Saturday 19th October 2024
If you just look at Paddington’s traditional platforms at ground level you would justifiably wonder how the station holds the title of second place Busiest Railway Station in Britain. It does so, of course, because of its two subterranean Platforms A and B for the Elizabeth Line.
They make all the difference – as we’ve seen at three other stations featured in the top 10 – Farringdon, Tottenham Court Road and Stratford. You only have to watch as another Elizabeth line train arrives (28 an hour in both directions) and see the number of passengers using the escalators…
… to reach ground level, as well as the impressive lifts available.
The Office of Rail and Road estimate Paddington saw 59,182,926 passenger entries and exits in the year ended March 2023 which was one and a quarter million more than Waterloo which used to top the charts. The most popular destination for passengers using Paddington wasn’t Reading, Oxford, Bristol or Exeter but Tottenham Court Road, again showing the impact of the Elizabeth line.
In those far off pre-Covid, pre Elizabeth line days of 2019 Paddington was in eighth place in the Busiest Railway Station league table with 38,181,588 passengers so you can see the impact of the purple trains bearing in mind other stations such as Waterloo and Victoria have seen a downturn in passengers since Covid.
Paddington has 13 platforms on the ground level part of the station. They’re numbered 1 to 14 (no platform is numbered 13) with 1, 8 and 9 being ungated including the luxury of a very wide gap between the latter two…
… and 6 and 7 are used by Heathrow Express trains.
Platform 14 is on the extreme east side being much shorter than the other platforms and necessitating a long walk to reach it from the concourse. It used to be from where the Chiltern Parliamentary train usually departed.
Access to Platforms A and B below ground is through two sets of archways leading from the main concourse…
… and Platform 1.
There are two gatelines for Plaforms 2, 3, 4 and 5 separated by a retail unit and I’m never quite sure which of these will be opened up for departing passengers as opposed to arriving, while over by platforms 10 and 11 there’s a very small gateline for departing…
… and a larger one for arriving passengers at right angles to the rest.
Together with all the retail units it makes for a confusing and, at times, congested concourse.
There are two sets of double sided departure boards to help spread waiting passengers throughout the concourse area but when trains aren’t called until the last minute or there’s late running – not uncommon with GWR – it all makes for a rather chaotic situation. But at least there aren’t ramps down to the platforms so you don’t quite get the Euston stampede effect when departures are announced.
Thankfully Paddington also escaped the fad for installing huge intrusive digital commercial advertising screens before that craze became a thing of the past (cf Euston) but I do think the time is coming when the retail units by the gatelines will have to go to create space for more gates as has happened at Victoria.
Access to the Underground lines has recently improved with the opening of a new entrance/exit from the Bakerloo line by the main exit to Praed Street…
… in a new retail area called Paddington Square.
It’s all a bit convoluted having to take an escalator (of lift) down to a lower level…
… only to then have to take stairs (or lift) back up again, the other side of the Underground gateline.
The erstwhile link to the District and Circle lines through the rather dingey passageway…
… where you have to criss cross passengers moving in the other direction by the ticket machines, still gives access to the Bakerloo line along the narrow corridor and is still the quickest way between that line and the main line station concourse.
A new step free link between the Elizabeth line platforms and the Bakerloo line opened when the purple trains began running.
This long passageway passes under the main station concourse and has lifts at both ends.
As well as by the gatelines and alongside Platform 1, the usual retail outlets to be found at main line stations these days are in an area south of the concourse called The Lawn where there’s seating for waiting passengers…
… as there is immediately in front of it.
Access to and from the taxi rank…
… and the Hammersmith & City/Circle lines is a bit of a hike on the north east side of the station…
… at an upper level which also brings you out by the canal at Paddington Basin, an area which has been transformed in recent years making for a rather nice contemporary entrance and exit to the main station.
The upside of approaching Paddington from this entrance is the passageway that branches off and passes as a footbridge over the plarforms …
… that gives access through a gateline and then stairs or a long ramp…
… bringing you halfway along the platforms so you can avoid the scrum at the gateline from the main concourse.
