Birmingham Is Getting A World Class Station
I’ve been going to the old Birmingham New Street station since the 1960s. Until recently, you always got the impression, you were in the depths of a dark place underneath the centre of the city. The platforms are still a bit dark, but I suspect that’s because they haven’t been finished yet, but get upstairs and some of the station has been transformed.
A Transformed Station
Or at least half of it has, as the reconstruction has some time to run.
Escalators are everywhere, as they should be.
Escalators Are Everywhere
At present only one bridge over the platforms is complete and the second, is just a building site.
Outside an impressive frontage is being finished.
An Impressive Frontage
Although, another entrance is littered with dummies.
New Street Station With Dummies
How do you stop smoking dummies cluttering up entrances? But at least it’s not as bad in the UK, as in some European countries.
After lunch, my friend dropped me back to the station in his car. And what a surprise we got!
Passenger Drop Off At New Street Station
How many stations or airports have such a good well-designed drop off area? I walked straight into the booking hall, and after buying my ticket from a new and improved machine, two minutes later I was on the train back to Euston.
After Birmingham, you realise what a dump Euston station is. And of course it gets worse, as you descend into the Underground. We really knew how to design and build things badly then. Although, there are some notable exceptions! But Euston station is not one of them!
Sensible Station Opening Hours
I saw this notice at Kings Cross station yesterday.
Sensible Station Opening Hours
Copenhagen please note!
Impressive Structures At Liege Station
In this home run from Stockholm, I didn’t see any good modern station architecture, until I got to Liege station.
Impressive Structures At Liege Station
So why can’t the Swedes, Danes and Germans, do what the Belgians obviously can?
An Inclined Lift
In one of the stations I passed through on the Stockholm Metro, there was an inclined lift.
An Inclined Lift
Both Crossrail and the London Underground are installing some in the near future.
Hiss incidentally means lift and is easily remembered, if like me, you need the occasional pick-me-up.
A Multi-Currency Toilet
On my trip this morning I needed a pit-stop and as I had to surface at Green Park station to find of the maps, I used the excellent toilets there.
A Multi-Currency Toilet
Note how the entrance gate sensibly accepts both pounds and euros. They’ve even put the instructions in a selection of languages.
A Multi-LingualToilet
We need to do more things like this, to make London as tourism-friendly as possible.
Tiles At South Kensington Station
The tiles at South Kensington station seem to be being cleaned and repaired.
Tiles At South Kensington Station
The station is one of those that needs serious refurbishment and various proposals have been made.
Considering the station’s important location, with respect to the museums and Albertopolis, upgrading can’t come too soon!
Crap Dangerous Staircases Of East London
I have taken some pictures of the staircases in various railway stations across East London.
There is no alternatives to any of these, as they are lift-free stations. So just imagine, how the elderly, those in wheel-chairs and those with buggies cope.
Crystal Palace Station Shines In The Rain
I thought yesterday, that I’d go to see the refurbished Crystal Palace station, then perhaps have a walk in the park and some lunch in the cafe.
But the truly horrendous weather had other ideas, so I took a few pictures and then came back.
We need more sympathetic station refurbishments like this one.
Changing At New Cross Gate
Coming home, I didn’t go via Clapham Junction station, as the quickest train from Redhill went via New Cross Gate station, where I changed to the Overground.
It is not far to walk, but it is not step free and I had to walk up one tricky staircase and down another. So this would not be a route from Dalston Junction to Gatwick with a heavy case.
A Visit To Dorking West Station
Dorking West station has a reputation, as one of the least busy stations on the UK network. This was reported here on the BBC, which said it only had 16 passengers in 2011-12.
incidentally, I saw at least seven or eight passengers get off the train at Dorking West station.
The station was generally clean and tidy, although it is very short on facilities, with it would seem nothing convenient to the station, except for the scrapyard. Apparently, a few years ago, the latter caught fire and disrupted the trains, according to someone in Information at Redhill. I’ve since found this report on the BBC.
The Class 166 trains were in good condition too!
It was in some ways an interesting trip, to one of the least used parts of the rail network in the South East England.
Various things have been proposed to generate traffic from electrification, to use as a route from the Channel Tunnel to Reading for freight, but it is unlikely that much will be done.
