SEQ's worst train station

[Jockosaurus]

And tell us why...

[STB]

Can you define by what you mean by 'worst train station'?

[ozbob]

The ' worst ' station is Tennyson ...     Folks have been waiting since 2011 for a train ...

[ozbob]

I have removed the poll. No point, there are around 146 stations ...

[nathandavid88]

It depends what constitutes "worst" really.

In some cases it comes down to personal opinion and aesthetics. I personally strongly dislike my two closest stations – Beenleigh and Loganlea – because they are both very unattractive aesthetically and always seem to be rather grimy and unclean looking (largely a result of their design I feel). Compared to the newer, more attractive stations on the Gold Coast Line and (especially) the triplicated part of the Beenleigh Line, they are both pretty bad.

But from a functional sense they aren't terrible stations. Both are PWD-compliant stations and they perform the task of being a relatively major (express) station reasonably well. There is definitely room for improvement for both stations in a functional sense, but there are definitely worse stations out there from that point of view. 

[STB]

It depends what constitutes "worst" really.

In some cases it comes down to personal opinion and aesthetics. I personally strongly dislike my two closest stations – Beenleigh and Loganlea – because they are both very unattractive aesthetically and always seem to be rather grimy and unclean looking (largely a result of their design I feel). Compared to the newer, more attractive stations on the Gold Coast Line and (especially) the triplicated part of the Beenleigh Line, they are both pretty bad.

But from a functional sense they aren't terrible stations. Both are PWD-compliant stations and they perform the task of being a relatively major (express) station reasonably well. There is definitely room for improvement for both stations in a functional sense, but there are definitely worse stations out there from that point of view.

Little bit of trivia, you know you are in Beenleigh when you see the direction to Centrelink on the sign leading out of the station at Beenleigh (you exit right) .

The stations designed and built in the 80s, heck pretty much everything in Brisbane designed and built in the 80s look ugly, just concrete monsters from the Sofitel slapped on top of Central station (a travesty), through to the ugly looking arts precient in South Brisbane, that I'm assuming pretty much set the tone of the 80s in Brisbane during the last big development burst under the Joh era.

[nathandavid88]

Just like how the most prominent building seen from the rail line through Woodridge is the Centrelink office. 

Going off topic, while I agree with you about the redevelopment of Central Station being a travesty (although at least the Station Building was largely retained during it), I have to disagree with you on the Cultural Centre. I think it is a masterpiece of brutalist design, a style not all that common in Australia (thankfully - it is a very hit and miss style), and is unique for being the only integrated cultural precinct in Australia I'm pretty certain. Individually, the Art Gallery was important as it formed the very first stage of the rejuvenation of South Brisbane, creating the template that the rest of the precinct would be guided by, while architect Robin Gibson was awarded the 2010 25 Year Award for Enduring Architecture for QPAC, proving the longevity of the building which has become undoubtedly a landmark, with it's "twin peaks".

Personally, I think the precinct is one of the best architectural designs Brisbane got out of the 1980s, and the extension to the State Library and the addition of GoMA have just built on it.

[petey3801]

Worst station in SEQ? Traveston.

[nathandavid88]

That's the one with the single car platform, right?

[ozbob]

Traveston is one of my favourites!   

--> http://railbotforum.org/mbs/index.php?topic=8408.msg103313#msg103313

[SurfRail]

Many types of "worst".

I would give the title of "Worst Upgrade" to Eagle Junction, hands down, with Indooroopilly and Darra a very close second and third respectively.

Most useless station in the metropolitan area would go to Bindha. 

Least appealling station, when ignoring "organic" factors like the local "wildlife" is possibly Dutton Park.  Factoring in the locals, there are plenty of stations on the system I wouldn't tread in after late afternoon, let alone sunset.

[James]

I don't think it is possible to award 'Worst train station' based on anything. Probably would need to have separate sections.

