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Most hated non-UK station

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theageofthetra

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Fully agree with NY Penn - just hideous. Would also like to nominate Osaka Station - compared to most other Japanese stations it's an incomprehensible mess of a place.

Despite using it every day for a week I never actually found the same route in or out when using the Thunderbird services to Kyoto. My daughter used it last year and was of exactly the same opinion!
 
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Aictos

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Let's be honest, the "cheminot" culture of SNCF is hardly the bastion of good customer service.
Indeed, I tried my best to ask for assistance in a calm and pleasant manner but being faced with being ignored and having the worse customer service of any international station isn't a good experience.

Indeed it took me asking a dozen SNCF employees to ask for assistance as they had deliberately made me missed my connection before I found one person willing to rebook me on the next TGV at my own cost even though SNCF should have paid it as it was their staff who made me missed my booked connection.

That's why it's the No1 awful station in my view.

At no point was I ranting and raving, on the other end of the scale I came across a pleasant TER guard who was quite chatty.
 

duesselmartin

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Cherry Orchard, Dublin. Got off the train and the first thing seen at the platform exit was a burnt out Garda patrol car. I was meant to get a bus from there, after a few minutes waiting a nice old lady came over and told me the buses no longer called there. The locals kept robbing the drivers and stoning the vehicles. So I had to walk through the estate to find a bus stop on the main road. Virtually every lamp post had cables running from the top into the eaves of nearby houses. Definitely not a place to make eye contact or speak with an English accent.
Lvov Station in the Ukraine, the station itself isn't bad, but we did see somebody shot by police 30 yards from us as we bought some coffee.
Dublin has some rough areas but If er count every rough suburbun stop this list will never end.
I remember a severly dented Enterprise train to Belfast. Apparantly ballast is frequently thrown at it.

I thought that station was suppose to be closed and relocated?
What I find interesting in Cherry Orchard is the contrast between name and reality.
 

upnorth71

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Would also like to nominate Osaka Station
Quite surprised at this. Now the concourse stair/escalator arrangement below the platform level can be a bit confusing to the new visitor (the ziggurat-like effect is a legacy of the marshy ground the station foundation is built upon), but overall the experience is quite decent and I might say pleasant if you're talking about the new above track concourse and trainshed , especially considering that by some studies the station is the 5th busiest in the world by daily passenger count. The station is clean and safe (being Japan), as is the neighborhood (Umeda) around it, being perhaps the prime retail/commercial location in Osaka. Compared to NY Penn (which I have experienced twice, including a night train to Boston), it is a galaxy removed, it's just no comparison.
 

Acfb

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Quite surprised at this. Now the concourse stair/escalator arrangement below the platform level can be a bit confusing to the new visitor (the ziggurat-like effect is a legacy of the marshy ground the station foundation is built upon), but overall the experience is quite decent and I might say pleasant if you're talking about the new above track concourse and trainshed , especially considering that by some studies the station is the 5th busiest in the world by daily passenger count. The station is clean and safe (being Japan), as is the neighborhood (Umeda) around it, being perhaps the prime retail/commercial location in Osaka. Compared to NY Penn (which I have experienced twice, including a night train to Boston), it is a galaxy removed, it's just no comparison.

I agree with this and I've used it several times transferring from the Haruka express and from the Kyoto direction to the Shinkansen even though last year I transferred at Shin Kobe coming from Hiroshima to avoid needlessly changing platforms.