There are toilets either side of the concourse by platform 1 (down narrow stairs for Gentlemen)…
… and much better (step free) ones by platform 12.
These also have a handy indicator as you enter letting you know how many cubicles are vacant in case you want such information.
Alongside these toilets is the station ‘waiting room’, but few passengers use it compared to all the seating elsewhere in the station, which is just as well as it’s rather small. The first class lounge, also used for Night Riviera sleeper train passengers, is alongside platform 1 by the statute of Paddington himself.
There’s a large and busy ticket office on the west side of the concourse…
… but very few ticket machines on behalf of GWR. Some have recently been withdrawn, leaving only four on the west side of the main concourse….
… and a block of five by the main entrance.
Interestingly the Elizabeth line does much better with a bank of eight at the lower level concourse…
… while Heathrow Express has almost as many staff selling tickets as GWR and three machines.
Interestingly i find the Elizabeth line machines much easier to navigate and use than the GWR ones.
They seem much more intuitive, responsive to touch and quick to use.
That’s the infrastructure. What about the trains?
The fast lines out of Paddington in a typical off-peak hour are intensively used with a train at 00 (Bristol); 03 (Penzance/Plymouth*); 06 (Newbury); 08 (Didcot Parkway); 10 (Heathrow Express); 15 (Cardiff); 23 (Oxford); 25 (Heathrow Express); 30 (Bristol/Weston-super-Mare*); 32 (Cheltenham Spa); 35 (Exeter St Davids); 38 (Didcot Parkway); 40 (Heathrow Express); 48 (Cardiff and Swansea); 53 (Oxford/Worcester/Hereford*); 55 (Heathrow Express). * Ultimate destinations vary as do precise departure times across different hours.
Below ground level, Elizabeth line trains run 16 times an hour to and from the east alternating to and from Shenfield and Abbey Wood and westbound run on the slow lines twice an hour to Reading, twice an hour to Maidenhead, twice an hour to Heathrow Airport Terminals 2/3 and 5 and four times an hour to Terminals 2/3 and 4. The balance of six trains an hour terminate from the east at Paddington sometimes, three in a row, making for the need for an efficient check by platform staff to ensure every passenger has alighted, which is impressive to watch. The train then enters into automative driving mode towards the sidings while the driver walks the length of the train ready to take it back to Shenfield or Abbey Wood.
And that’s Paddington. It’ll be interesting to see how passenger numbers for 2024/25 and the next few years are impacted by the station’s closure on a number of weekends while HS2 construction work takes place at Old Oak Common. This will also impact the availability of four tracks into and out of the station on occasions. The first closure is upcoming next month on Sunday 17th November with some GWR trains diverted into Euston, a station not exactly renowned for having spare capacity.
Next month it’s Britain’s Busiest Railway Station. No 1.
Roger French
Previous blogs in this Britain’s Busiest Railway Stations series: No 10 Euston; No 9 Farringdon; No 8 St Pancras International; No 7 Tottenham Court Road; No 6 Stratford; No 5 Victoria, No 4 London Bridge, No 3 Waterloo.
Blogging timetable: 06:00 TThS.
Comments on today’s blog are welcome but please keep them relevant to the blog topic, avoid personal insults and add your name (or an identifier). Thank you.
BusAndTrainUser 
It’s not a bad station to use, but as you say a small number of fixes would dramatically improve the experience:
1) Put the GWR ticket machines back in.
2) Sort out the tunnel to the Circle line platforms – the wire mesh ceiling is a disgrace and has been like that for years.
3) Declutter the barrier line.
4) Call the trains earlier.
5) Sort out the provision of information on the departure screens, if there’s a delay its frequently incorrect as anyone looking at the Live Departures on their mobile can see.
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Why are the circle and district line passengers cross?
It did surprise me that crossrail has made such a massive change to passenger flows.
