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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To say that It feels like there's no effort to reduce train stress.

188 replies

hockeysticks89 · 24/03/2022 16:26

I'm sitting at Euston, having missed my hourly train by seconds. When I approached it (running, which is not an attractive look for me) at its proper departure time a guy blew a whistle at me and said no. He saw me coming but gave the lock doors command as I approached.

Fair enough but I know from experience that they only put the station up on the board for my Crewe train around five minutes before it departs, at which point everyone literally charges like crazed animals. If you're slightly infirm you're screwed, it's a health and safety nightmare.

There are more platforms than there are trains. Guards know in advance which station it's going from.

AIBU to state that there appears to be no desire to reduce the stress of train travel in this situation? Grrrrr

OP posts:
SoulofEuston · 25/03/2022 00:04

I doubt you can speak for everyone hence my post.

As mentioned above I have asked the question myself, I do not know the difference between other large London station and Euston so cannot comment on the exact reasoning I can only state from my experience and observations.

freedaym · 25/03/2022 00:12

my memory of King's Cross before it was renovated is a bit dim but I think it was pretty horrible!
as a kid my memory of the whole area was a bit of a dump

Comefromaway · 25/03/2022 00:14

Oh god, the London West Midlands train to Crewe from Euston is stuff of nightmares.

Dh has a vestibular disorder and Ds is autistic and it’s dreadful.

Pinklimey · 25/03/2022 00:15

I went from Marylebone the other day. Very nice, ambled to the train as soon as platform displayed. Lots of people got on last minute, so not sure what happened there.

Chouetted · 25/03/2022 00:19

The Euston Dash is genuinely terrifying - especially if get caught up in it while trying to go the other way.

I believe it's to do with the lack of space on the platforms, and the daft ramps, but there has to be a better way.

Getting the first off-peak train out of London used to feel like dicing with death - and the prize was getting a patch of carpet on the train to sit on, because all the seats had been taken by people who ran faster.

Wafflesnsniffles · 25/03/2022 00:21

If you think the OP is being unreasonable.......... try going to Euston to wait for the Crewe train. When they finally put the platform details on the board........... the second they put that platform number up........... you make your way to the platform as quickly as you can......but in the crush amongst all the other passengers by the time you make it to the train the guard shuts the doors........ how is that fair?
Ive got that train often op, I totally get the struggle you are referring to.

freedaym · 25/03/2022 00:23

I know it can't be boarded before then! But they can put on the noticeboard which platform it will depart from so people can wait nearby instead of having to charge along from the waiting area and miss the train.

I've waited on platforms whilst a train has been cleaned, it's not a big deal.

honeyytoast · 25/03/2022 00:48

I have Euston down to an art now. But yes it’s so stressful

Circlesandtriangles · 25/03/2022 02:12

OP I know exactly what you mean, I struggled down to the platform one memorable evening when heavily pregnant and the dispatcher could see me coming and I was literally 10 meters from the train door, looking at me. when he gave the ok and the doors closed in my face and the train left.

Full of hormones, my uncharacteristic reaction was to say nothing but burst into tears on the spot. I was in agony with SPD and the next train was a 5 minute walk away (or 15 for me with my pelvic pain) on a different platform. A few people waiting for a train at nearby platform saw what happened and gave him an earful about it which was lovely but I still had to tearfully and painfully limp the way to that other platform. Awful memory!! Was so mortified!!

TottersBlankly · 25/03/2022 05:37

If other stations can do it, there really is no excuse. I travel between Manchester Piccadilly and Euston fairly frequently; the concourse screen gazing and sprint only happens at one end.

Absolutely. Getting on at the Manchester end is just so luxuriously relaxed. Correct platform might be shown an hour in advance, giving one the peaceful confidence to amble around the station shops, preen in the loos, buy a coffee and then amble onto your sunlit train at your leisure. By comparison, it’s bliss.

Noseylittlemoo · 25/03/2022 06:29

I commute in and out of Euston 5 days a week so I am familiar with this scenario.
I didn't know about the app. But I usually look at the arrivals board which seems to display the trains coming in up to about an hour ahead and shows which platform they come in to.
If the train to Milton Keynes that i want to get is leaving in 15 min but they haven't announced the platform I look at the arrival board and often there is a train arriving from MK in eg 10 min so I'm confident that's the platform.