The area below the Shinkansen platforms at Shin-Osaka is actually very spacious where you can buy food to take away and the toilets are clearly signposted. I'd actually say the Shinkansen exit on the Shinkansen side of Kyoto station is more confusing/worse as one of the exits does not have lift/escalator access and it's a hassle to lug suitcases out that way.
 

berneyarms

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Cherry Orchard, Dublin. Got off the train and the first thing seen at the platform exit was a burnt out Garda patrol car. I was meant to get a bus from there, after a few minutes waiting a nice old lady came over and told me the buses no longer called there. The locals kept robbing the drivers and stoning the vehicles. So I had to walk through the estate to find a bus stop on the main road. Virtually every lamp post had cables running from the top into the eaves of nearby houses. Definitely not a place to make eye contact or speak with an English accent.
Lvov Station in the Ukraine, the station itself isn't bad, but we did see somebody shot by police 30 yards from us as we bought some coffee.
That must have been awfully long time ago. Cherry Orchard station has been closed and relocated to Parkwest Business Park since July 2008.

Bus drivers in Dublin have not handled cash since May 1999.

While parts of Dublin do have social problems, what city doesn't? I certainly don't think that your experience would be representative of Dublin nowadays.

Dublin has some rough areas but If er count every rough suburbun stop this list will never end.
I remember a severly dented Enterprise train to Belfast. Apparantly ballast is frequently thrown at it.

I thought that station was suppose to be closed and relocated?
What I find interesting in Cherry Orchard is the contrast between name and reality.
What city doesn’t have rough areas? I’m not sure as a Dubliner that my home city is any different to any other in that regard.

Cherry Orchard station is long closed and moved closer to Parkwest Business Park.

Attacks on trains are not a common occurrence these days as you suggest.
 
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JonasB

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Stockholm C. At least in part. While the old station building is lovely, the track area is really depressing and for the most parts feels like an underground parking garage.
 

Re 4/4

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Zurich Stettbach. Not only was it fairly dingy back in the day, and full of graffiti, but whenever I got out there it was because I'd forgotten to change trains in time or got on the wrong one and I had to double back.
 

davetheguard

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That must have been awfully long time ago. Cherry Orchard station has been closed and relocated to Parkwest Business Park since July 2008.

Ah! I wondered why I couldn't find it beginning with "C" on my Irish railways' map.
 

williamn

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I'd second the old Buffalo Exchange - an embarrassment. The old Rochester wasn't far behind either. North America has some pretty awful stations and don't get me started on their penchant for queuing for trains, boarding through one door etc etc.
 

Bletchleyite

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I'd second the old Buffalo Exchange - an embarrassment. The old Rochester wasn't far behind either. North America has some pretty awful stations and don't get me started on their penchant for queuing for trains, boarding through one door etc etc.

I'd take an orderly queue (as used to be seen at Inverness, FWIW - single file, snaking round the concourse) over the Euston scrum any day.
 

delt1c

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For me it has to be East Perth Terminal, after 3 nights on board the Indian Pacific which Departs from the magnificent Syydney Central and passes through many large, medium and small stations enroute you arrive at what can at best be described as a suburban stion where you have to get a metro service into Perth, a big disappointment after one the worlds finest rail journeys.
 

306024

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Interesting that the link first lists what is NOT available ;)

It‘s not a complete list either. Even the platform canopies had the roof removed. Look under accessibility and you’ll find even the water fountain fails on that score.

For a city the size of Houston it is a most disappointing hutch.
 

WestCoast

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Rome Termini for me; drab architecture, confusing and full of blatant scammers openly hassling people at ticket machines. Connecting down to the metro is equally grim, all the stations on that being depressing. It definitely can compete with the lovely Brussels Midi.
 

matthewluck

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Brno dolní nádraží was a bit of a dump when I visited in 2016. Abandoned buildings surround the station. There is a bus stop which was not very close to the station. It seems to be the norm for passengers to cross the tracks where they like in the Czech Republic too. It just felt generally run down and the signage was not the best.
 

Richard Scott

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Brno dolní nádraží was a bit of a dump when I visited in 2016. Abandoned buildings surround the station. There is a bus stop which was not very close to the station. It seems to be the norm for passengers to cross the tracks where they like in the Czech Republic too. It just felt generally run down and the signage was not the best.
It's being/been rebuilt to some degree, was still ongoing when I went in 2019. Still had to dice with death trying to avoid trams whilst crossing road outside the station!
 

