First class or second rate? Your verdict on rail stations

TRAIN stations – all too often scenes of long queues, delays and passenger nightmares – have now been ranked in a survey of the best and least favourite places to travel through.

Among some of the best, like the Victorian splendour of London's St Pancras International, they are places where people go to enjoy the bars, restaurants and shops.

Independent watchdog Transport Focus surveyed more than 28,000 passengers to find their best and least favourite stations.

Top priorities included the look and feel of the station, waiting rooms and arrival time information.

The top four out of the 56 stations on the list have all undergone major refurbishments in recent years.

London King's Cross came first with a 96 per cent satisfaction rate.

The station has had a £500million restoration, which included a giant, tubular roof and an open-air plaza.

London St Pancras, which was saved from demolition by Sir John Betjeman in the 1960s, came second with 95 per cent followed by joint third Birmingham New Street and Reading and fourth Marylebone.

At the other end of the tracks was Glasgow Queen Street, voted Britain's most unpopular railway station. Only 58 per cent of passengers said they were satisfied with the city centre terminal.

Cramped

The second worst was Gatwick on 66 per cent, Oxford on 67 per cent and Clapham Junction, 69 per cent. Also among the bottom 10 were London's Victoria and Barking.

The survey was held from last September to November, just after a £100million modernisation project began at Glasgow Queen Street.

Cameron MacIntosh, 32, a sales adviser from Stirling, said: “The station is an absolute bomb site at the moment. It looks like a place from the third world. I try and avoid it.”

Receptionist Margaret McGinley, 36, from Larbert, said: “I think it'll be amazing when it's completed.”

The Abellio ScotRail-operated station was used by 15 million passengers in 2016/17, making it Scotland's third busiest station.

A Gatwick passenger complained the West Sussex station was “cramped”. Another called it an “appalling welcome to the UK”.

Transport Focus chief executive Anthony Smith said: “Investment in stations can improve passengers' satisfaction when targeted at features which make a difference to their experience.”

A spokesman for the Rail Delivery Group, which represents the rail industry, said: “We are investing to improve 178 small and mediumsized stations across the country.”