Midland Station. One of the Most Popular.

[Baron99 772]

Sheffield's Midland Station has achieved a satisfaction rating of 91%.

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-44023411

 

I'm surprised Midland Station has the same rating as Manchester's Piccadilly which I'd consider far superior to our main station in Sheffield.

[cytine 40]

Never had any complaint with the station itself, it's the disgraceful access that's the problem and a complete embarrassment to our city.

[Baron99 772]

Never had any complaint with the station itself, it's the disgraceful access that's the problem and a complete embarrassment to our city.

 

Agree about the access but presumably that is included in the high satisfaction rating?

 

Leaving Midland Station & arriving at Manchester Piccadilly is like advancing 50 years in 50 minutes.

[ECCOnoob 1,016]

Lets be realistic here.

 

Firstly magically improving access and asthetic issues are just not that simple.

 

Manchester Picc was completely re-built from the ground up in the 1960s. Sheffield Station is still working in the template of its original 1870s shell.

 

Manchester Picc is direclty owned and operated by network rail with infinite public money to be thrown at it. Sheffield Station is owned and operated by the train company and will have a much more limited financial resource.

 

Manchester Picc is the 4th busiest station outside London compared to Sheffield down at 11th place. Its clearly obvious who will get priority when screaming out for improvements.

 

Unlike Sheffield Station Manchester Picc is not boxed within a valley totally restricting any grand scale plan to have a wide open concourse and nice easy single level platform access without a complete rebuild of not only the station but re-routing of the entire primary tracks in and out.

 

Compared to 15 years ago I would say the access has got much better. Open and freely available lift access to all areas, improved frontage and access to taxis and car parking, improved and more open facilities space.

 

Whilst Manchester Picc looks more sleek and mordern I suppose, its also bland and identi-kit to every other Network Rail primary station. Wipe out the destination board and you could be standing in a dozen other stations looking just the same. At least (for once) Sheffield has made improvements without losing some of the orginal character of a building.

Edited May 7, 2018 by ECCOnoob

[Funky_Gibbon 42]

I used to travel from Sheffield to Manchester Piccadilly as a daily commute, both before and after any of the refurbishments/redesigns. Both stations were very old and worn when I started commuting and despite Manchester redesigning their frontage completely I never really considered it to be a giant improvement on what was there before. Prettier than before certainly but it still felt a bit soulless to me. A shopping centre with a train station attached.

 

In terms of ugly duckling into swan I'd say Sheffield Midland did a better job. The frontage was already architecturally more appealing and that was enhanced by the attractive space designed outside the station which is so much better than what it used to be like to walk into. Inside it's now spacious and light in comparison to what was there before.

[Annie Bynnol 611]

Manchester Piccadilly is a much busier station than Sheffield but has only two "through" tracks.

Both tracks are served by one narrow island platform.

Both are a considerable distance from the main concourse and the other terminating platforms.

Both are high up and exposed to the weather.

They are extremely busy with national regional and local commuter trains.

The 'conflict' between knowledgeable commuters, tourists and airport users makes for an unpleasant experience.

 

Train delays and waiting outside the station is a much bigger problem at Piccadilly because of trains going across the eastern 'throat' and only two tracks to the west.

 

The numerous DMU's in the covered main hall increase the noise and pollution levels beyond acceptable levels.

 

Sheffield station is not owned by a train company, but it is operated by EMT. Piccadilly has a confusing system where Virgin 'control' some platforms and gates. Revenue staff are much more in evidence but are not railway staff and often confuse passengers with misinformation.

 

Sheffield is smaller, less busy and has a simpler layout-

Except for the numbering of platform 2c and which side to access platform 7.

 

The FREE buses to/from Piccadilly are excellent.

[fill 10]

there is nothing wrong with sheffield station. trains stop there mostly on time(ish) and you can get on them. there are places to sit down out of the weather if needed.

 

the food and drink isahigh street quality at rip off prices as is some of the stuff in m&s and burger king just like you expect in station. besides those that are daft enough to pay those prices will pay, more fool them. those with sense take their own or can wait few hours till they get to where they are going.

