Chester station platforms poor condition

[frodshamfella]

Chester is a popular city for visitors, yet it's station leaves a lot to be desired. I passed through last Saturday, and it really is a grubby place. Its such a shame as the building is pretty grand.

 

[Y Ddraig Coch]

Transport for Wales don't care so much for England!

 

[Bletchleyite]

Transport for Wales don't care so much for England!

It's more about what Arriva Trains Wales did to it - the recent additions with the Arriva-green (copper I think?) roofing look utterly awful. A refurb that to me made it worse.

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

Plenty was spent re-glazing the roof and footbridge, also nicely restoring the east car park entrance to something like its original state (mostly invisible to passengers).
The recently restored frontage is still very fine, and appeared on the cover of the Williams-Shapps report:
Great British Railways: The Williams-Shapps Plan for Rail (print cover) (publishing.service.gov.uk)

The interior of the station has not really recovered from a combination of wartime damage, the butchery in early BR days of the overall roof and the GWR bays, and the fire following the crash of an oil tank train in the 1970s (which created the open air gap at the P5/6 buffers).
There are gaps in the canopy on P2/3 where the overall roof was removed, making for poor waiting conditions on those platforms.

The ATW additions were carbuncles when they were built and have deteriorated since (not helped by the pigeon problem).
The concourse PIS setup is also one of the worst on the network, with inadequate and poorly-sited screens.
The barrier line also cuts across what was a spacious concourse, creating a pokey and congested zone whenever a train load arrives.

The biggest flow is using Merseyrail, whose passengers have to traipse over the footbridge both ways with only P7 electrified.
BR, maybe into the Railtrack era, had a plan to abandon the island platform and revert to the original single long platform layout, like Cambridge used to be.
The most recent TfW/NR idea was to build a second island platform to the east for Merseyrail, but that hardly looks like happening now.

 

[Djgr]

Chester is a popular city for visitors, yet it's station leaves a lot to be desired. I passed through last Saturday, and it really is a grubby place. Its such a shame as the building is pretty grand.

To be fair not nearly as bad as the subway on the main route from the station to the centre. Cestrians are always doing something daft, like demolishing or building over Roman artefacts.

 

[frodshamfella]

To be fair not nearly as bad as the subway on the main route from the station to the centre. Cestrians are always doing something daft, like demolishing or building over Roman artefacts.

Your right that subway is awful .

 

[S&CLER]

I made two Saturday return journeys from Southport to Chirk via Chester recently, and agree that the station interior is depressing (the façade is fine); there's something about the colour of blue brick en masse that always feels gloomy even when fairly clean and on a sunny day (just as slate used as building stone in Keswick or Blaenau is similarly depressing). The entry to the platforms is not intuitive since you might expect to go in through the automatic gates, but can't. On the other hand the ticket office was smart, welcoming and efficient, and there was a useful feature near the station entrance, a departure screen for buses, showing times and bus stand numbers, which I don't recall seeing anywhere else (though they may well exist, of course). That's something that would be useful, for example, at Preston, so we could see when the next buses from the Fishergate stops at the station front were due.

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

On the other hand the ticket office was smart, welcoming and efficient, and there was a useful feature near the station entrance, a departure screen for buses, showing times and bus stand numbers, which I don't recall seeing anywhere else (though they may well exist, of course). That's something that would be useful, for example, at Preston, so we could see when the next buses from the Fishergate stops at the station front were due.

I seem to remember that was a feature added by Arriva, as part of the aim of integrating rail and bus services in the ATW franchise.
They had (still do) run most of the area bus services in North Wales, still sporting "a DB company" branding.
Arriva still has Wrexham/Mold bus routes terminating at Chester station rather than the new city bus station at Gorse Stacks.
The station eateries have improved too.
The odd circulation is part of the Covid one-way setup, using the emergency exit to access the platforms.
That should revert to using the main barriers one day I expect.

 

[6Gman]

I'm not sure Chester General was ever a well laid out station (and my memory extends to the early 1960s). The facade might be architecturally impressive (personally it does little for me) but the access - a little hole in said facade - has always been cramped, as has the layout between entrance, platforms and footbridge. Recent changes have made this even worse with retail units taking priority over such trifles as the booking office! (Do you still have to walk past a bookies' to buy a ticket?)

