Investment call for rail stations
Sheffield is Yorkshire’s favourite railway station, according to a new survey calling for investment published today.
York is also highly rated in the survey by Transport Focus, while Hull is one the worst rated.
SHEFFIELD IS Yorkshire’s favourite railway station, according to a new survey calling for investment published today.
York is also highly rated in the survey by Transport Focus, while Hull is one the worst rated.
Glasgow Queen Street is Britain’s most unpopular railway station. Only 58 per cent of passengers say they are “satisfied” with the city-centre terminal.
The second worst score was given for the station serving Gatwick Airport (66 per cent), followed by Oxford (67 per cent) and Clapham Junction (69 per cent).
Also among the bottom 10 were London Victoria (72 per cent), Hull (73 per cent) and Cardiff Central (75 per cent).
The top four stations have noticeably all undergone major refurbishments in recent years – London King’s Cross (96 per cent), London St Pancras (95 per cent), Birmingham New Street (92 per cent) and Reading (92 per cent).
Sheffield came eighth in the list with a score of 91 per cent, York was 12th with 91 per cent and Leeds 34th with 84 per cent. Hull was 48th out of 56 with its 73 per cent score.
Independent watchdog Transport Focus surveyed more than 28,000 passengers, with 56 stations where at least 100 people responded being included in the ranking.
The survey was conducted between September and November last year, shortly after a £100m modernisation project began at Glasgow Queen Street.
Nine months into the work, some passengers are still unhappy with the station’s condition.
Cameron MacIntosh, 32, a sales adviser from Stirling, said: “The station is an absolute bomb site at the moment.
“It really looks like a place from the third world. I try and avoid it.”
John McInnes, a 46-year-old technician from Cumbernauld, commented: “I hope they are going to finish it because it looks a disaster just now.
“It’s embarrassing bringing friends or relations here. They can’t believe the mess of the place.”
Receptionist Margaret McGinley, 36, from Larbert, said: “It will look bad for a while, but I think it’ll be amazing when they’ve completed the renovation work.”
The Abellio ScotRail-operated station was used by 15 million passengers in 2016/17, making it Scotland’s third busiest station.
One Gatwick Airport passenger who responded to the survey reported that the West Sussex station is “small and cramped” with “long queues for tickets and overcrowding on platforms”.
Another described it as an “appalling welcome to the UK”.
Other critical respondents include one who claimed London Victoria is “grubby for what should be a flagship station”, and another who bemoaned the platforms at Cardiff Central for being “very run-down”.
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.
“Passengers’ top priorities for stations include arrival time information, waiting rooms and the overall look and feel of the station.”
A spokesman for the Rail Delivery Group, which represents the rail industry, said: “As part of the partnership railway’s long-term plan, and to deliver on our commitment to boost local communities, we’re investing to improve 178 small and medium-sized stations right across the country.”
Other recent surveys by the watchdog found huge satisfaction among travellers for tram systems and called for the creation of more tram networks in cities.