please empty your brain below
My main gripe with Euston is the way information on the departure platform is witheld until the last moment. I learned it is possible, to get this information if you find a staff member in the know. I managed this in 2019 and was able to take my bike to its appointed quarters at the furthest end from the concourse, without having to sprint like an Olympic hurdler!

And I was sure the departure boards had already assumed their "perpendicular" arrangement already at that time. It just shows how the memory can play tricks.

cau1khead | 26.01.24 - 9:11 a.m. | #

One tip - the arrivals are no longer displayed on screen either (and sometimes you want to know where the train's turning up, eg meeting that elderly & fragile non London relative) - but if you go to the back left of the ticket hall there's a small old-style display screen (facing off to one side of a pillar), presumably partly for staff use, that still has them.

David | 26.01.24 - 9:19 a.m. | #

The real pity from my angle is the loss of the very stylish (Art Deco-ish?) EUSTON DEPARTURES above the old screens, though it doesn't seem to be from the original 1960s design as it's in front of that "Welcome to Eus..." banner.

Andrew S | 26.01.24 - 10:24 a.m. | #

Agree with everything you wrote!

Also to add, as a regular at Euston, the new boards are hopeless, less info and wrongly placed. Given LNWRs habit of only displaying platforms a minute before departure it's just lead to people speculatively hanging round the platform they think their train is going to go from in rush hour (as they usually run short formed meaning you need to get on quickly). It's one of the many miseries visited on those of us 'lucky' enough to have to use LNWR

Simon | 26.01.24 - 10:28 a.m. | #

The EUSTON DEPARTURES sign only dates from the last refurb, when the bunged in the gallery with more shops, and removed the direct interchange from the Underground into the main line ticket hall. PS - bring back the integrated Chrome postbox suite with its 1960s GPO logo!

Kim | Homepage | 26.01.24 - 10:34 a.m. | #

I miss the split-flap displays. I know they were less versatile and less reliable but they way they updated was mesmerising.

David | 26.01.24 - 12:03 p.m. | #

In effect, Waterloo was a pilot for these changes of display, having been implemented a little earlier.

(Although at least the number of future services displayed at Waterloo doesn't seem to have been reduced as aggressively as Euston, but Euston concourse design presents greater channegles for safely managing surges of people than Waterloo.

Anymore when transiting Euston I no longer rely on the in-station displays, just use realtimetrains on my phone instead because it is supiori for accuracy and timeliness as it doesn't (yet) filter the data in line with local prioirities in the station.

MilesT | 26.01.24 - 12:54 p.m. | #

It's up there with the screens that obliterate the enjoyment of Canary Wharf Jubilee station.

NickW | 26.01.24 - 1:39 p.m. | #

I thought it was a bad idea from the beginning.
At a terminal station like Euston, the vista of the platform ends is just like a shop window, a part of the railway travel experience and passengers intrinsically want to cosy up to it while waiting.
I have more experience of a similar departure board at Liverpool Street and it has never felt quite right either. It's somehow unsettling not being able to see the trains and departures at the same time.

I know it's now a forlorn hope, but it really would be nice if railways in the UK were managed by lifelong railwaymen and not by varying bankers and company directors. Thatcher's revolution hasn't aged well.

Steve | Homepage | 26.01.24 - 3:43 p.m. | #

'it really would be nice if railways in the UK were managed by lifelong railwaymen'

They are. On the whole. Although the vast majority of them have only worked in the world of privately operated railways. But that's simply due to their age.

Anders | 26.01.24 - 6:21 p.m. | #

You're correct about the departure boards and equally correct about getting rid of this nightmare of a government....I cannot forgive them for cutting TFLs budget for petty political reasons.

JA | 26.01.24 - 10:06 p.m. | #

I often wonder if the sometimes suddenly changing light intensity of these elongated adverts (in an enclosed environment) will have a detrimental effect on anyone suffering from epilepsy.

Joel | 27.01.24 - 4:35 p.m. | #

As a regular long-distance commuter who travels through Euston almost weekly with a suitcase in hand, I remember fondly the days when you could relax on a bench in Euston Square Gardens if you arrive early (this was in the days before the gardens got turned into a hideous taxi rank) and see the platform for your train immediately upon entering the station without breaking stride.

What to do about it: run like a madman (flashmob, anyone?), on the basis that the delay in being able to ascertain the platform is costing you a precious 20-30 seconds that could make the difference between catching and missing your train (especially if there is a queue at the ticket barriers, as is often the case for long-distance trains). A bit of chaos of that kind will focus Network Rail's mind on making the station more helpful. This is what I started doing in Liverpool Street and various Underground stations when they decided to remove departures from concourse boards ridiculously early, long before the whistle had even blown... and I usually, after sprinting up and down the concourse, could find the relevant train and get on board by the skin of the teeth! They can give as many admonitions about not running, but people will ALWAYS run for a train if time is tight (and some of us are highly skilled in running for trains SAFELY), especially if they have an Advance ticket.

anon | 27.01.24 - 10:05 p.m. | #











TridentScan v2.10.0 | Privacy Policy