Every morning, of every day, of every year during my secondary education, I have woken up at premature hours of the day to get the train to Strawberry Hill station. As a regular passenger, I’ve become very conscious of the ways that trains work, as well as the layout of each station. 

Most evenings, my friends and I walk to the station coming home from school, where I wait for my train on the other side of the platform to my friends - platform 2. 

But as the winter months are approaching, the harsh weather conditions are imminent. The enormous crowd of workers, university students and school children will once again huddle together, under the sole huge shelter at one end of each platform, which not only is a nuisance, but is also not at all COVID friendly. 

This means that when the train does finally pull into the station, those who are brave enough to venture into the harsh weather conditions, will get soaked just to get on their desired carriage. From my experience, it's what I would call ‘an utter nightmare’, as my preferred carriage is at the end of the long, cold, dimly-lit platform. 

However last week, to my excitement, I noticed that a new, sturdy shelter had been constructed at the other end of the platform. This was a fine-looking sight. 

I have always thought it would be a very good idea to have a shelter at the other end of the platform, not only to break up the crowd, but also to give people the opportunity to shelter at both ends of the platform, so that they can get on at the carriage they like, which is close to the exit at their destination station. 

The passengers of Strawberry Hill will find this beneficial as they will be able to wait for their train, without the worry of being on the receiving end of the rain. More people could also be attracted to using Strawberry Hill, as opposed to Twickenham which already has a large overhead shelter across the whole of the platform. 

Thank you to South Western Railway for investing in station facilities for the benefit of your passengers.