Getting to grips with the ‘Euston Rush’

Responding to public criticism, and under orders from the Transport Secretary, Network Rail is changing the way Euston operates. Paul Clifton finds out whether it is working.

Euston station’s problems can only really be solved when HS2 arrives and the station is substantially rebuilt. On that, everyone is agreed.

But for the long years until that happens, what newspapers delight in calling the ‘Euston Rush’ has to be tackled.

The quick fix demanded by the now former Transport Secretary Louise Haigh has been ridiculed in some quarters - probably unfairly. But the announcement did say that “improved flows through the station have been made possible by collaboration between Network Rail and the train operating companies”.

Were they not collaborating before? If not, what were they doing?

Haigh ordered Network Rail to turn off the giant advertising screen that had been installed last January to replace the now-removed main departure boards.

NR hinted in November that “in the coming weeks” there would be an invitation to see how it proposes to use “a significant portion” of the advertising screen to display customer information.

As part of a five-point recovery plan, it is also trialling earlier boarding of some Avanti West Coast and London Northwestern Railway services. The objective is to reduce the sudden surge of passengers as platform numbers are announced, typically a handful of minutes ahead of departure.

Anecdotal evidence suggests it is making a difference, although one insider explained: “This means a proportion of the trains have to be cleaned while passengers are boarding. Because that’s part of the cause of the Euston Rush.

“In the past, the train came in, passengers got off, the train was then cleaned until five minutes before departure, so new passengers got on a presentable train.

“For this to work, they need greater certainty from the signallers about which platform will be used, so they can call it for passengers, prime them to pre-load the ramp to the platform. And they have to let them onto still-dirty trains while rubbish is picked up and spilt coffee wiped.

“Beyond that, there really isn’t a huge amount more they can do until the HS2 questions are answered.”

Network Rail says it is now allowing passengers to board about 40% of Avanti West Coast services 20 minutes before departure, increasing to around 55% in the run-up to Christmas.

“Continuous boarding” of LNWR’s Birmingham services was introduced on October 21 and is now “here to stay”, according to Network Rail. Passengers are invited onto the platform as soon as the preceding service has departed, instead of being held on the concourse.

Other measures include creating more concourse space, upgrading toilets, and enhancing how the station operates during disruption. A full review of station signage is being “explored”.

In August 2023, the Office of Rail and Road investigated Network Rail’s management of Euston, and found it wanting. It issued the infrastructure owner with an Improvement Notice to force action.

“Our site inspectors found there was not suitable crowd control in place,” ORR Deputy Director Sarah Shore tells RailReview.

“They had not properly assessed the risk with passenger flows. There was not an incident response plan. The management was not adequate.”

She says conditions for passengers quickly improved.

“Network Rail did as we asked. They have worked well with us, and we think this is now a positive story.

“They liaised with all their partners. It’s a fundamental issue, the co-ordination with other parties. We followed up with visits to check compliance. Although we signed off in November, we knew some things would take longer and we have been following through since then.

“In the meantime, there have been other complaints. There have been broader issues at play. They are outside ORR, but we have been contributing to them.”

Shore says the earlier platform announcements and changes to train turnaround procedures are welcome. But she adds that short-term, limited-scope measures cannot overcome the constraints of the station.

“There’s a lot they can do to improve things. Some of the proposals to make better use of the space offer opportunity for changes to passenger flow. The experience of disabled passengers is something we are continuing to work through. That has been difficult, and we are keen to ensure that is handled properly. But ultimately the overall solutions are beyond this plan.

“The issue for us is to make sure Network Rail maintain the momentum.

“There’s a lot to do, and they have a lot of distractions. We don’t want it to drift. We don’t want Network Rail to lose sight of what we have required of them.”

Network Rail is unusually sensitive about this subject. Normally its communications are open, cordial and honest, offering this magazine ready access to its senior leaders. Until his appointment as a government minister, former NR Chairman Lord Peter Hendy served as a member of the RailReview editorial board.

But not on this occasion. Our repeated requests for an interview were declined. As were similar requests by many other news outlets. Network Rail decided the time was not right to speak publicly about passenger safety concerns at Euston, or to engage in a discussion about the impact of concourse overcrowding that has featured frequently on television news bulletins and in every national newspaper.

Network Rail would only accept written questions, to which it offered written answers attributed to “a spokesman”.

We asked ten questions, most of which received variations of the same answer: “We are working as fast as we can across all five points in the plan. Passengers are already benefiting from some earlier train boarding on some services, which is something we’re working on closely with our train operator colleagues.”

We asked how success would be measured: “Our five-point plan is all about making London Euston station better for our passengers, so we’ll continue to listen to their feedback.”

We asked about options for a permanent solution to benefit passengers, and the extent to which these could be independent of HS2: “Our plans will deliver a brand-new station concourse that’s fit for the future and offers much better facilities for passengers. We will share more information when they’re further developed.”

Perhaps surprisingly, the station’s sharpest official critic has also fallen silent.

London TravelWatch had been excoriating in its criticism of Network Rail.

In October, it said that passengers were “in danger” from “high levels of overcrowding”, in a report which made national headlines.

Now, London TravelWatch is involved with others in observing the team tasked with improving movement of people through the station, and it is declining to comment further.

At the end of October, a ‘rail industry summit’ gave user groups and government an update on progress on Euston station’s improvement plan. This involved inviting Rail Minister Lord Hendy, the Department for Transport, Transport for London, train operators, British Transport Police and Transport Focus on what Network Rail called a “fact-finding visit of passenger operations”.

In a statement issued afterwards, former Transport Secretary Louise Haigh said: “I am pleased to see improvements being made at Euston station to reduce the risk of overcrowding.”

She added: “For too long, Euston station has simply not been good enough.”

As yet, there is no data to record changing levels of passenger satisfaction at Euston. But Alex Robertson, chief executive of Transport Focus, said: “It’s good to see immediate actions being taken. The important thing now is that passengers start to see an improvement. It’s still early days.”