Trivia - stations with too many platforms

[DorkingMain]

Since the resignalling last month, bay platform 2 is now accessible by means of a crossover outside St. Margarets, then running down the now reversible up main line. Nothing has been in there for years though now it's a signalled move I wonder if it might see use when the rugby's on.

Problem comes from the fact Twickenham P2 is 8 coaches max. Obviously the new metro fleet will only come in 5 or 10 car formations, the former not being suitable for rugby shuttles and the latter not fitting in the bay. Thus I don't get the impression there's a huge rush to bring it back.

Vauxhall - Platforms 5 and 6 (on the fast tracks used by trains to places like Exeter, Weymouth, Portsmouth, Alton etc) are very rarely used (and have never been in regular use for at least 40 years and probably a lot longer than that).

Queenstown Road (Battersea) - the platform opposite the Up side of the island platform hasn't been used for several years, though I believe that there is talk of bringing it back into use.

New Malden - the centre island platform (on the fast tracks) hasn't been used for years AFAIK.

East Putney - AFAIK no train has called at the platform on the spur line used by ECS trains to and from Wimbledon depot for many years.

Finsbury Park main line station has at least one island platform that's not in regular use.

Queenstown Road Platform 1 has long ceased to be an operational platform, likewise the two spur platforms at East Putney.

New Malden fast platforms are in use for emergencies only, due to the poor surface and access.

Are there two platforms at Bromley North? If so, are both required?

Not required in the sense that trains aren't timetabled to occupy both platforms at the same time, but two platforms at the end of a branch line is rather stretching the definition of "too many".

Is the section of wrong-line running long enough so that a train can be stood 'in the middle' whilst keeping the Up Slow and Down Main clear; i.e. as soon as a train departs Platform 2, a fresh train can be stood waiting?

The bidirectional running is on the "Up Fast" so it would be possible for a train to leave Platform 2 / 3 onto the "Up Slow" while a train at on the Up Fast in the down direction.

 

[Dr_Paul]

I think the up lines used to hold the Kingston / Strawberry Hill rounders for main line trains to pass (I'm going back to the 80's) anywhere between Twickenahm and St Margarets, where the three lines became two lines.

That was still happening when I last went through Twickenham a year or so: the up Kingston loop service would dawdle along to St Margarets and be overtaken by an up Reading service. However, I was referring to the up bay, platform 2. A posting above says that it's now accessible from the down line without a reversal being needed.

 

[30907]

Are there two platforms at Bromley North? If so, are both required?

Not normally, but ISTR an engineering work service from Victoria a year or two back which might have needed it.

 

[yorksrob]

Lancaster could shed Platform 1 and still be fine, however similar to Platform 4C at Preston is integral in specific situations.

That said, they are all used quite regularly.

 

[janahan]

Stratford International - International platforms seem like they have only been used during the olympics for a shuttle (where the platforms had to have a temporary height extension). Not sure if there is even any international customs/immigration equipment there.

However, I think they still exist for emergency purposes if St Pancras is not available, as the Javelin platforms may not be suitable for the European Guage trains.

 

[nw1]

I think the up lines used to hold the Kingston / Strawberry Hill rounders for main line trains to pass (I'm going back to the 80's) anywhere between Twickenahm and St Margarets, where the three lines became two lines.



Pre-Covid, there was a train stabled there most of the day.

Platforms 2 - 5 are through lines, Platform 6,7 and 8 are for the Victoria, Charing Cross and Thameslink services. Not sure if there is any spare capacity, unless you push the all-day platform 1 train back into the sidings.

Alton platform 2? (I think 1 and 2 are intended by mainline services - and 3 the Mid-Hants, but I've never known more than one mainline train use Alton at a time).

Maybe it dates from the days when there was a 20-minute service in the peak, i.e. prior to May 1985, and two mainline services needed to use the station at the same time?

Or maybe like the Orpington example above, they stabled trains there off-peak at one point. I know in the early electric timetables (1987, 1988) they used to stable trains at East Grinstead, similar to Alton in that it's a terminus, off peak, presumably using an additional platform (I don't think there were sidings?) - I never visited, but you could tell they did something like that as they had a pattern where an 8-car service would enter service on an up train towards the evening peak, while two four-car units from two down services combined to form the next up. Think they did the same at Caterham, too.

