Letter to the Editor: We need another staircase at East Croydon station

I am really pleased to see developments at East Croydon train station - except having closed the tunnel crossing, they have only built the stairs for the big new white bridge going down to the north end of the platforms where only the longest trains stop, and not down to the middle of the platforms where all of the trains stop.

Anyone who cares to watch for five or 10 minutes can see near-continuous streams of frantic passengers running half the length of the platforms, squeezing through crowds and constrained widths at the side of the stairs and all the way back again, to be able to change platform whenever a train stops. This is how it will be every day until the next redevelopment in 40 or 50 years time unless it is corrected now, right now, with a second set of stairs.

You would think that Southern Railways Management and Croydon Council would have noticed this and ordered another set of stairs to be fitted down to the huge gaps in the middle of the platforms while the workers are still on site and the design & tooling for the first set of stairs must still be readily available.

But (apart from the probability that they all go to work by car), I have noted that such people tend to spend far more time, money and effort having meetings about why something can't be done, rather than just getting on with the obvious and doing it.

Could everyone who agrees with me please contact Croydon Council and Southern Rail to make our voices heard?