London Euston Railway Station

Over view


Euston railway station or London Euston /ˈlʌndən.ˈjuːstən/ is a central London railway terminus and one of 19 stations managed by Network Rail. It is the sixth busiest railway station in the UK. Euston was named after the rural family seat of the Dukes of Grafton, Euston Hall in Norfolk.

Euston is the southern terminus of the West Coast Main Line, the busiest intercity passenger route in Britain and the main gateway from London to the West Midlands, the North West, North Wales and parts of Scotland. Virgin Trains provides high-speed intercity services to these regions. Its most important long-distance destinations are Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester and Glasgow.

Euston is also the London terminus for London Midland trains providing local commuter and regional services via the WCML from London to Hertfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Bedfordshire, Northamptonshire and Warwickshire as well as long-distance services to the West Midlands county, Staffordshire and Cheshire. Euston is also the terminus for suburban services on the Watford DC Line operated by London Overground.

It is connected to Euston tube station and near to Euston Square tube station on the London Underground. It is a short walk from King's Cross Station, the southern terminus of the East Coast Main Line, and St Pancras International Station for the Midland Main Line and for Eurostar to France and Belgium. These stations are all in Travelcard Zone 1.

Euston is the gateway to Ireland via Holyhead and ferry to Dublin Port where the previous route was replaced in September 2014 to Dún Laoghaire, for Dublin. Until the 1960s the station was a terminus of the most-frequented London to Belfast route, via Carlisle, the former Castle Douglas and Dumfries Railway and the Portpatrick Railway to Stranraer which was replaced by the longer Glasgow South Western Line via Ayr.

The station has 18 platforms: platforms 8 to 11 are used for London Overground and London Midland commuter and regional services, and have automatic ticket gates. Platforms 1, 2, 14 and 15 are extra long to accommodate the 16-car Caledonian Sleeper.

The station and railway line have been owned by the L&BR (1837–1845), the London and North Western Railway (1846–1922), the London, Midland and Scottish Railway (1923–1947), British Railways (1948–1994), Railtrack (1994–2001) and Network Rail (2001–present).

Founding
Euston was the first intercity railway station in London, opened on 20 July 1837 as the terminus of the London and Birmingham Railway (L&BR). The building was demolished in the 1960s and replaced with the present building in the international modern style.

The site was chosen in the early 1830s by George and Robert Stephenson, engineers of the L&BR. The area was mostly farmland at the edge of the expanding city. The station was named after Euston Hall in Suffolk, the ancestral home of the Dukes of Grafton, the main landowners in the area. Objections by local farmers meant that, when the Act authorising construction of the line was passed in 1833, the terminus was at Chalk Farm. These objections were overcome, and in 1835 an Act authorised construction of the station, which then went ahead.

The original station was built by William Cubitt. It was designed by the classically trained architect Philip Hardwick with a 200 ft (61 m)-long trainshed by structural engineer Charles Fox. It had two platforms, one for departures and one for arrivals. Also by Hardwick was a 72 ft (22 m)-high Doric propylaeum, the largest ever built, erected at the entrance as a portico, known as the Euston Arch. The station grew rapidly as traffic increased. It was greatly expanded with the opening in 1849

WW2


By the 1930s Euston had become congested, and the London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS) considered rebuilding it, but WW2 got in the way. It was very busy and was bombed a few times during the war. There was a dedicated restaurant car depot in the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s.

The Euston Station Strike of 1948.


The Euston Rail Strike occurred on 13/12/1948.

The 'Beeching Axe'
A massive redevelopment was recommended due to the numerous problems with disabled access, congestion, line utilisation and a reputation with both staff and travelers over poor lighting. Local line electrification occurred thought the 1950s as the entire main line route it served was electrifyed from 1955 to the early 1960s.

Architectural controversy over the "Great Bathtub"\"Kitchen Sink" 1960s redesign


In the early 1960s it was decided that a larger station was required. Because of the restricted layout of track and tunnels at the northern end, enlargement could be accomplished only by expanding southwards over the area occupied by the Great Hall and the Arch. Amid much public outcry, the station building and the Arch were demolished in 1961–2 and replaced by a new building. The rebuilding lasted from 1962 to 1968.

Its opening in 1968 followed the electrification of the West Coast Main Line, and the new structure was intended to symbolise the coming of the "electric age". The station was built by Taylor Woodrow Construction Ltd to a design by BR's architects in consultation with Richard Seifert & Partners, responsible for the second phase of the complex in the late 1970s.

The station is a long, low structure with a frontage of some 197 m (646 ft). The second phase consists of a bus terminal and three low-rise office towers overlooking Melton Street and Eversholt Street. The offices were occupied by British Rail, then by Railtrack, and finally by Network Rail, which has now vacated all but a small portion of one of the towers.