 

[HamworthyGoods]

Alton platform 2? (I think 1 and 2 are intended by mainline services - and 3 the Mid-Hants, but I've never known more than one mainline train use Alton at a time).

Maybe it dates from the days when there was a 20-minute service in the peak, i.e. prior to May 1985, and two mainline services needed to use the station at the same time?

Try having a look at the timetable that has pretty much operated at Alton since December 2004 and you will see both platforms are used every hour.

Realtime Trains | Departures from Alton all day on 01/06/2021

Train information at Alton all day on 01/06/2021. From Realtime Trains, an independent source of train running info for Great Britain.

www.realtimetrains.co.uk

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Should any of the handful of stations with no current service provision be included in the category of having "too many platforms"; thinking here of the likes of Barlaston, Wedgwood, IBM, Redcar British Steel, Manchester United Football Ground?

 

[swt_passenger]

Alton platform 2? (I think 1 and 2 are intended by mainline services - and 3 the Mid-Hants, but I've never known more than one mainline train use Alton at a time).

Well RTT for today has trains alternating platforms at Alton, because they are at the station for about 35 mins between arrival and departure. I think that’s been the case for many years.

 

[ungreat]

Vauxhall - Platforms 5 and 6 (on the fast tracks used by trains to places like Exeter, Weymouth, Portsmouth, Alton etc) are very rarely used (and have never been in regular use for at least 40 years and probably a lot longer than that).

Queenstown Road (Battersea) - the platform opposite the Up side of the island platform hasn't been used for several years, though I believe that there is talk of bringing it back into use.

New Malden - the centre island platform (on the fast tracks) hasn't been used for

Finsbury Park main line station has at least one island platform that's not in regular use.

The only platform at Finsbury Park that isn't used is 3

And 6 lol

 

[richard1976]

Did all the platforms at Ryde St. Johns Road get used

 

[WestRiding]

Kingston upon Hull.

 

[oliverpckehoe]

The bay at Exeter Central, is that used anymore?

Only ever seen it in use once in 2017. As a side note, it would be far more useful for the bay platform to be facing Northbound to allow Tarka Line services to terminate instead of continuing to St James Park (although Barnstaple trains being extended along the WoE main line may somewhat reduce its usefulness unless it could be used for Okehampton services later this year).

 

[DorkingMain]

Well RTT for today has trains alternating platforms at Alton, because they are at the station for about 35 mins between arrival and departure. I think that’s been the case for many years.

Windsor and Eton Riverside + Hampton Court (on Sundays) operate in a similar way.

 

[zwk500]

Well RTT for today has trains alternating platforms at Alton, because they are at the station for about 35 mins between arrival and departure. I think that’s been the case for many years.

It has, and it's a pain for getting trains on and off the Mid Hants because only P2 has a connection, so if you arrive in the wrong half of the hour you either have to just sit somewhere for 30 minutes waiting for the path over the single line (there's some bi-di signalling at Farnham that allows this) or swap the platforming round for the day.

Windsor and Eton Riverside + Hampton Court (on Sundays) operate in a similar way.

My understanding is SWR do this at a number of locations because the longer turnround protects performance, and the pattern means that if it gets very delayed they can step the diagrams up fairly easily to recover the service quicker.

 

[30907]

Did all the platforms at Ryde St. Johns Road get used

The back of the island only for stabling AFAIK. Except possibly just before Cowes closed and Pier Head was out of action.

 

[mike57]

Scarborough..?

As long as they are seasonal...

Typically there are two TPEs and a Northern service in the station at certain times of the day. Add the occasional charter, and that leaves one spare platform (which is usually 5). I am not sure if the EMR saturday only service is running this year. If the Northern direct service from York ever gets started that will add to trains. TPE also tend also to use York - Scarborough for crew training. Most platforms are long enough for two 2/3 coach trains to share a platform, but TPE are now often a 68 + 5 and this leaves no space on 2 - 5. I also notice that TPE try to use 1 & 2 for the 68 hauled trains, not sure why, noise or fumes under the canopy maybe, as 68s are noisy, on a still day you can hear them 3 miles or so away.

