Euston station overcrowding ‘putting passengers in danger’, says travel watchdog

Passengers travelling through Euston railway station are being put “in danger” due to “high levels of overcrowding,” a transport watchdog has revealed.Passengers travelling through Euston railway station are being put “in danger” due to “high levels of overcrowding,” a transport watchdog has revealed.
Passengers travelling through Euston railway station are being put “in danger” due to “high levels of overcrowding,” a transport watchdog has revealed. | Getty Images
Passengers travelling through Euston railway station are being put “in danger” due to “high levels of overcrowding,” a transport watchdog has revealed.

London TravelWatch said that due to "last-minute announcements" passengers are having to “rush to platforms” leaving staff “overwhelmed” by the sheer numbers of people.

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TravelWatch also warned that plans for new train services, including a new route between London and Stirling, “will only worsen” the problems at Euston.

And it said it was “incredible” that the rail regulator, the Office of Rail and Road, was not continuing to press Network Rail, which owns Euston, to improve the situation after issuing it with an improvement notice a year ago.

Last week Network Rail asked passengers to avoid Euston station for 10 days over Christmas as it is expected to be “extremely busy” due to engineering work and other station closures.

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In a statement on Tuesday, London TravelWatch said: “Even on good days, the passenger experience at London Euston fails to match its importance as the capital’s main rail gateway to four of the UK’s largest cities.

“But it is when train services are disrupted that the station really struggles to cope, with high levels of overcrowding putting passengers in danger.”

Despite raising concerns in meetings with Network Rail, passengers are “still having to rush to platforms due to last minute announcements, staff appear overwhelmed by the sheer numbers of people involved and the recently-installed information screens seem to have done little if anything to make things better for passengers when services are disrupted”, it said.

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The London TravelWatch statement added: “It is almost a year since the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) issued an improvement notice to Network Rail regarding the station, but it seems little has changed.

“We are also very concerned that the situation will only worsen if new operators are successful in their recent applications to run additional services from the station, or if any of the current operators that run out of Euston increase their service frequency.”

It called for details of Network Rail’s promised improvements in managing passenger flows at Euston – which convinced the ORR to close its “improvement notice” – to be made public “and reviewed as a matter of urgency in the light of the latest events at the station”.

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A Network Rail spokesperson said: "Euston was designed for a different era and we acknowledge that it is in need of major investment and modernisation.

"However, safety is at the heart of our operation and something we would never compromise on in any of our stations."

It added: "For the majority of the time the station works, however during times of disruption, there simply isn't enough room for passengers and we know this can make for an uncomfortable and unpleasant environment."

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An ORR spokesperson said: "The passenger experience at Euston remains uncomfortable at times for users and we are aware of the recent media coverage on this.

"We have been continuing to talk with Network Rail about further improvements it can make to help manage crowds, particularly during disruption."

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