Jamesrob637

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It's being/been rebuilt to some degree, was still ongoing when I went in 2019. Still had to dice with death trying to avoid trams whilst crossing road outside the station!

Trains were using Dolní for a long time whilst Hlavní was being rebuilt. Now they're back to using Hlavní.
 

duesselmartin

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Rome Termini for me; drab architecture, confusing and full of blatant scammers openly hassling people at ticket machines. Connecting down to the metro is equally grim, all the stations on that being depressing. It definitely can compete with the lovely Brussels Midi.
Termini kind of reflex the whole city. Overrun, overrated, scammers, thieves, tourists, chaotic and those minding their own business in a hurry.
After avoiding thiefs the whole time, they caught me behind security at the airport.
Sorry Rome lovers, but a classic example how tourism destroys a city.
 

Bletchleyite

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Termini kind of reflex the whole city. Overrun, overrated, scammers, thieves, tourists, chaotic and those minding their own business in a hurry.
After avoiding thiefs the whole time, they caught me behind security at the airport.
Sorry Rome lovers, but a classic example how tourism destroys a city.

Sounds a bit like Paris and Gare du Nord! :)

Never for a minute saw what people see as romantic about Paris, it's an overtouristed, overpriced, crime-ridden dump. I've not been to Rome, but you certainly aren't selling to me. I like Milan as an Italian city, though, a visit there would probably be more romantic than Paris! :)

Petty crime issues in European cities are common, though, something the UK for some reason seems to largely avoid. Barcelona is terrible for it, to the extent that I have wondered if the Police are actually in on it. Otherwise a great city, though Sants is a bit of a rubbish station, basically like New St downstairs.
 

43096

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Sounds a bit like Paris and Gare du Nord! :)

Never for a minute saw what people see as romantic about Paris, it's an overtouristed, overpriced, crime-ridden dump.
And the locals have an attitude problem.
 

Ianno87

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Termini kind of reflex the whole city. Overrun, overrated, scammers, thieves, tourists, chaotic and those minding their own business in a hurry.
After avoiding thiefs the whole time, they caught me behind security at the airport.
Sorry Rome lovers, but a classic example how tourism destroys a city.

Sounds a bit like Paris and Gare du Nord! :)

Never for a minute saw what people see as romantic about Paris, it's an overtouristed, overpriced, crime-ridden dump. I've not been to Rome, but you certainly aren't selling to me. I like Milan as an Italian city, though, a visit there would probably be more romantic than Paris! :)

Petty crime issues in European cities are common, though, something the UK for some reason seems to largely avoid. Barcelona is terrible for it, to the extent that I have wondered if the Police are actually in on it. Otherwise a great city, though Sants is a bit of a rubbish station, basically like New St downstairs.

Touristy yes, but I can't recommend Rome highly enough, at least to visit at least once in your lifetime.

Doubt I'd want to live there, but the history, architecture and art are something else...
 

williamn

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I'd take an orderly queue (as used to be seen at Inverness, FWIW - single file, snaking round the concourse) over the Euston scrum any day.
Getting off topic - but while the Euston scrum isn't great, I'd rather have the UK/European notion that you can turn up for a train 'just in time' and get on, rather than have to queue up at a 'gate' in good time with no option to reserve a specific seat. Canada is better as they now reserve specific seats but they still queue up for some reason (Canadians love to queue even more than Brits I think).
 

Ianno87

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Getting off topic - but while the Euston scrum isn't great, I'd rather have the UK/European notion that you can turn up for a train 'just in time' and get on, rather than have to queue up at a 'gate' in good time with no option to reserve a specific seat. Canada is better as they now reserve specific seats but they still queue up for some reason (Canadians love to queue even more than Brits I think).

You get it on Eurostar too... everybody has an allocated seat, but still the British form a queue at the platform entrances...
 
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