 

[morrisobrien]

Chester is a popular city for visitors, yet it's station leaves a lot to be desired. I passed through last Saturday, and it really is a grubby place. Its such a shame as the building is pretty grand.

I also thought this on changing for Crewe on Tuesday evening.

 

[Foxcover]

The main issue for a lot of people is the long, shadowy, badly lit approach from both directions, Brook St and City Road; Chester council (CWAC) should do much more to make the route from the city centre feel safer.

 

[Bertie the bus]

It's more about what Arriva Trains Wales did to it - the recent additions with the Arriva-green (copper I think?) roofing look utterly awful. A refurb that to me made it worse.

It is nothing to do with any new bits. The place is a run down dump. There are weeds everywhere, including on active platforms, and the whole station has just been neglected.

 

[Wolfie]

I made two Saturday return journeys from Southport to Chirk via Chester recently, and agree that the station interior is depressing (the façade is fine); there's something about the colour of blue brick en masse that always feels gloomy even when fairly clean and on a sunny day (just as slate used as building stone in Keswick or Blaenau is similarly depressing). The entry to the platforms is not intuitive since you might expect to go in through the automatic gates, but can't. On the other hand the ticket office was smart, welcoming and efficient, and there was a useful feature near the station entrance, a departure screen for buses, showing times and bus stand numbers, which I don't recall seeing anywhere else (though they may well exist, of course). That's something that would be useful, for example, at Preston, so we could see when the next buses from the Fishergate stops at the station front were due.

Grays station is a bit of a non-entity but it has a bus screen too at the coast bound exit.

 

[Bletchleyite]

The main issue for a lot of people is the long, shadowy, badly lit approach from both directions, Brook St and City Road; Chester council (CWAC) should do much more to make the route from the city centre feel safer.

The subway at the roundabout is just grim and belongs in about 1975, it direly needs filling in and street level crossings provided instead. An utter blight on a lovely little city.

 

[Starmill]

The lifts are too small and painfully slow. I thought they were going to be replaced but apparently not.

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

To be a little fairer, the city council did fund the upgrade to the station approach (removing yellow lines etc) and some of the external heritage restoration.
The east car park has been completely rebuilt (though there are too many reserved staff spaces) linked to the new tower block development on the old car park.
City Road itself is not too bad (new development alongside some heritage buildings).
I haven't used the west car park for maybe 3 years, but it still had the long (and redundant for 20+ years) Post Office pathway to the sorting office disfiguring the zone that used to be the GWR terminus area.
The Brook St road approach is undeveloped and has some messy businesses, and then the old Brook St itself is in a 1950s time warp, good and bad.
Before you get to Frodsham St there's another underpass to negotiate under the big roundabout.
Chester is a curious mix of high class tourism and downmarket Victoriana.

 

[dorsetdesiro]

TfW/the Welsh Gov probably would prioritise its Welsh stations, as many of them would require improvements, also the tricky fact with Chester, Hereford & Shrewsbury being larger stations outside Wales.

When GBR comes into existence also if TfW survives as a devolved entity in the new GBR era (GBR would only maintain the Welsh & Scottish infrastructures with its branding visible only in England) then it is possible Chester, Hereford & Shrewsbury could transfer from TfW to GBR leaving TfW to focus on the Welsh stations.

Then Chester may finally see improvements under GBR?

 

[NorthWestRover]

There are a few stations in North West England that I'd add to the list. They are stations that look grand from some perspectives, but are a mess operationally and/or on closer inspection. Bolton is the one that springs to mind. I think Stockport and Preston just fall on the right side of the line, i.e. they aren't wonderful and could do with some work, but they are not in the Chester or Bolton category.

 

[Bletchleyite]

To be fair, every station on the North Wales Coast was neglected under Arriva, not just Chester.

 

[Vinnym]

The subway at the roundabout is just grim and belongs in about 1975, it direly needs filling in and street level crossings provided instead. An utter blight on a lovely little city.

I agree about the tunnel at the roundabout, but you don’t have to use it, there are crossings provided, heading towards the city centre if you proceed down City Road on the right hand side.

 

[Llandudno]

It seems daft to me that to get to the ticket office you have to walk past WH Smith’s, a cafe and a betting office in order to buy a ticket.