Gareth Cheeseman
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I get frustrated that the flow of pedestrians crosses in the Underground main (original) ticket hall. If you come down the escalator from the main station concourse near the ‘Lawn’ to head to the Circle Line you crossover all the pedestrians going the other way, as the Underground gateline is laid out that way. I’ve contacted TfL to ask them to switch the direction of the escalators to sort this out, but to no avail. I guess one reason could be that the ticket machines are on the left as you walk towards the gateline but that’s likely less of a problem these days. Ironically when the escalators were under repair and the up escalator became the down one for a while the problem was fixed, sadly only temporarily.
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We usually avoid the melee in the District ticket hall by using the Praed Street exit. Having to cross Praed Street isn’t ideal but is still less stressful than battling through the crowds underground. You do miss out, though, on that first view of Brunel’s awe-inspiring roof as you come up the steps from the ticket hall.
Chris
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The toilets by Platform 12 used to have a Shower facility for passengers who arrived in the morning on the Night Riviera from Cornwall. I used it once (the only time that I’ve ever used a railway shower!). This was, of course, in addition to the welcome, well stocked lounge for Sleeper passengers on Platform 1.
You don’t mention the shower, Roger. Is it still there ?
Peter Murnaghan
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I didn’t notice it.
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Still there & open 0700-2300 according to the NR website
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The showers are still there, i used them back in July when i was in London, however you have go to the left luggage store to pay for the showers.
I seem to remember one time the showers used to be next to P1, but got moved to the current location.
Seems to be a common trait at Network Rail terminal London stations to call trains as late as possible, but unlike Euston at least the concourse at Paddington is next to the platforms
SM
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The Elizabeth Line lifts look impressive but they are tiny. Given the size of many passengers luggage, getting pushchairs or , in my case, mobility aids, in , is frequently impossible, and involves waiting for several lifts until you can get on one.
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When I commuted daily to Paddington from Chippenham I learned how to avoid the late platform calls and undignified sprint to the train. I always got the 1715 departure, it always went from platform 3. There always seemed to be passengers aboard who looked like they had been there long before the platform was called. Eventually I worked out to walk up barrier free platform 1 to the footbridge, wait at the stairs down to platform 3 until the cleaners went through the train and someone stuck the destination label in the window, then I swooped on and made myself comfortable. I never had to stand in 18 months of commuting. This was back in the 1990s.
Peter Brown
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The Elizabeth Line Lifts look impressive, but they are tiny. Given the huge size of many passengers luggage these days, It is often impossible to get a pushchair or a mobility aid in my case, Into the lift and you have to wait for several to come before you find one with enough room.
Martin C
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The railway really does need to sort out its ticket machines. I have a colleague who used to be an RPI (travelling ticket inspector in old money), and he says that he struggle with them. If a professional ticketing person doesn’t understand the interface, what hope has the average passenger got?
A.N.M.
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Indeed, the TfW ticket machines at Chester are useless, & only sells singles, returns or the Merseyrail Daysave, i had to wait for the ticket office to open before i could buy the North Wales Rover ticket back in August
SM
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I wonder when the Heathrow Express will be axed? It would free up some track space on the main line and the lizzy line could just use the HEX paths in the airport. Extra lizzy line trains will be needed for Old Oak Common. Boy, that’s going to be one humongous debacle.
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It also has one of the best station pubs in London – The Mad Bishop and Bear located on the top floor in the lawn area. If you’re an avid ale drinker like myself it’s a top pub that also has arrival and departure boards. Their toilets are also for customers only so no unwanted ‘users’ lurking around. If the Elizabeth line was not always breaking down this would be the number one station in my opinion.
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Platforms 13 and 14 used to be part of the Hammersmith & City station, which ahd four platforms in the days when through trains of the Western used to change engines there. After they were chopped off, they were used for the regular suburban services as p12 was a short milk and parcels road that branched off p11. That was rationalised a few years ago when platform 12 was lengthened and joined to the old p13 track rather than p11.