There is a large statue by Eduardo Paolozzi named Piscator dedicated to German theatre director Erwin Piscator at the front of the courtyard. Other pieces of public art, including low stone benches by Paul de Monchaux around the courtyard, were commissioned by Network Rail in the 1990s.

The lack of daylight on the platforms compares unfavourably with the glazed trainshed roofs of traditional Victorian railway stations, but the use of the space above as a parcels depot released the maximum space at ground level for platforms and passenger facilities.

A bus terminal and three office blocks were added to the plaza sited at the front of the station during the late 1970s.

Euston's 1960s style of architecture has been described as "hideous", "a dingy, grey, horizontal nothingness" and a reflection of "the tawdry glamour of its time", entirely lacking in "the sense of occasion, of adventure, that the great Victorian termini gave to the traveller". Writing in The Times, Richard Morrison stated that "even by the bleak standards of Sixties architecture, Euston is one of the nastiest concrete boxes in London: devoid of any decorative merit; seemingly concocted to induce maximum angst among passengers; and a blight on surrounding streets. The design should never have left the drawing-board – if, indeed, it was ever on a drawing-board. It gives the impression of having been scribbled on the back of a soiled paper bag by a thuggish android with a grudge against humanity and a vampiric loathing of sunlight". Michael Palin, explorer and travel writer, in his contribution to Great Railway Journeys titled "Confessions of a Trainspotter", likened it to "a great bath, full of smooth, slippery surfaces where people can be sloshed about efficiently". Variouse stalls, booth and information points had started to pop-up at the edged by the mid-1980s and had spead firther in to the concorse by 2000.

Access to parts of the station is difficult for people with physical disability. The ramps from the concourse down to platform level are too steep for unassisted wheelchairs, but the introduction of lifts in May 2010 made the taxi rank and underground station accessible from the concourse.

The demolition of the original buildings in 1962 has been described as "one of the greatest acts of Post-War architectural vandalism in Britain" and is believed to have been approved by the Prime Minister, Harold Macmillan, the first of a line of Prime Ministers who championed motorway building. The replacement trainshed has a low, flat roof, making no attempt to match the airy style of London's major 19th century trainsheds. The attempts made to preserve the earlier building, championed by the later Poet Laureate Sir John Betjeman, led to the formation of The Victorian Society and heralded the modern conservation movement. This movement saved the nearby high Gothic St Pancras Station when threatened with demolition in 1966, ultimately leading to its renovation in 2007 as the terminus of HS1 to the Continent.

The demolition of the original building is often compared to the 1963 demolition of New York Penn Station, which similarly alerted preservationists in New York City to the importance of saving historic buildings.

IRA bomb
Extensive but superficial damage was caused by an IRA bomb that exploded close to a snack bar at approximately 1:10 pm on 10 September 1973, injuring eight people. The Metropolitan Police had received a three-minute warning and were unable to evacuate the station completely, but British Transport Police evacuated much of the area just before the explosion, reducing casualties. In 1974, the mentally-ill Judith Ward was convicted of this and other crimes despite the evidence against her being highly suspect. She was acquitted in 1992, and the actual culprit has not been found.

Redeveloping the old goodsyard
goods locomotive roundhouse and goods yard is developed on the site

Life today
Ownership of the station transferred from British Rail to Railtrack plc in 1994, passing to Network Rail in 2002 following the collapse of Railtrack. Many of thetrain  stabling sidings were then upgraded and the worn out older parts removed.

In 2005 Network Rail was reported to have long-term aspirations to redevelop the station, removing the 1960s buildings and providing more commercial space by using the "air rights" above the platforms.

In December 2005 Network Rail announced plans to create a subway link to Euston Square tube station, currently separated by a five-minute walk along Euston Road.

On 5 April 2007, British Land announced that it had won the tender to demolish and rebuild the station, spending some £250m of its overall redevelopment budget of £1bn for the area. The number of platforms would increase from 18 to 21. Media reports in early 2008 hinted that the Arch could be rebuilt.

Sydney & London Properties, project manager to the Euston Estate Limited Partnership, launched a Vision Masterplan in May 2008 with the aim of stimulating debate about the future of the station and its neighbourhood.

In September 2011 plans for demolition were cancelled, and Aedas was appointed to give the station a makeover.

It is also planned to connect it with the planned HS2 network.

Also see

 * 1) UK railways- 1945 to 1985
 * 2) Ronan Point
 * 3) "London's Burning" (the political epithet, not the UK TV show)
 * 4) King's Cross Station
 * 5) Paddington Station
 * 6) St. Pancras Station
 * 7) Marlebone Station