Waterloo’s Blue Elephant
Waterloo International station was built for Eurostar services at a cost of £120million. I needed to get out of Waterloo to Clapham Junction and I noticed that the first train was in Platform 20 in the old Waterloo International.
So I went and had a look inside for the first time since C and myself went to Paris for the weekend.
I could have thought of better ways to spent £120million on the railways.
Every Transport Minister in the UK, should have a photograph of this blue elephant subtitled Don’t Create Another Of These on his or her desk.
Architects might like the design, but I think that there are much better-designed stations in the UK. Manchester Victoria is my current favourite, which scores highly on design, quality of construction and affordability.
The biggest crime though for Waterloo International, is that it was designed and built and when it was found to be inadequate, a replacement station was started.
It definitely scored -2 out of 10 for overall planning.
It is interesting to note that the whole farce of the Channel Tunnel Rail Link was more politically-led, whereas Crossrail is much more led by what engineers and architects say is possible. From what I’ve found out about Crossrail 2, it would appear that it has gone further down that route.
The Anonymous Widower 
[…] looking at Waterloo International, I sat in a train before it left for Clapham Junction and it got me thinking about the future of […]
Pingback by Whither Waterloo? « The Anonymous Widower | July 22, 2015 |
[…] There’s some more pictures from before the work started in Waterloo’s Blue Elephant. […]
Pingback by The Eurostar Platforms At Waterloo Station Are Being Brought Back Into Use « The Anonymous Widower | November 2, 2016 |