The wide space between platforms 8 and 9 was the old arrivals taxi road – which led from the side entrance that is now Paddington Square and up the ramp to an exit next to the new H&C entrance. That was all converted to a walkway around the time platforms 6 and 7 were given over to Heathrow Express.
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That old taxi road was bizarre. Can’t have been many stations where you had to look out for traffic driving through the middle of the station.
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Waterloo and Marylebone certainly had through routes too, with ramps down and up at the outer ends, latterly used for newspaper and parcel traffic rather than taxis. Kings Cross was on the side where Platform 0 is now. St Pancras had road access to a wide platform, but only from the arch at the concourse end.
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St Pancras did have a road through the station. Like most it had separate taxi roads for arrivals and departures
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It was normal for stations in London to have a taxi road through them, Kings Cross did St P:ancras did and Liverpool Street did
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Glasgow Central had one too – not just for a taxi rank but also short stay parking. I think they added some new platforms when they got rid of it.
Martin
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Paddington is naturally my regular station when travelling in from the West Country into London for business. The Elizabeth Line has been a game changer in being able to get to TCR and then a short walk for my regular business reviews and strategy sessions. Much better than the tube.
I absolutely agree with the issue with the gateline. Lose the Nero and the other retail. It makes it far too congested.
BW2
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Some of those retail units in the gateline, particularly behind platforms 2 & 3, seem to be invariably closed or vacant these days, so some kind of work in that area may be imminent.
Steven Saunders
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Excellent Description.
They are not yet at 28tph on the Elizabeth line. Currently it is only 24 which is still impressive. Wait two or three years and with the extra trains now on order it probably will be 28tph.
The dominance of Heathrow Express at Paddington for such a tiny operation always surprises me. Not only do they have the staff you mention and a large building on the concourse that seems to show little purpose other than to house their ticket machines, they also have a couple of members of staff at the far end of the platform where there are more ticket gates at the foot of the ramp from the footbridge. This entrance is little used, partly because few people seem to know about it and partly because there is no lift which makes it awkward for people with a lot of luggage.
When I visit Paddington I often hang around the Heathrow Express platforms and count the number of people coming off the next train. I don’t think I have ever got up to a hundred – so around 12 people per carriage. I have been told it is much busier in the early morning in the direction to Paddington. It seems incredible to me that such a minnow with declining usage can occupy four train paths per hour on the main lines in each directions and take up two platforms.
By the way, Heathrow Express platforms are level boarding which makes you wonder why the can’t do the same for other platforms. It is not as if you see the frequent passing freight train.
Pedantic of Purley
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I’ve used Paddington intermittently over the years. The atmosphere in the station has certainly changed for the better since diesel trains have largely been removed.
For many years whilst travelling to West London I used the tube from central London with its higher frequency connecting to buses, rather going to Paddington and getting slow line trains.
The Elizabeth line is a massive improvement with far bigger trains, however the west end of the line remains the unintegrated poor relation, with terminating Lizzie Line and Heathrow Express trains meeting head on at Paddington.
Paddingtons position in the charts is unlikely to be sustained once Old Oak Common opens with presumably barrierless interchange between GWR and Lizzie line taking millions off gateline counts of folk travelling to places like Tottenham Court.
Travellers like myself may no longer flow directly onto the Underground escalators at Euston but it’s still a superior experience to Paddington where you struggle through understaffed barriers then go back on yourself to reach the Lizzie line. Even the bus stop in Praed Street is further away.
Once upon a time while crossing the concourse at Euston there was the added bonus of glimpses of someone famous up in “lights”, Taylor Swift, David Beckham or even Vinnie Jones as you made arrival or departure from London.
I look forward to taking advantage of entering London from afar in the west interchanging at Old Oak Common using a station fit for the 21st century. Despite its grandeur sadly using Paddington station has and remains a necessary evil.
John Nicholas.
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We;; the Old Oak Common Hub I would guess would reduce the need for the Heathrow Express. Anyone travelling on the WCML and wanting Heathrow would go via Old Oak Common which would be a lot quicker and easier
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Is there going to be a station on the WCML near Old Oak Common then?
