The announcement by the Government to proceed with High Speed 2 and place its main station at Euston raises some interesting questions about how the station will be redesigned to accommodate this.
The masterplan being developed by Terry Farrell / Arup will be looking at how to deal with the huge trains coming and going but one of the main issues will be how will the station manages the numbers of passengers moving through the station. It is said that HS2 will deliver the equivalent of a 747 jumbo jet's worth of passengers into and out of Euston every 90 seconds!
This will require a radically different approach to wayfinding and moving passengers - possibly separating arrivals and departures as happens as airports.
The design will also have to consider how to move this volume of people to and from the station in this central location - something no railway station in this country has had to manage to date. This will include the Euston & Euston Square Underground stations and the surrounding street network.
It's going to be fascinating to see how this massive project can deliver an inspiring station that is still easy to use and welcoming for passengers.
Labels: station design
