The Anonymous Widower

Should Network Rail Manage More Stations?

This post was suggested by this article pointed to by Global Rail News, which says that Network Rail is going to take more stations directly under their control. Here’s the first two paragraphs.

Newcastle and York are to become Network Rail-managed stations from the start of the new East Coast franchise in 2015.

The main line stations will join Reading and Bristol Temple Meads, which Network Rail took over on April 1, under a new management model designed to improve long-term planning for the UK’s railway stations.

So what stations do Network Rail actually manage? There is a list of the nineteen stations, they current manage on on their web site.

Living in London, I use a lot of Network Rail managed stations, as all London terminals except for Blackfriars are managed by the company. The signs are consistent and even when the station is only used by one train operating company, like Liverpool Street or Waterloo, the national signs are dominant! As they should be! So a visitor to London, unfamiliar with where they are going, should find navigating around stations easy. Some large Continental stations could do a lot worse than mimic the signs at Euston, Waterloo or Kings Cross.

Generally, I think Network Rail gets it right. They also have a policy of getting better and often healthier food outlets into stations. Stations like Waterloo, Kings Cross, St. Pancras and Manchester Piccadilly have benefited from this policy. I have too, in that in the last couple of seasons, when I went to football at Blackburn, Burnley or Blackpool, I have sometimes arranged one journey with a change at Piccadilly, so I could have lunch or supper.

As someone, who hasn’t even managed a whelk stall, surely if one company manages a lot of stations, then good ideas filter across the group.

I wouldn’t call for all stations to be directly managed, as the vast proportion of smaller ones deal with one company. But even here, they should follow Network Rail’s policy on signs and possibly architecture and station furniture. In the case of the latter, I’ve seen some truly inappropriate designs. To be fair to Network Rail, they have produced this design guide and they are currently responsible for leading the Access for All.

So after Newcastle and York, what other stations, should they manage?

In the article from Global Rail News, one of the comments suggests that Clapham Junction station be directly managed.

The station has been improved and is managed by South West Trains, but used in addition by Southern and London Overground. The station needs further improvement and with Southern becoming part of the new Thameslink franchise, there will be three big beats using the station, which will be managed by a competitor.

It strikes me that there needs to be a policeman sitting about the corporate fights that will break out in one of the UK’s busiest stations. Network Rail are the obvious candidate.

There are other busy stations like Clapham Junction, which could probably need someone to sort out problems, caused by the station manager being the dominant train operating company in the station. In this class, I would name Peterborough, Preston, Derby, Nottingham, Sheffield and Wolverhampton.

And then there’s Cardiff.

Surely, if Glasgow Central and Edinburgh Waverly are managed by Network Rail, Cardiff Central must have string claims, even though it’s in Wales. But the Scots don’t seem to have problems over their two Network Rail managed stations.

I think by the end ofthis decade, more of the larger stations will be under Network Rail’s umbrella.

June 1, 2014 - Posted by AnonW | Transport/Travel | Stations, Trains