One casualty of privatisation was probably unexpected – the names of stations, writes Sim Harris.
Private sector operators could choose whatever names they liked, and so could Network Rail, which persists in referring to ‘Edinburgh Waverley’ when the national ticketing database says ‘Edinburgh’.
This database also feeds timetables, so that the official ‘electronic timetable’ (the all-system timebook published in digital form by Network Rail) also simply says ‘Edinburgh’. On the other hand, ScotRail uses ‘Edinburgh’ in its timetables but ‘Edinburgh Waverley’ on the maps in the same timetable booklets.
It should be said that there is nothing wrong with ‘Edinburgh Waverley’ – quite the reverse. If I had my way, the two stations in central Edinburgh would be known as ‘Edinburgh Waverley’ and ‘Edinburgh Haymarket’.
Farnborough is another place which has an identity crisis. When South West Trains replaced the signs on Farnborough (Main) the new signs read ‘Farnborough’, which might have confused foreign visitors to the town’s famous airshow, because their tickets would still have read Farnborough (Main).
Station names have undoubtedly evolved in the past. Before nationalisation, the Great Western Railway used the suffix ‘General’ to indicate the principal station in some towns, and the Western Region of British Railways carried the principle further, creating ‘Reading General’ and even ‘Weston-super-Mare General’.
In the 1970s, British Rail reversed the process, and set out to make station names as simple as possible. The principle now was that a town’s main station used the name of the place alone, while any lesser stations were still allowed a suffix, (although Cardiff General did not become Cardiff but Cardiff Central).
St Albans City lost ‘City’, but St Albans Abbey – the small terminus of the branch from Watford Junction – kept its old title. On the other hand, BR did not dare to tamper with some of the traditional names, such as Bristol Temple Meads or Birmingham New Street. (Meanwhile, St Albans has become St Albans City again.)
Southampton Central was also simplified to ‘Southampton’, but after Southampton Airport Parkway had opened the suffix ‘Central’ was restored. However, after Luton Midland Road had become ‘Luton’ (after the parallel Luton Bute Street had closed) no change was made when Luton Airport Parkway had opened. Staff sometimes try to compensate for this by referring unofficially to ‘Luton Town’ when making announcements, in a bid to help airport passengers.
Another source of potential confusion was caused by double station names, such as ‘Hayes & Harlington’. These had often been used by the old companies, particularly when a station lay between the places named, and again British Rail set out to simply matters, but once again, the reform was not followed through. Goring & Streatley was allowed to remain, but the next station, Cholsey & Moulsford, was trimmed to ‘Cholsey’.
There is now a new chance to sort out this mess, as Great British Railways takes over. The management of stations will pass to GBR from the operators and Network Rail, and GBR could bring an overdue and much-needed injection of logic.
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