Birmingham New Street named as Britain’s worst railway station
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Miss-Shelf
I'll meet you further on up the road
I haven't read the rest of the thread but I was in and out of here at the weekend and reminded again of how much it makes no sense at all in its layout
muscovyduck
Good IT skills and food hygiene competent
It's actually been made worse. Escalators going both ways rather than an escalator and a set of stairs mean a worse bottleneck coming off a train
SpookyFrank
A cheap source of teeth for aquarium gravel
I use it a couple of times a month and hate the place.
A few weeks ago I had to queue for a lift to get to the platforms.
muscovyduck
Good IT skills and food hygiene competent
Looks like a semi-regular occurance tbh
Miss-Shelf
I'll meet you further on up the road
Me too on sunday
Me too on sunday
Not the most convenient when the train is actually on time and you only have a minute to spare, with the next train an hour away.
SpookyFrank
A cheap source of teeth for aquarium gravel
Were the escalators on the blink or just packed solid?
Miss-Shelf
I'll meet you further on up the road
Shut off to platform 6
Blocked off with boards and "Don't you even think about coming down here" signs. Perhaps an upgrade? It's not unusual for the escalators to break down.
I don't just walk around the place looking for things to moan about btw
SpookyFrank
A cheap source of teeth for aquarium gravel
I don't just walk around the place looking for things to moan about btw
You don't really have to at New Street tbf. Finding something not to moan about at New Street is a job of work.
beesonthewhatnow
going deaf for a living
It. Isn't. Finished. Yet.
SpookyFrank
A cheap source of teeth for aquarium gravel
But it will still be shit when it's finished, for reasons outlined above.
BigTom
Well-Known Member
The bit on the right is already in place and it gets very warm stood on the walk way in the evening when the sun is shining on the metal.
Blagsta
Minimum cage, maximum cage
You've always had to queue for lifts. There used to be only one lift to street level (although it did bypass the ticket barriers, which was useful!), now there are more lifts. Escalators are bigger too. It's definitely an improvement, although I think there's a limited amount of things they can do given the space the tracks are in.
farmerbarleymow
I'm Petee's spirit animal
Blocked off with boards and "Don't you even think about coming down here" signs. Perhaps an upgrade? It's not unusual for the escalators to break down.
I don't just walk around the place looking for things to moan about btw
I think it is to fix the faulty escalator parts that caused so much grief over the last several months. To be fair, the escalators do seem to be more reliable nowadays.
Although it isnt great if you're rushing for a train like machine cat said, and have to leg it across to the other side of the concourse for the opposite platform escalators or wait for a lift. They do that too often when they replatform trains, not taking into account the passengers having to sprint right across the station through the crowds.
beesonthewhatnow
going deaf for a living
No, it will be a hell of a lot better than it was before.
neonwilderness
What would Badgers do?
Same when I was there a few weeks back too. I thought I'd left loads of time, but then found the escalators blocked off and a massive queue for the lift so I had to leg it round to the other end of the station. It's a good job my train was a few minutes late
Unlikely. The problem with the Walkie Talkie (walkie schorchee) was that it's glass, or curtain walling to be precise. Because the pitch of one elevation is almost concave the angle of the sunlight was being reflected down and was magnifying it on the road below, similar to a way a child may use a magnify glass to sizzle an ant.
The new cladding on New Street looks like Zinc or some sort of ACM so whilst it will be reflective and potentially be a bit blinding if you catch the wrong angle it is unlikely to reflect the heat of the sun. But here's the thing about construction you're never really sure until you build the thing, theory is great but real world applications have a habit of making fools of us all.
farmerbarleymow
I'm Petee's spirit animal
I've got a pleasing mental image of a gloriously shiny station standing proud amongst the burnt out devastation of Birmingham city centre around it.
farmerbarleymow
I'm Petee's spirit animal
It couldn't really be any worse. But it looks like it'll be a shopping centre first with the station as an afterthought.
I've got a pleasing mental image of a gloriously shiny station standing proud amongst the burnt out devastation of Birmingham city centre around it.
Don't worry that sort of cladding usually looks shit after about two days, it scratches if you as much as look at it and all the pollution will cling to it and make it very look very dull.
farmerbarleymow
I'm Petee's spirit animal
I wonder what it will look like once it's daubed in pigeon shit, unless they've installed anti-pigeon stuff to stop them sitting on it.
aqua
made of cheese and gin
That was started when they took the glorious roof off the original station and stuck the shopping centre on top.
What's there is already better than what was there. Can we not forget the crap station we started with here
it was miserable at best.Sure this doesn't solve the two lines in two lines out problem of new St, but the space above should work much better.
Monkeygrinder's Organ
Dodgy geezer swilling vapid lager
The funniest thing about the Walkie Talkie melting cars (apart from the fact that it was a BMW or something similar that got it) was that the architect had apparently had exactly the same issue once before. If ever there's something that should be a one-off mistake I'd think designing a building that destroys its immediate surroundings would be it.
farmerbarleymow
I'm Petee's spirit animal
That was started when they took the glorious roof off the original station and stuck the shopping centre on top.
What's there is already better than what was there. Can we not forget the crap station we started with here
Sure this doesn't solve the two lines in two lines out problem of new St, but the space above should work much better.
I don't know though - the old concrete bunker version was endearingly shit in its own way. It should have been listed to preserve it forever.
ChrisD
.
I hope things are sorted soon. In 2 weeks I'm taking fully loaded touring bike on trains between Exeter and Glasgow. Have to change here in both directions. Happy to carry up stairs but draw the line with escalators.
aqua
made of cheese and gin
It
it was like walking into the 1970s every time you went near it, and not the good bits of the 70s either!I don't know though - the old concrete bunker version was endearingly shit in its own way. It should have been listed to preserve it forever.