Worst train station for:
DESIGN (Aesthetics) - Indooroopilly. I think overall what happened at Indooroopilly could probably be called more of a downgrade than an upgrade.
DESIGN (Access) - Darra. Change platforms to go from a Down Springfield train to an Up Ipswich train? Enjoy your walk halfway to Wacol!
FARE EVASION - Bowen Hills. Will soon be South Bank once Bowen Hills gets fare gates.
FREQUENCY - Hendra. Medium density area with a BUZ candidate route nearby? NO SUNDAY SERVICE FOR YOU!
LOCATION - Bindha. Probably the worst place to have a station, ever. Maybe RBoT should go on a trip out there one Sunday morning to make the station the busiest its been ever?
SAFETY -  Any station on the inner CBD network (Milton/South Bank to Bowen Hills) - that being said, social nasties have more people to target at these stations. Our local train stations are safe right now because nobody uses the rail network any more for fear of getting stabbed, hence said crims are now holding up local 7/11s instead.
TRIP TIMES - Holmview. No wonder so few people use the train, by the time the train gets to Central, you can probably drive to Brisbane... and back. No expresses either.

(I haven't looked outside Brisbane, because you could probably list Nambour/other SC line stations for pretty much all of those categories I've listed).

[HappyTrainGuy]

Woodridge.

[SteelPan]

My own 5c worth and I've stated it before, I'm not keen on developing overly extensive metro rail stations.  I'd much rather see the money go into train services themselves.  Minimalist stations are, I believe, they way to go, but I do acknowledge they all must offer appropriate access and safety standards - beyond that, their a platform for trains to stop regularly at please! 

[Fares_Fair]

On another tack, how about the best rail stations and why they are so?

I nominate my home town of Palmwoods.

It always has friendly and helpful staff.
It has a sheltered area with timetable information available.
It has a go card top up machine.
It has well-maintained toilets that are opened during the brief (~4 hours) it is open each morning.
It is a great example of a typical Queensland heritage style rail station (though it does badly need a fresh coat of paint outside).
It has secure bicycle storage facilities for 16 bikes.
It has approx. 20 car-parks, with lighting at night.
It has 24 hour closed circuit TV monitoring.

It does have a temporary platform that will need to last another 17 years (2031) - but that's a maintenance issue. It was designed to last 18 months.

All that aside it is a lovely example of Queensland Railways infrastructure.

[ozbob]

Goodna rail station is cool,  tough and a very good swimmer    No frills but has the basics and has been further flood proofed to a degree with the comms gear now up on stilts ...  good move, station is bound to go for another swim again, sooner or later ..



Jan 2011



Jan 2013

One of the raised comms gear containers upper right, above the 1974 flood level which was higher than 2011 ..
the other one can be seen on the down side as well.

[triplethree]

My least favourite? Bowen Hills. Considering it's a major junction with many demand generators nearby (RBH, News Ltd, light industries and offices), it leaves much to be desired.

Platforms are way too narrow for the peak hour crowds, not enough shelter, steep and narrow staircases, and the northern entrance is down a seedy alley between two industrial premises.

Mind you, the main southern entrance isn't much less seedy.

Then there's the lack of cross platform transfers between, e.g., Ferny Grove and Caboolture services (difficult to fix without reconfiguring the entire inner city network, I know), and poorly co-ordinated arrivals and departures requiring lengthy waits when changing lines (probably better now with 15 min Ferny Grove services).

Favourite stations? Hmm ... I've always liked Domestic Airtrain. Excellent signage in terminal; step off the train and a covered walkway takes you all the way to the terminal building; plenty of shelter. Indooroopilly post-refurb is certainly aesthetically eye-catching too.

[BrizCommuter]

Then there's the lack of cross platform transfers between, e.g., Ferny Grove and Caboolture services (difficult to fix without reconfiguring the entire inner city network, I know), and poorly co-ordinated arrivals and departures requiring lengthy waits when changing lines (probably better now with 15 min Ferny Grove services).
[/quote]

Most transfers at Bowen Hills would be inbound to outbound or vice versa, thus the track layout is fine - e.g Ferny Grove passengers can transfer to Doomben, Airport, and Shorncliffe Lines cross platform.

[SurfRail]

Apart from the signage suite, all Gold Coast stations would rank in the "best" list somewhere.

Ormeau is notable for being (I think?) the last new station built without lifts and the only accessible station without them.

[Stillwater]

Traveston is a wonderful place to wait to catch the train - and there is a loooong passage of time between services.  The old Gympie railway station (home of the MVHR) is up there, even though Citytrains don't stop there anymore.  It has a colonial grandeur and cool platforms with lots of plants.  And it has a restaurant in the old tearooms -- not many SEQ stations have that.  You can't beat the model railway for the kids.  On the network, Dakabin would have to be in the running for the 'worst station' gong -- austere, and inadequate parking.

