The Office of Rail and Road has issued Network Rail with an improvement notice for London Euston Station to implement effective measures that will prevent risks to passengers and others during periods of surges and overcrowding.
The regulator made a site visit to Euston last month after it had analysed CCTV footage that showed three incidents of concern earlier this summer.
These showed that crowding was reaching unacceptable levels and there was a lack of crowd control in place. Although the incidents only resulted in reports of minor injuries, they were assessed as having had the potential to result in far more serious consequences.
During its site visit, the regulator's team found that for two of the pinch points inside the station, where the incidents of crowding was most concentrated, there was no recorded, risk-assessed plan in place. In some areas control measures to manage crowds that that had been put in place were inadequate, and both the signage and layout to help with controlling the flow of passengers was also not acceptable.
Network Rail has accepted the regulator's findings and is working with the Office of Rail and Road and with train operators to develop effective mitigations and controls to manage crowds at the station, and to implement them effectively.
Simon Bennett, Network Rail's West Coast South route head of stations & passenger experience, said: “Managing a popular and busy station like Euston is a daily challenge, a challenge that our dedicated cross-industry team rise to each day, always putting passengers' well-being and safety at the forefront of their minds.
“Our team, along with the ORR, want to do more, which is why we have cleared the concourse of shops to make more room for our passengers. We've fitted new state of the art information boards, both inside and outside the station. We're also now trialling earlier boarding of services with our train operating colleagues to help reduce crowding at peak times.
“The ORR has asked us to look at some other specific areas and our team, along with our train operating colleagues, are already on the case making further improvements.”
