Newport Railway Station
On Monday 20th September 2010, Newport unveiled its new “space-age” train station, just a couple of hundred yards from the original one. Its launch has been carefully managed to coincide with the Ryder Cup for two reasons: crowd management and aesthetics.
So how does it fare?
Well, the roof is made from a type of ultra-light “bubble wrap” (ethylene tetrafluoroethylene) pioneered by the Eden Project. If you happen to be traveling to your train’s departure point by helicopter, you can marvel at its plastic glory. It also has an extra wide walkway over the railway lines, which is… um… wide.
Of course, the facilities available to customers have not changed at all. The same three ticket barriers have been moved across, as have the three members of staff sat in their windows waiting to sell the tickets that operate them. So when it comes to crowd management… well, at least the crowd has a nice bubble-wrapped building to queue in while commuters and visitors alike whip into a heated frenzy trying to fight their way through one another to the trains.
And the walkways are interesting… higher up and wrapped round bulbous protrusions, they require you to walk up twice as many stairs (or travel further in the lift) plus double the horizontal distance, which makes the walk between platforms significantly longer. We’ve all had the scenario: “Attention on Platform 3! This is a platform alteration!”. Suddenly there will be panic as people fill the spacious walkway in a state of disorientation brought about by its strangely angular shape.
So that leaves us with the aesthetics. Well, there’s no arguing, it’s certainly modern. The building from the inside feels more “London” than the old station ever did, although it’s of course a matter of taste. But it’s clean and fresh and frankly a departure from the old station we knew and loathed. However, how much time does one spend in the terminal building of a train station? A commuter will breeze through; a visitor may pause to buy a ticket; and then everyone stands on the platform for a good fifteen minutes. The platform is the first thing you see when arriving by train and the last thing you experience before boarding. And what have the Welsh Assembly Government in association with Network Rail done with these all-important platforms? Nothing. They are the same old-fashioned, open-air platforms that always were.
Perhaps the £22m investment could have been better focused for the user, rather than its planner’s opinion.
On the 13th September 2010, in time for the Ryder Cup, the newly constructed but incomplete buildings at Newport Railway Station finally opened. Even though the buildings were not finished, the passengers were still able to walk mud and dirt into the new flooring and also fight their way to platforms via the closed off steps. The new glass windows in the roofs of platforms look real nice, especially next to the dirty old windows, which no one could be bothered to wash. Two months after opening and the roof is now leaking. The building work is still incomplete as windows are still boarded up at the front, making it look untidy.
Not much thought has gone into the design and running of the station, there is only one ticket machine in the vestibule next to the main carpark, allowing queues to easily form during peak times. Which means bad news for those of you who may miss a train due to joining that queue. Forget the idea of buying a ticket on the train as you won’t be able to get past the ‘revenue protection officer’ who guards the barriers. Unless of course you happen to be a good looking woman, when they will open the gates and allow you to pass through.
W.H. Smith has been hidden away in the corner of the of the station – blink and you will miss it. Anyway, enough of the negative stuff, let’s have some positives.
The £22million facelift will improve the appearance of the station, achieve greater links between all modes of transport and create a new gateway into Newport, improving pedestrian access between the station and the city centre. So it’s fair to say that things are looking good for passengers and commuters @ Newport?
Well maybe not quite yet, as many of the staff at Newport Railway Station still have a real bad attitude towards customers. Maybe it’s time that the management at the station spent a little bit more cash on some customer service courses?
Used the new station for the first time at Xmas and was keen to see all the new shops, cafes and improvements promised….well…..
Moving the entrance further from town has made it closer to where I live so my walk to the entrance is a bit shorter ..but that’s it.
The new ticket office was cold, wet and miserable looking and there no longer appears to be a travel information area – so I had to queue up at a ticket point to get some information.
The shape of the concourse means there is nowhere to escape the cold that comes in from the double entrance doors and it was freezing – the poor ticket staff were sat right in the draught.
I much preferred the old, rectangular office with the doors set to one side, the warmth of brick walls and with much more space for orderly queues and a separate information point.
I had a large case and on my journey out I found the new lift useful though totally confusing with it’s ‘Bridge’ and ‘Platform’ options – I stupidly thought that my destination was a ‘Platform’ when in fact it was the Bridge! The lift down was equally confusing in it’s signage which suggested a different platform to the one I wanted.
I eventually ended up on the platform, miles from anywhere. Luckily it was the platform with the cafe on it and after trekking ALL the way to the other end of the platform I was very glad to see the cafe was still in use (there was no sign and most travellers I spoke to had no idea the cafe was there) …as on my journey from ticket office to platform I didn’t come across any of the promised new shops or cafes? Where are they? Is there a back entrance away from town with all the amenities?!?
After seeing how far the stairs/lifts are from the business end of the platform I prayed that there were no platform changes as I doubted I’d make the journey from one platform to another in time – even without a case!!!