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Maybe it’s because I have the benefit of being a fairly infrequent user of Paddington but I still find myself being blown away by the grandeur of the station. I’m old enough to remember how dark and dingy the station was in the 80’s so think the way the station has been renovated and improved since then is incredibly impressive. All the new parts of the station have also been very sympathetically added.
Chris
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There are also the buses which call st Paddington – quicker than the tube/Elizabeth line if you are going to Marble Arch, Hyde Park Corner, Harrods, Hampstead, the Porto Bello Road or the London Zoo (or stops on the way to these). Unfortunately the frequencies of these are not up to the tube standard, except where they combine (to Marble Arch); there is an interesting video – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAygH6SZg28 – about how buses at frequencies of every 10 minutes or better have generated serious modal transfer from driving in Helsinki.
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And the buses aren’t much slower than the tube if you want a more accessible way of transferring to Victoria or the Euston Road termini.
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I’ve seen this video before, massive learning opportunity for UK transport planners and bus operators. They should be sent there to see for themselves. Perhaps the Tyne & Wear integrated bus/metro system was right after all. The planners of the South Wales Metro should also learn from the Espoo metro extension feeder buses.
Peter Brown
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I live just outside Milton Keynes and think this could be a good blueprint for transport in the city.
It has actually been proposed with BRT instead of a Metro system, but it will require quite a bit of initial funding. And to actually get people out of their cars there will need to be proper bus priority on traffic hotspots, which is something there is currently very little of.
Once set up costs are taken into account, I can see how the economics would work though, as you’d save lots of buses covering longer distances if there were shorter feeder routes instead
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I’ve used the station intermittently for many years. My fondest memory is of late 1965 (yes, really) when I met a friend in what I presume was then just a licensed refreshment room. The purpose was to receive payment of a longstanding debt of £20, a lot of money then for an ex-student in his first job. The drinks should have been on the friend, but he announced that he’d just spent his last £20.
Garry brown
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I would like some clarification please as to how “The Office of Rail and Road estimate Paddington saw 59,182,926 passenger entries and exits in the year ended March 2023”.
If I travel into Paddington on a GWR service, go through the GWR gateline and then go through the Circle or Bakerloo line gateline and travel to Tottenham Court Road on the Underground, is that a count of 1 or 2?
If I travel into Paddington on a GWR service, go through the GWR gateline and then go through the Elizabeth line gateline and travel to Tottenham Court Road by Elizabeth line only, is that a count of 1 or 2?
Note – the count should only relate to Paddington and neither where I got on the GWR not exited at Tottenham Court Road.
If the answer to the above question is different, e.g. 1 for useing the Underground and 2 for using the Elizabeth line, then the whole business of “Busiest Station League table is flawed”.
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I assume the GWR/Lizzie line part of Old Oak Common can open before HS2 opens.
The Central line that passes through the site will apparently also be “integrated” into the station.
Diversion of GWR trains to Euston from this Christmas enables these station works to begin and will affect travellers annually until the end of the decade.
Worthy of BusandTrainUser verify to find out what happens.
John Nicholas
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I’ve just remembered another Paddington anecdote.
I was returning from a training course in London. When I got off the Tube at Paddington it was in chaos. There has been a signal failure and no trains were moving. The “Lawn” was packed. Eventually they announced that they would shortly be boarding five trains at once. When the departure screens clicked over to show the platforms the crowd stampeded in multiple directions. People were tripping over wheelie cases and bags as they headed for their trains. Looking back this seemed really unsafe. Being fleet of foot I found my reserved seat and turfed out the incumbent.
Peter Brown
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Another issue with Paddington is that the Hammersmith & City Line is not that well signed from the overbridge at the western end of the station. The intuitive way to it is through the separate passage and gateline which leads to the higher numbered platforms down the stairs,but one then finds a dead end where the H&C access could / should be. One then has to return to the overbridge and find the windy route round towards the taxis and turn left
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