If the automatic barriers are open it must be tempting for some to pretend not to see the ticket office.

The large cafe bar in a prominent position at the front of the station is truly dreadful, if only a Sheffield/York Tap type operator was in situ instead!

The Town Crier over the road has improved significantly in recent years, usually 2/3 handpumped beers and very reasonably priced chain pub food on offer.

 

[Bletchleyite]

It seems daft to me that to get to the ticket office you have to walk past WH Smith’s, a cafe and a betting office in order to buy a ticket.

This wasn't interestingly the original layout. The booking office used to be where Costa is. Presumably whoever the Costa franchisee is offered a chunk of money big enough to take that prominent position and hide the booking office elsewhere. Having not bought a ticket there since doing North and Mid Wales Rangers as a teenager, I can't even remember where it is now!

 

[6Gman]

This wasn't interestingly the original layout. The booking office used to be where Costa is. Presumably whoever the Costa franchisee is offered a chunk of money big enough to take that prominent position and hide the booking office elsewhere. Having not bought a ticket there since doing North and Mid Wales Rangers as a teenager, I can't even remember where it is now!

Actually the booking office used to be opposite where WH Smith is sited. It was moved to where Costa now is possibly in the 70s/80s?

So as you walked in off the street you had the booking office on one side and something (possibly a travel centre?) where WH Smith is now. This would be 1970s. I'm trying to remember where the ticket barriers were. Possibly at the end of that initial passageway, which would mean you would walk onto a concourse unencumbered by Costa, retail units or where the barriers are now. Of course there were more (GW) platforms to your left in earlier times.

 

[yorksrob]

I've always quite liked Chester when I've used it. Could possibly do with some TLC.

 

[Polarbear]

Actually the booking office used to be opposite where WH Smith is sited. It was moved to where Costa now is possibly in the 70s/80s?

So as you walked in off the street you had the booking office on one side and something (possibly a travel centre?) where WH Smith is now. This would be 1970s. I'm trying to remember where the ticket barriers were. Possibly at the end of that initial passageway, which would mean you would walk onto a concourse unencumbered by Costa, retail units or where the barriers are now. Of course there were more (GW) platforms to your left in earlier times.

That’s how I remember the entrance to Chester station in the 70’s. Two gates at the neck of the short passageway. Originally, the travel centre was on the left as you entered, the ticket office on the right.

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

This wasn't interestingly the original layout. The booking office used to be where Costa is. Presumably whoever the Costa franchisee is offered a chunk of money big enough to take that prominent position and hide the booking office elsewhere. Having not bought a ticket there since doing North and Mid Wales Rangers as a teenager, I can't even remember where it is now!

You turn right on the concourse and head up towards the bay platforms (P1 and un-numbered) and staff area, opposite what are now toilets and just before the bike racks.
It's a pleasant enough booking office with 3 positions, and there is a bank of 3 ATMs next to the ticket barriers.
There's an excess window from the booking office on P3.
It all used to be completely open before the barriers went in.

 

[Zontar]

Perhaps useful if you all filled this station survey in ...

Chester, Flint and Runcorn East Customer Survey

Please take a few minutes to take our survey.

smartsurvey.co.uk

 

[frodshamfella]

I also thought this on changing for Crewe on Tuesday evening.

Yes agree, Crewe isn't great either. Both have a feeling of decay.

Perhaps useful if you all filled this station survey in ...

Chester, Flint and Runcorn East Customer Survey

Please take a few minutes to take our survey.

smartsurvey.co.uk

done

 

[WestRiding]

Chester Station. Went to the Gents there last year, and when I pulled on the toilet roll (in one of those closed dispenser things) a used druggie needle fell out to the floor. Nice.

 

[Parallel]

I don't find Chester station too bad. The bright green angular copper parts added in under Arriva are pretty awful and the waiting rooms could be bigger, but it's always been quite clean when I've used it (except the toilets - Arriva and TfW don't seem to be any good at keeping any toilets clean).

RE TfW stations outside Wales - Shrewsbury looks to be in pretty good condition following the refurbishment of the canopy. Hereford isn't too bad but could do with repainting and the booking hall could do with being refurbished.