Euston – A personal perspective
Much has been written in recent times about the operation and inadequacies of London’s Euston station and what it will look like when HS2 finally arrives there in the early 2030s. Although not the busiest of the London termini, it is the station with the biggest inter-city catchment serving Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool, and Glasgow plus may other smaller cities and towns along the way. So why the present controversy and is it all justified?
The original Euston
Those of us of an age who can remember the old Euston will recall it being something of a warren. It was not the first London terminal (this honour going to London Bridge) but it was the terminus of the London and Birmingham railway opened in 1837 and, as such, the first big main line station along with Curzon Street at Birmingham where the original building survives.
At that time, no-one really knew how successful railways would become and Euston was quite modest in its proportions. The centre pieces were a Great Hall and a Doric Arch, quite sufficient to cater for the train service being provided, but notable pieces of architecture even at that time. As train services increased with the formation of the London & North Western Railway, so the station expanded piecemeal, additional platforms on both the east and west sides acting as arrival and departure zones, plus extra suburban platforms in the middle and two electrified platforms for the local Euston – Watford service.
New buildings were added to cater for ticketing, left luggage, parcels, railway administration, and even an arrivals lounge on the eastern frontage where you could sit and while away the time. The needs of travellers staying overnight were catered for by the Euston Hotel sited in front of the Doric Arch and dominating the view from the Euston Road. Finding one’s way around was something of a challenge.
The whole place needed a rebuild, a bit like the original Waterloo where the London & South Western Railway had bitten the bullet and commenced construction of a new station before the First World War. The London Midland & Scottish Railway (LMS) knew that Euston was a problem and produced plans for rebuilding in the 1930s but these were put on hold owing to the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939. The old station soldiered on through the 1950s but something had to be done.
The new Euston of the 1960s
With electrification creeping southwards from Manchester and Liverpool, a more fitting terminus for this showpiece railway was needed. The design for the new station included a central concourse enclosed within a new large hall, and a common barrier line to all platforms which would be of varying length depending on whether used by main line or suburban services. All platforms would have reversible signalling meaning that they could be used for both arriving and departing trains.
A large parcel deck above Platforms 3 to 15 was constructed to centralise the parcel handling business, and offices for ticketing, toilets, and station management were provided on both the west and east wings of the station along with bookstalls, shops, and refreshment facilities. Pedestrian entranceways from both the station frontage and to Eversholt Street and Cardington Street existed on either side with access to the Underground being directly from the concourse. A bus station on the station front made for an easy interchange and taxis would pick up and set down from a sub-surface roadway underneath the concourse.
Other than the main concourse hall, the design was functional and somewhat utilitarian with the platforms being covered by the parcel deck and thus needing artificial lighting throughout the day. Roadways to facilitate the loading and unloading of parcels existed on both the east and west sides situated conveniently between platforms. Originally it was proposed to incorporate office blocks above the parcels deck, but this was vetoed by the local authorities in line with planning restrictions at that time. It was intended that the station frontage would be clearly in view from the Euston Road, thus seeking to emulate the ‘grand vista’ of the LMS plans but on a less ambitious scale.
As the 1960s progressed, so the old station was gradually demolished from east to west, reducing station capacity in the process. This was eased by transferring the London Manchester service to St Pancras and the London Birmingham service to Paddington, except for a handful of trains each day. Very controversial was the demolition of the Doric Arch and the Great Hall as these were architectural gems and should have been preserved. However, all objections were overruled and these two edifices met their fate.
It was chaotic as the work progressed, but the station never closed as the age of blockades had yet to arrive. Sunday services could be somewhat hit and miss as station works, electrification, and re-signalling all caused timetabling mayhem. The station had 18 platforms with some (notably 1 and 2) in the same location as the originals. Eventually the work was completed, and the station was officially declared open by Queen Elizabeth II in October 1968.
The main concourse was impressive with a huge flap-type indicator installed above the barrier line to give ready information on departures and arrivals. The whole area was uncluttered to give freedom of movement as passenger flows for both departing and arriving trains took place. An early criticism was the lack of any seating while passengers waited. Access to low and high number platforms was down a wide corridor to the east and west sides of the station which could cause congestion if departing and arriving train times coincided.
Commercial pressures soon emerged and moderate office blocks were constructed during the late 1970s in the open pedestrian circulating areas on both the east and west sides plus a podium of offices on stilts across the central area. These obstructed the view from the Euston Road where the only remaining parts of the old station still exist, viz the two entrance lodges and the LNW war memorial. Further commercial interests within the concourse caused a balcony to be built on the southern and eastern sides where much improved eating and drinking establishments now exist. The concourse was duly equipped with some seating areas plus information kiosks to aid travellers.
More recent changes
By the 1990s, the signalling system in the Euston Power Box of the 1960s (itself a modernistic structure somewhat resembling a submarine), was becoming old and a re-signalling scheme was approved with control being transferred to a new signalling centre at Wembley.
As part of this, the opportunity was taken to remodel the track layout in the station throat and by using previous locomotive release lines from Camden depot which were not now needed, a new approach line was created on the west side of the route from Camden Tunnel down into the station. This enabled Inter City trains timetabled to enter the higher number platforms to approach their platform without having to cross the tracks in the immediate station throat area. This massively improved operating flexibility and reduced delays while trains waited for clearance into platforms.