[Thomas Magor]

Auchenflower is terrible because...

Platform 4 cannot be accessed from the southern entrance.
The southern entrance lacks any information about which platform trains are departing from which is crucial because the city bound train alternates between platforms 2 and 4 during on/off peak. The only way to know which platform you need to be on is to either observe where other punters are waiting (assuming they know correctly!), or to press the button on the audio box to hear a recorded message. Looking at the timetable is no good, because the only printed timetable at this station is on Platform 1!

A common sight at this station is of people making a mad dash along the platform to go up and over the steep ramps to not miss their city train. Quite dangerous actually!

[p858snake]

My least favourite? Bowen Hills. Considering it's a major junction with many demand generators nearby (RBH, News Ltd, light industries and offices), it leaves much to be desired.

Platforms are way too narrow for the peak hour crowds, not enough shelter, steep and narrow staircases, and the northern entrance is down a seedy alley between two industrial premises.

Mind you, the main southern entrance isn't much less seedy.

Then there's the lack of cross platform transfers between, e.g., Ferny Grove and Caboolture services (difficult to fix without reconfiguring the entire inner city network, I know), and poorly co-ordinated arrivals and departures requiring lengthy waits when changing lines (probably better now with 15 min Ferny Grove services).

Favourite stations? Hmm ... I've always liked Domestic Airtrain. Excellent signage in terminal; step off the train and a covered walkway takes you all the way to the terminal building; plenty of shelter. Indooroopilly post-refurb is certainly aesthetically eye-catching too.

The Lack of seating on Platform 2 at bowen hills.

Auchenflower is terrible because...

Platform 4 cannot be accessed from the southern entrance.
The southern entrance lacks any information about which platform trains are departing from which is crucial because the city bound train alternates between platforms 2 and 4 during on/off peak. The only way to know which platform you need to be on is to either observe where other punters are waiting (assuming they know correctly!), or to press the button on the audio box to hear a recorded message. Looking at the timetable is no good, because the only printed timetable at this station is on Platform 1!

A common sight at this station is of people making a mad dash along the platform to go up and over the steep ramps to not miss their city train. Quite dangerous actually!

A Lot of Stations don't have PIDs, Auchenflower at least have the electronic voice timetables. And there is paper timetables up in the concorse from memory.


I kinda dislike Roma Street's design w/ having escalators taking up stair space in the afternoons (when there also the lifts), As only having 3 mins or less to swap platforms isn't exactly easy.

[dancingmongoose]

Out of stations that I use regularly, and this might not go down well, Goodna. There's an entire car length of the platform that is as wide as a tightrope, the rest of the platform where the station building is is also quite narrow, no go card readers at the elevator, and general poor lighting especially for a suburb so well know for their plethora of friendly residents.

Darra is pretty bad. Aesthetically it looks nice, but the track layout is atrocious. Also only one decent entrance on the island platform which leads to overcrowding, the other is much tighter and hidden away well. It would have been better IMO to have just ripped up the tracks, adjusted the platforms to be wider and straighter and then just relayed the tracks.

[James]

Out of stations that I use regularly, and this might not go down well, Goodna. There's an entire car length of the platform that is as wide as a tightrope, the rest of the platform where the station building is is also quite narrow, no go card readers at the elevator, and general poor lighting especially for a suburb so well know for their plethora of friendly residents.

Be careful about talking about Goodna in a bad light dancingmongoose, for that's ozbob's local station!

But I'm sure Bob would agree with your assessment on how bad the station is. Likely won't get fixed until triplication goes out that way.

[ozbob]

Our compensation, is the thought that our much beloved station at Goodna is a very good swimmer!!

When the water bubbler was installed, we had a party ... 

Goodna has reversed numbering of platforms too.  We are so special!   

[ozbob]

Goodna station thread --> http://railbotforum.org/mbs/index.php?topic=3877.0

Interesting record ...

[Fares_Fair]

Our compensation, is the thought that our much beloved station at Goodna is a very good swimmer!!

When the water bubbler was installed, we had a party ... 

Goodna has reversed numbering of platforms too.  We are so special!   

You have water bubbler... at Goodna? !!

Wow.
Palmwoods doesn't. ;-)