger.

“We need to improve the public realm. I think the only way you are going to improve that station and have the connectivity we want, connecting to the Elizabeth line, connecting to the north, connecting to the Tube, is by Euston being a destination for High Speed 2.”

There is also a political element to this.

When an engineer raised safety concerns some time ago, the transport minister Sir Peter Hendy was accused of forcing him out of his job.

Network Rail said it would now try to sort out the rush and the overcrowding. Advertisements have stopped on the big screen. There will be a review.

It has also brought in a five-point plan.

Gary Walsh, route director for Network Rail’s West Coast South division, said: “Passengers haven’t received the experience they deserve at Euston recently and we need to do better.

“Our five-point plan will help improve things for passengers in the short term by creating more space, providing better passenger information, and working as an industry to improve the reliability of train services on the West Coast Main Line.”

Stopping the Euston rush, though, will be a considerable challenge.

Euston is an old station struggling to deal with a number of passengers it’s not really designed for.