On my journey back – at the peak post-Xmas traveling time – the NEW lift on the platform was OUT OF ORDER!!!!! So after 8 hours of traveling I had to drag my very heavy, wheeled case up loads and loads of stairs. Luckily the lift back down to the ticket office was working or else I’d have had to drag the case down and around the two flights of steps that now exist!
To end, to get to the taxi rank (which I had to look around for as there was no clear sign) I had to drag my case back up towards the old station entrance across a road!!! that had a zebra crossing with such a knobbly surface that it kept rocking my case wheels off balance – almost tipping my case over!
So I think the new station is a disaster!
I was also disappointed when I realised that the ‘corrugated iron, Anderson shelter look’ was the final finish and not just sub-structure – it looks cheap and ugly rather than high tech and modern.
Hello, Just read your review on Newport Railway Station and I was shocked with a new station being so passenger unfriendly.
I don’t blame Newport station for the spiralling ticket prices, the weather or delayed and overcrowded trains but they could do so much more to make it all just a little less unpleasant.
A lot of very good points! I’d forgotten WH Smith was even there. And I recently got chatting to one of the managers at Upper Crust who informed me there are no plans whatsoever to move them to the new site. As bad for customers as it is for their business
I have to say, I’m genuinely surprised and disappointed that the new structure seems to be failing on a regular basis. There are frequently barriered-off areas of stairs and bridge where I assume the new roof has been leaking. One day last week I tried to run for my train only to find half the stairs blocked off and a trainload of people crowding up towards me. I watched the train leave as I fought my way through.
Big shame… I have to confess that these problems combined with the fare increases have driven me to start using the car most days in the week now.
I actually work on Newport Railway Station gateline (or ticket barriers).
We, the staff of Newport, sympathize and agree with MOST points made on this website. Signage needs to be looked at, network rail promised everyone so much more in way of shops and cafes, and the over crowding is extreme.
When network rail decided to build a new station, they showed Arriva the first plan, we explained what we wanted out of our station, and they agreed to a lot of it (more ticket barriers, bigger booking office, more shops) then as time went on, the plans were changed with consultation with Arriva. The station we were promised never materialized and we were left with a metal green house.
As I’m sure you can appreciate, having spent £22million on this station, nobody is will to change it, as much as we have asked! The complaints we receive on a daily basis from the public are constantly passed on to our station manager and our group stations manager. We have been instructed to remind our customers that we do not own, or have any say with what happens to that building, it is a network rail owned building. Arriva rent it.
In regards to the staff needing re-training. I sincerely hope that I personnaly have never acted out of turn with the public, and all I can do is explain the barrier job role to you – with no excuses – our job title is “Revenue Protection Officer”, in other words, we are there to ensure every customer travelling on our network has a valid ticket or a right to use our services.
In Newport, we have a high volume of Class A drugs, and we constantly have users travelling into our station to pick up and take these substances. These people, then decide to return to the station and usually in a less than pleasant way try to have free travel home. Our job is highly stress full, imagine a situation where you are the first representative of a company a member of the public see’s and then blames personally for something that is a) out of your control and b) has a simple solution had it been approached in a calm and polite manor.
We have daily abuse, and aggression from a small percentage of our customers. Unfortunately, when someone treats you in this way daily, it will eventually impact the service you offer other customers. It’s unfortunate, but it’s life.
I have spoken to colleges a couple of times when I feel they are out of line, and usually they do watch their actions. As with all jobs, there are tough people and there are less tough people, we have a 50/50 split on our barriers of staff that have customer service abilities and staff that simply, don’t.
Summarizing, the new station is a failure in many ways, but a benefit in others (Disability Discrimination Act compliant, modern, easier to keep clean etc.) and in other areas it lacks, over crowding, inadequate signage, lack of shops.
I understand where you are coming from, but surely you have noticed that one or two members of staff including recently departed have had a real bad attitude towards passengers? I have had to complain a couple of times to Arriva about the way i have been addressed, but they have not done a single thing. I have to agree that the design of the new station is pretty awful. As for the drug runners, can the BTP not do anything?
P.s…. I forgot to say that i have not used the station or railway for months now as at one point it became ridiculous with delays, cancellations, price increases and overcrowding. I now travel by car as it is actually cheaper for me to do so and also i don’t get spoken to by some rude members of staff.
A quick update!
I visited at the weekend and am pleased to note two major improvements:
1. The train departure display boards now include THE TIME! at the bottom of each screen. It’s good enough for me.
2. WH Smith has now reopened in a prime location between platforms 2 and 3. Yes. I can buy a drink before boarding
Unfortunately these same platforms have orange and white barriers everywhere and a sign that reads “These platforms are awaiting repair – please take care when walking”. Not great. But I’m still riding on a wave of delight at knowing the time and buying bottled caffiene.