If you've ever caught the train back to Manchester from London Euston you'll know the routine. Standing around on the concourse, neck craned, peering up at the departures board, as you wait for the last-minute announcement of your platform followed by a mad dash to your seat.
Relaxing it's most certainly not. In fact the 'Euston stampede' has become so notorious it's often a trending topic on Twitter and is the subject of dozens of TikToks, MyLondon reports.
The reason it happens is because unlike most other major London railway terminals, instead of encouraging customers to wait in the area closest to the platform or head straight to the platform and board/wait for their train, at Euston passengers are asked to wait on the main station concourse until the platform is shown around 20 minutes prior to departure. Passengers then have 18 minutes to find and board the train, which closes its doors usually two minutes before the scheduled departure time.
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That's the theory. In reality, it can lead to hundreds of people making an excited rush through the station building to get to their seats first. But running across one of the busiest buildings in the country with hard concrete floors and 25,000 volt electric wiring above you is probably not the best idea.
Network Rail tells MyLondon 'hundreds' of passengers per year have accidents trying to leg it to the platform. The good news is there are a handful of easy ways to avoid the crush, enjoy your journey and beat the crowds.
Why it happens
Euston opened in 1968, with the concourse at a higher level than the tracks to allow for deliveries and underground car parking and a new, expanded London Underground ticket hall for the Victoria line which opened the same year. At the time driving to a central London railway station seemed logical, but now seems outdated given the congestion on the capital's streets.
As a result, access to the platforms is by a series of long ramps, which slope down to the platforms. As passenger numbers have grown over the years, with Euston now used by around 45 million passengers per year on National Rail alone, it now means hundreds of people with luggage have to walk down the slopes creating a huge bottleneck. Most platforms then have a gate or manual ticket check.
Network Rail, which owns and manages the station, has undertaken five different improvement schemes. These have included moving the station taxi rank, revamping the notorious ramps and creating a larger open space for platforms 8 to 11 where London Overground and local London Northwestern Railway trains depart from.
A Network Rail spokesperson told MyLondon: "We strongly discourage passengers from running to their trains at London Euston. Every year hundreds of people hurt themselves from avoidable slips, trips and falls at stations because they are in a rush.
"Over recent years we have spent millions of pounds to make more space on the concourse and on ramps to platforms so passengers can get to trains more easily. We continue to work with train operators and invest in new technology to announce when trains are ready so passengers can board in plenty of time."
As well as the physical constraints of the station, there's also the operational needs of the railway. Often to passengers, those needs are summed up in the phrase 'preparing train'. Avanti West Coast confirmed to MyLondon: "Preparing trains involves cleaning the train throughout and loading catering supplies for the onboard shop and First Class. To enable this to be done safely and efficiently, platform access is restricted to staff only – with customers advised to wait on the concourse. Trains ordinarily board with more than 15 minutes’ notice."
How you can avoid it
With Euston the main station for trains to Manchester on the West Coast Mainline, it's difficult to avoid it entirely. But with a few simple steps it's easy not to get caught in the crush! Take your pick from the following options:
- Don't wait on the main station concourse - departure screens are shown on the station forecourt outside and there are also departure screens on the station mezzanine where there are several food and drink outlets including a Starbucks.
- If you're travelling on London Overground or London Northwestern Railway trains to Tring, use the shortcut - London Overground trains can only depart from platforms 8 to 11 and the majority of local London Northwestern Railway services to Wembley Central, Harrow & Wealdstone, Bushey, Watford Junction, Kings Langley, Apsley, Hemel Hempstead, Berkhamsted and Tring also depart from platforms 8 to 11 too. So when you're connecting from the Underground, instead of following the signs for National Rail from the Underground ticket hall, follow the signs for 'Overground' instead. You follow a tunnel to your left immediately after the gateline which takes you directly to the platforms, by-passing the concourse and ramps entirely.
- Get traingeeky - if you make a regular journey to/from Euston, you might find it worth using open source website Realtime Trains which displays live train data which tells you which platforms trains are using before the departure screens do, or OpenTrainTimes Maps. For the latter, you'll need to learn the train headcodes which are the operational designations given to each service.
- Book via Avanti West Coast's app or website - if you do this, you'll get a text which tells you which platform to board from when your train is ready so you'll be free to hang out in one of Euston's nearby pubs, shops and restaurants. This text is sent 90 seconds before the train is announced on the station concourse so you'll be able to avoid the rush.
Euston in the future
Euston is set to be entirely revamped over the coming years as High Speed 2 arrives, which will add additional platforms, and an eventual Crossrail 2. These will mean the station building and its passenger flows will be entirely modified and made much less stressful, in a similar way to the expansion works that took place at King's Cross, St Pancras International and London Bridge during works on High Speed 1 and the Thameslink Programme.
This work has already started, resulting in the closure in the westernmost part of the station and two platforms which were used for Avanti West Coast services.