 

considering that whilst out on a platform essentially you are outside the non-smoking policy is quite silly and just someone being pedantic really. Jobs worths I suppose.

 

some might go on about aesthetics but there is nothing wrong with the way midland station looks and besides it is just somewhere to get on and off trains so how many people really care what it looks like. its clean and does not stink of urine what more do you want.

 

now the access and lack of parking is ridiculous. some of the nearby buildings need tearing down to improve access and some need turning into multistorey carparks. the big wall fountain and steps thing could be levelled to provide better access. or maybe make full use some of the spare land on the other side of the tram tracks. there is scope for improved access and a decent sized multistorey car-park there would at least obscure what some of us might say is sheffield's biggest embarrassment..hundreds of empty homes whilst we have homeless.

[Annie Bynnol 611]

there is nothing wrong with sheffield station. trains stop there mostly on time(ish) and you can get on them. there are places to sit down out of the weather if needed.

 

the food and drink isahigh street quality at rip off prices as is some of the stuff in m&s and burger king just like you expect in station. besides those that are daft enough to pay those prices will pay, more fool them. those with sense take their own or can wait few hours till they get to where they are going.

 

considering that whilst out on a platform essentially you are outside the non-smoking policy is quite silly and just someone being pedantic really. Jobs worths I suppose.

 

some might go on about aesthetics but there is nothing wrong with the way midland station looks and besides it is just somewhere to get on and off trains so how many people really care what it looks like. its clean and does not stink of urine what more do you want.

 

now the access and lack of parking is ridiculous. some of the nearby buildings need tearing down to improve access and some need turning into multistorey carparks. the big wall fountain and steps thing could be levelled to provide better access. or maybe make full use some of the spare land on the other side of the tram tracks. there is scope for improved access and a decent sized multistorey car-park there would at least obscure what some of us might say is sheffield's biggest embarrassment..hundreds of empty homes whilst we have homeless.

 

The nearest building to the station is a multi story car park with free short term parking.

"...the big wall fountain and steps thing could be levelled to provide better access. " for who? That's the way most people access the station.

[Ms Macbeth 70]

I use the station regularly. I have one criticism, the ticket office. I have a senior bus pass which allows me half price travel in South Yorkshire. If I'm going further, I can use the machines but they aren't geared up to give the local discount, so I have no choice but to queue for any local journeys.

 

I mainly travel to Doncaster, and have to buy my return ticket at the counter there, but it's nearly always a quicker transaction as they have 2 queues. One is for 'travelling today' tickets, so those of us who want to make a quick purchase are not queuing behind people buying railcards and making complex and lengthy enquiries. If either queue is empty then the staff just serve whoever is waiting. I've enquired at Sheffield about using a similar system but got a negative response. It takes no more staff, just a more common sense approach to better customer service. IMO.

[Guest]

The nearest building to the station is a multi story car park with free short term parking.

"...the big wall fountain and steps thing could be levelled to provide better access. " for who? That's the way most people access the station.

 

Agreed. It provides great access. I'm not sure how they could make the small pickup/drop off area better (not the bit in the station but further along). I remember when the taxi rank was where the ticket office is now with traffic lights to turn right in front of the station, such an awful entrance. Sheffield is open and airy now, the foyer and everything. Re platform 7 I don't understand why they don't just open doors on both sides of trains? Is there a reason for this?

[melthebell 862]

 

Compared to 15 years ago I would say the access has got much better. Open and freely available lift access to all areas, improved frontage and access to taxis and car parking, improved and more open facilities space.

i agree its loads better than when i was still in sheff, its improved massively

[1978 14]

The figures are based on all stations where more than 100 people gave their opinions, a total of only 56 qualifying stations.

 

The Guardian gives them all. It's interesting to see that a relatively small station like Newark Northgate appears but twice as busy Stockport does not; https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2018/may/07/glasgow-queen-street-london-kings-cross-railway-station-survey