Noseylittlemoo · 25/03/2022 06:40

My bugbear tbf not exclusive to Euston is other passengers who are oblivious that at a train station people have trains to catch! On the weekends especially there are people in groups who insist in standing in a group on the escalator / put their case next to them on the escalator so you can't get past. People stopping to regroup right at the entrance of a tube platform. I once missed the train as someone refused to move aside to let me pass on the escalator so I was slower to arrive on the concourse, "luckily" the platform I needed was straight ahead so I sprinted down with 2 min to spare and the guards smugly pulled one of those yellow barriers across. There was me and one more person so it would have taken literally seconds for them to let us on. And I know from experience that the trains often make up time it they leave late. (Altho this one wouldn't have even been late). It happened about 3 months ago but I've still got the rage about it!!

santapaws12 · 25/03/2022 07:29

People who don’t regularly travel to London don’t know about this ridiculous situation and will assume Euston is like any other reasonably sane train station. My mum, aged 79, catches trains no problem most of the time and is very independent and it wouldn't occur to her that she’d need assistance to get to the platform (although she’d be outrun by miles and possibly knocked over at Euston Sad )

implantreplace · 25/03/2022 07:31

I wasn’t aware of “train stress”

Is this going to be the new fashionable mental health condition to have (alongside OCD of course)

ArcheryAnnie · 25/03/2022 07:33

Totally agree, OP. I am now effectively disabled and trying to get to a platform in a few minutes (having waited at the station for ages) is a nightmare.

TottersBlankly · 25/03/2022 07:44

This reply has been deleted

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GoldenOmber · 25/03/2022 07:47

Euston is awful.

WhatNoRaisins · 25/03/2022 07:54

I'd love to take my children to London but reading about how bad things are I feel like I'd need to wait until they're fast on their feet and very good at instructions so we could all run like hell if necessary.

Perhaps what's needed is for every single passenger who has concerns about their ability to stampede through the station at high speed to request assistance to board. They'd never be able to accommodate everyone but maybe it would make them see how ridiculous this is getting.

freedaym · 25/03/2022 07:55

Just avoid Euston, the tube is a breeze compared

HardbackWriter · 25/03/2022 07:59

@freedaym

Just avoid Euston, the tube is a breeze compared
Bit tricky to go to Glasgow on the tube!
freedaym · 25/03/2022 08:02

I was addressing the poster who wanted to take her dc to London. They will easily be able to navigate the tube once here & if that poster avoids Euston it shouldn't be a problem.

Why you interpreted that as how I thought you could get to Glasgow by tube I'm not sure 😆

HardbackWriter · 25/03/2022 08:06

@freedaym You seemed to be issuing general advice that no one should use Euston, which I thought was a bit impractical! Grin

freedaym · 25/03/2022 08:09

again it was in response to the previous poster. Tagging is annoying

AngeloMysterioso · 25/03/2022 08:14

I remember when I was heavily pregnant and getting a train from Liverpool St- I could barely walk and the train I needed was waiting behind another 8 carriage train. The bloke on the platform watched me hobble the entire length of the front train before shutting the doors to the train I wanted to get on when I was just a few metres away, literally on the dot of the minute it was due to leave. He could have waited another 10 seconds for me to get on and it still would have left on time. I then had to hobble all the way back past the front train to get back to the concourse. He could not have given fewer fucks.

NightmareSlashDelightful · 25/03/2022 08:14

@freedaym

I was addressing the poster who wanted to take her dc to London. They will easily be able to navigate the tube once here & if that poster avoids Euston it shouldn't be a problem.

Why you interpreted that as how I thought you could get to Glasgow by tube I'm not sure 😆

Yeah but if the train from wherever they’re coming from goes into Euston, they’re stuck with it. Places outside of London almost always connect to one London station only. A passenger can’t just decide to travel into Liverpool Street from Manchester because they would rather avoid Euston!