Platform planning?

Three trains into platforms 8-11 within minutes of each other...  Automatic gates in operation...  Only one member of the platform staff in attendance... 

The above occurred this morning.  The 07:00 from Bletchley normally pulls into Euston around 07:38.  Since the new timetable came into force the arrival platform has been  platform 11 (it used to be no.17).   This morning there was an 8-car train disgorging its passengers on platform 8 (all stops from Bletchley due in at 07:34?) as we pulled onto platform 11 and disembarked.  Within a minute or two a 4-car (07:40 arrival from Tring?) was pulling into platform 10.  

Twenty carriages' worth of passengers at the same set of platforms at the same time would be bad enough, but on when its platforms 8-11 at London Euston then queues and frayed tempers are guaranteed...

The picture above was taken on a quiet Saturday morning but it does illustrate one of the issues with this part of Euston station.   The platforms themselves are more than wide enough but where 9 & 10 (which are effectively bay platforms) cut into the walkway too many people are forced through too narrow space.

To make matters even worse, the flow of passengers through the barriers is distorted with some crossing from left to right and others from right to left.   The problem is made worse by the fact that the underground station entrance, the ticket office, the information booth and the gate for people who can't use the automatic barriers are all on the same side.

Last year London Midland acknowledged the problems on platforms 8-11 and agreed to reduce the impact by keeping the barriers open for particularly busy time slots during the morning rush-hour.   When two trains have arrived at about the same time there is still queuing, but it is nothing like as bad as it would be if the automatic barriers were operating. 

So the questions that need to be asked are:

1. Why has London Midland and/or Network Rail decided that it's a good idea to have three (full) trains arriving on platforms 8-11 within minutes of each other?
2. Why weren't the automatic barriers open this morning?
3. Why was there only one member of staff on duty?

From experience I know that there is absolutely no point whatsoever raising these questions with London Midland customer service.  Send them an email and you get a reply saying that they are experiencing a particularly busy period and it may take longer than usual to reply (I'm told that there 'standard' was 2.5 months earlier this year).  All you'll eventually get is a letter apologising for the inconvenience and saying that it has been raised with the appropriate department.

We don't want a belated apology and a promise of an investigation.  We want actrion to make sure these problems don't occur again!