So in a word No...

 

[D6975]

Kingston upon Hull.

That's an odd one, as despite the abundance of platforms. they regularly stack 2 services on one platform.

 

[Recessio]

Until they reinstated the 4th track, I'd never seen a train use Wellingborough's 3rd platform. But no longer a candidate!

 

[Leslie Fletcher]

I disagree, the bay platforms do get used for the Lincoln - Sleaford - Peterborough services.

Oh, if you think that some stations in the UK have too many platforms, it struck me that many stations on the Continent have an awful lot of platforms for the population of the town served!

"Stations with too few/too many platforms" was a forum topic in 2014, when I posted this:
I have never been sure where to ask this question but this thread seems kind of appropriate: why do [some] continental stations have so many more platforms and other infrastructure? For example, I recently caught a train at Bari Centrale in southern Italy which has 9 through platforms and 6 terminal platforms to cope with ~14 departures per hour, a similar traffic density to Wolverhampton.
There wasn't much of a response so I am still puzzled.

 

[Sean Emmett]

I've lost count on the number of times I've been held outside Aberdeen waiting on a platform being vacated by a southbound service. Aberdeen could be doing with Platform 2 being reinstated for regular passenger operation in the not too distant future.

Aberdeen. Today's Aberdonian steam railtour with Tornado was held on the Dee viaduct for a while, before being admitted to platform 2 vice 6S as booked.

 

[hermit]

The back of the island only for stabling AFAIK. Except possibly just before Cowes closed and Pier Head was out of action.

I’m not sure what the position was under the most recent timetable, but a few years ago the train stabled in that platform used to set off as the first down train of the day to Shanklin, so the platform was in use then (even if, at about 5am, there were unlikely to be passengers about).

I have also changed into a train waiting at that platform on a couple of occasions when a train from Pierhead was being taken out of service at St John’s for some unspecified reason.

 

[Mat17]

Lincoln's remaining bay platforms see little use. It used to have eight - four east-facing bays and four through platforms, but now has five, of which two are bays. These see little use these days, as they face east but nearly all terminating trains come from the west (Nottingham, Sheffield, London) and return the same way.

Lincoln was my first thought. I also reckon platform 2 at Doncaster. Hull could probably lose a platform or two, Sheffield's 2c seems to be increasingly irrelevant with longer trains.

Its a shame a few of the terminal platforms at Man Picc can't be swapped for 3 or 4 more through platforms.

 

[trebor79]

I don't think the bay platform at Grantham see very much use.

 

[LowLevel]

I don't think the bay platform at Grantham see very much use.

It comes into it's own to keep Skegness services out of the way of Liverpool/Norwich trains if the schedule is adrift, it also allows some standard charter paths to be accommodated. You can tuck an all stops Skeg that's 15 late in there and let the fast Liverpool overtake it.

It has booked traffic every day albeit not always used.

 

[D6975]

I don't think the bay platform at Grantham see very much use.

Funnily enough the last train I caught from Grantham to Nottingham left from the bay.

 

[Donny_m]

Bedminster has 4 platforms. As far as I know the first one has rusty tracks and I’ve only ever seen hst’s from temple meads turn around here once or twice in my life.

 

[Andy Pacer]

Platforms 10, 11 and 12 at Newcastle don't have much traffic. Similarly 3 and 4 at Rock Ferry, which are really just stabling sidings.

At Newcastle you would then create a problem of where to put the trains that occupy those platforms for reasonable periods of time without blocking the through platforms.

 

[ValleyLines142]

Blackpool North was reduced from 8 to 6 as part of the electrification (having of course been many more in the past) but some of the 6 probably don't get much use?

Well platform 1 is usually for the Euston Pendolino, platform 2 doesn't see that many services, 3 usually sees the York services and then 4-6 is for Manchester Airport, Hazel Grove and Liverpool services. However, before 7 and 8 were closed, I agree!

 

[SeanG]

Marsden - do all three platforms get used?