Edinburgh Waverley station needs me.

[TallOrLong]

Here are the facts:

• I go to many train stations, I never ever get confused elsewhere.
• I never go to Waverley without walking round in a big loop in a state of confusion.
• From observation I am not the only one.

I am prepared to provide executive advice. Payment terms are a baguette from upper crust, a bag of percy pigs from M&S and some scottish fudge from, well, somewhere that sells good fudge.

This is not actually an AIBU, because I am not being unreasonable. I am on a train leaving Edinburgh having finally found my platform. See you next time for the same fun again Waverley!

You just follow the signs??

I find the platforms tucked away at the side (where the long-distance trains down to London / Southampton go from) incredibly confusing to find.

I do. Or I think I do. But because I am not psychic I don’t know when ⬆️ means go up or when ⬆️ means go straight ahead.

There is a sign where it uses the same arrow for different platforms, some of which are up, some of which are straight on behind the escalator.

IANBU

Lol, I totally know what you mean. Unless you are a ‘regular’, it’s not totally clear where each platform is and that’s even with signage, lol. I am now knowledgeable on the vagaries of Waverley Station having commuted for years, but it took a lot of study and hard work.

There’s a typical pattern to it…….LNER trains heading south come in on the long platforms either side of the main concourse, and also the one down the side of the waiting area building (6 maybe) if it starts from Edinburgh…..unless it’s come from Glasgow central when it’ll come in over the bridge.
trains north and west go from the dead platforms in the middle of the shops, unless they go from the ones over the bridge. Borders railway is usually one of the platforms round the back of the waiting area building or the far one.
but I agree, it’s not the most logically numbered or signed if you’re not familiar with it.

I live just outside Edinburgh and totally get what you mean OP! The platforms are not where they are expected to be, ever!

Aren't the platforms in numerical order in a clockwise direction? But yes,I find it baffling...

When they engage my services I will consider additional leaflets to be handed out with this supplementary advice.

Passengers will get through the gates only if they pass a multiple choice test based on the information described in it.

May I offer to assist this worthy endeavour?

I walk through it most days and I see so many people looking totally perplexed and lost.

And despite walking through the station I struggle to find my platform when travelling from there.

For those not familiar https://assets.nationalrail.co.uk/e8xgegruud3g/1uMRoXXLz8Stx8eHsitrNU/13944587e79c409315ae04160b061ab9/CCS0723844574-001_Edinburgh_map_2023v6.pdf
there’s also several points of entry, all at different “ground levels” due to the hilly nature of the city.
and don’t even get me started on the escalators at Waverley steps always being out of order!

You may. Do you want percy pigs too, or maybe something from costa?

I think Waverley represents a microcosm of Edinburgh itself. Visited recently, driving, thought I knew my way round. Holy crap, they do like to make you tour the city and suburbs.

The stairs/escalators from Princes Street down to Waverley are one of the circles of hell. But once you're in, it's all pretty straightforward, I find.

They may well be! But that requires walking round in a loop to get to the one you want if you don’t know where the numbering starts.

Oh wait. I do that!

@TallOrLong always cafe Nero rather than Costa, the queue is usually shorter and the coffee is better IMO. If you have trouble finding it it’s near the exit of M&S food ( which is to be avoided at all costs if you have a wheelie bag because they didn’t make the turning circles in that shop big enough for even a carry on case)

Every time. Every single time I wander around in circles, upstairs, downstairs following signs that bring me back to the beginning. It's like whipps cross hospital but at least that had paint lines on the floor

I don't know Edinburgh Waverley personally, but for a few bags of Percy Pigs and some Colin the Caterpillar mini cakes, I'd be willing to go up there, do an in-depth survey and produce a map.... similar to the one of the London Underground?

You are obviously are a good, kind person. I am not so rewarded and descend into further circles of hell once I’m in, I’m afraid.

I'd really like working escalators at Waverley steps, but that's probably asking for too much, so a skinny hazelnut latte will do instead.

Platform 20 or platform 1?

I am delighted to find this thread. I have spent years being lost and confused, with my misery compounded by those accompanying me complaining that they are also lost and confused but that that is somehow my fault.

OP, perhaps when you are in charge, your 1st act could be a central support tea bar area, for all the lost to congregate at. We could then be led in a human train to the correct platforms.

Doesn’t M&S have two doors. This doesn’t help with orientation either. Additional signage needed here too.

THIS door to take your percy pigs to platform X.
THIS door to take them to platform Y.

Wheelie bag infomatic to displayed at both entrances, thank you for your valuable contribution.

It is endlessly confusing. And don't get me started on the platform (7 maybe) that's an extension of one of the others and means you have to walk miles to find your train. The later you're running the higher the chance your train is on that platform.

I also made the mistake recently of checking the app on the way to the station and heading straight to the main concourse where my train was supposed to be at one of the dead end platforms. Either the app was wrong or they changed the platform in the five minutes after I checked, so it was actually on platform 10 so I could see it, but didn't have time to get all the way up, over, and down again to get on it.

I’ve used Waverley for decades and when catching a train from there have a pretty good sense of where the platforms are. But I can still very easily arrive into Waverley, get off onto the platform and have no fucking idea where I am

YANBU, it was designed by Escher