With the concentration of sleeper trains on to the west coast route, the two remaining services – the Lowlander to Glasgow & Edinburgh and the Highlander to Aberdeen, Inverness & Fort William – became very long and could only be accommodated on Platforms 1 and 2. To facilitate waiting and eventual boarding, a new sleeper lounge has been created on Platform 1 where intending passengers can be served refreshments until the time to join their berths.
More controversial has been access to the Underground where, instead of going directly up to the concourse, travellers have to take a short walk outside before entering the main station. Recent information indicates that should the concourse have to be closed for security reasons, the Underground can still be accessed. There is logic to this, but it is not popular with the travelling public.
Much more controversial was the decision to replace the main indicator board (itself modernised over the years with the original flaps replaced by electronic displays of various types) with two indicator boards mounted on columns in the middle of the concourse circulating area. Although the displays themselves are excellent, the amount of train departure and arrival information was significantly less, and the arrangement further restricted the flow of passengers within the concourse area. The space where the main indicator board once stood could then be used for big company advertising.
This has proved universally unpopular resulting in huge public criticism as well as further cluttering of the concourse. The advocates of this scheme might well have been advised to take note of what happened at Waterloo where a similar project met with howls of dismay and resulted in two of the main indicator boards being reinstated above the barrier line. Sense has prevailed at Euston and the main indicator board has now been put back although the removal of the concourse indicators has yet to happen. A new column-mounted indicator has been provided in the outside pedestrian area in front to the station, which is useful. Concourse mounted indicators do exist elsewhere, with Paddington being an example, but the pedestrian area (lovingly known as ‘The Lawn’ but without a blade of grass in site) is much wider.
Future plans
Increased passenger numbers and the growth of commercial outlets such as shops and eating establishments mean that Euston is much busier than it was in the 1960s. When train service disruption occurs, the concourse can get uncomfortably crowded and, even on normal days, efforts are being made to clean incoming trains more swiftly so that the outgoing service can be allocated its platform number much sooner.
The big question, however, is what to do about HS2 now that the government has given approval to extend the line from Old Oak Common to Euston. The original HS2 plan for a Y shaped network serving not just the West Midlands and the North West, but the East Midlands and Yorkshire as well, has been scaled back to cities already served by the West Coast Main Line (WCML), principally Birmingham and Manchester. Worse was to come with the government announcement in 2023 to abandon phase two from Birmingham to Crewe and Manchester and, at the time, to put on hold the extension from Old Oak Common to Euston
Work started in 2020 to clear the land to the west side of the existing station including the demolition of two tower blocks in the station frontage area, reducing the number of platforms to 16 and to build a new terminus for HS2 with originally 11 platforms, subsequently reduced to 10, for the anticipated full HS2 service. This would be a grand design with a geometric roof and 450-metre-long sub surface platforms, linked to but separate from the existing station. With the HS2 cutback the station works have effectively stopped.
The present government has given its backing to the extension of the line to Euston but what are the implications for the station? Clearly, with the line only serving Birmingham plus a few trains onwards to join the WCML at Handsacre which will serve Manchester, Liverpool, Blackpool and Glasgow, 10 platforms is seen as an expensive overkill, and the current plans are to build only six new platforms which would adequately cater for 10 HS2 trains per hour.
But will this be sufficient when looking at projections for increased rail travel into the future? A DfT official has recently intimated to the Public Accounts Committee that passive provision for the construction of further platforms will be part of the emerging plan, but what does this actually mean in practice? It could just be the safeguarding of land on the extreme western side. An alternative suggestion being mooted is to utilise space on the western side of the existing station, roughly where platforms 17 and 18 used to be and an associated roadway, for additional platforms. This would need detailed civil engineering analysis as to the practicality of the idea plus taking care not to impact on the operation and flexibility of the station throat.
It may well be that a cheaper onward high-speed route from Birmingham to Manchester will be proposed, in which case more than 10 trains per hour will use the HS2 line. Having the ability to create more platforms at marginal cost would be a welcome reality.
The big question is what will the six new platforms look like? The government minister has stated that these should be integrated into the existing station with a common barrier line and sequentially numbered platforms but what does this mean for the existing concourse? A logical decision would be to demolish the office areas on the west side of the station and extend the concourse westwards which would be a civil engineering challenge. The architects, already disgruntled by having their plans for the new station aborted, would still like to see something special but it is almost certain that whatever is decided, it will have to be built to a tight budget.
At the end of the day, HS2 will just be another train service and needs integrating into all the other services that operate out of Euston. The present three trains an hour to both Manchester and Birmingham would probably be cut back to at best two in order to serve places like Milton Keynes, Rugby, and Coventry and associated inter connectivity between these places and the north. The use of existing platforms will thus be eased.
It is unlikely that HS2 trains will be running before 2030 and, in the meantime, Euston must soldier on as it is. Efforts to de-clutter the concourse must surely be made, and slicker timetabling and cleaning of trains should make it more pleasant for the travelling public. It is just possible that the Doric Arch might be resurrected from where it was dumped and made something of a centrepiece.
We all wait agog to see what actually transpires.
Image credit: Clive Kessell
