Stand behind the line!

[Horizon22]

Heathrow’s Rail stations have the normal yellow line but they have a blue line further in to advise people to stand behind and people mostly follow it.

Originally it was for social distancing but now it’s to allow a corridor for people to move down the platform in, not putting themselves or their luggage close to the platform edge. It does seem to work quite well.

I suppose somewhere like Heathrow where a considerable number of people are travelling with large suitcases, might be an exception to the overall plan.

 

[Dr Hoo]

I suppose somewhere like Heathrow where a considerable number of people are travelling with large suitcases, might be an exception to the overall plan.

Quite; just like Manchester Piccadilly P13+14. Plenty of luggage (and the 'need to move down') there.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Quite; just like Manchester Piccadilly P13+14. Plenty of luggage (and the 'need to move down') there.

And also a requirement, unless it has changed, to do a "security check" each time between boarding and alighting.

 

[startingaparty]

If you were treated with the same sheer contempt that the platform staff on Platforms 13/14 at Manchester Piccadilly treat you in any other customer-facing role you'd be infuriated. I don't know how they get away with it. Probably because most passangers have no other choice when making long-distance journeys if they don't drive. It's shameful and you'd never get herded and howled at in any other situation where you're paying money for the pleasure.

 

[Dr Hoo]

If you were treated with the same sheer contempt that the platform staff on Platforms 13/14 at Manchester Piccadilly treat you in any other customer-facing role you'd be infuriated. I don't know how they get away with it. Probably because most passangers have no other choice when making long-distance journeys if they don't drive. It's shameful and you'd never get herded and howled at in any other situation where you're paying money for the pleasure.

Hmm... Despite being a fairly regular user of said platforms I have never been 'spoken to', let alone 'shouted at' by any of the staff there. However, as a former Station Manager, I tend not to stand or walk close to platform edge with back to approaching traffic/ headphones on/ engrossed in my mobile phone/ examining the brake rigging on passing intermodal trains/ skateboarding/etc.

Obviously one isn't in a position of potential fatal jeopardy when engaged in most other customer service situations, such as in a shop or cafe.

 

[GalaxyDog]

Train guard here.

It is a number of factors at play. First off, stations have not been so busy as they are now for the last two years. This means you have got passengers who are unaware because they have not travelled in a long while. Secondly you have more services now which heightens the risk.

Both we and station staff do try to be polite at first - if nothing else, we will add a please at the end of the request. However we are getting a lot of travellers who are ignoring us and continuing the same behaviour. This gets frustrating because really, we just want everyone to be safe. Nothing more, nothing less. We and stations don't "get off" on shouting at people or coming across as authoritarian morons, I promise. We just desperately want to make sure that people don't get sucked under from turbulence from a fast-running through service such as a Voyager, or get dragged under by a departing train.

 

[james_the_xv]

I agree completely that stations where trains hammer through should have yellow lines but the irony is that many of those stations where there is a danger don’t have platform staff so no barking. It is the ones that don’t have trains hammering through but have staff standing a few feet from passengers aggressively shouting at them I have issues with. As already mentioned on this thread Avanti managed stations are just awful places. How anyone can consider their behaviour acceptable is beyond me.

Coventry being a perfect example!

Interestingly, when using Avanti managed stations (of which one is Coventry), i find platform staff only 'bark' about standing forward of the yellow line when a train is departing. When you have the acceleration of 350s that can reach 20-30mph by the end of the platform that is understandable when the aim is to stop coats/bags from being trapped in doors and people pulled along platforms.

 

[Falcon1200]

The problem with this response, as a driver, is that you might well be prepared to take personal responsibility for your own safety and have made a conscious decision to stand beyond the yellow line - but I, as I approach the platform (especially if it's at speed), don't know that, so I have to make a decision based wholly on what I can see in that instant, which is often someone standing far too close to the edge. Do they know that I'm approaching? What if they stumble? Will they unexpectedly move even closer? Are they intending to jump?

That is an excellent explanation of the purpose of the yellow line. I have been involved in incidents where people who no doubt thought they were safe at the platform edge have tripped and fallen onto the track, or in one case collapsed, during the rush hour at a busy station, right at the platform edge and could not be moved; Not only risking themselves but causing huge disruption as the line was blocked until paramedics attended and were able to safely remove them.

 

[===gricer===]

Many passengers on platforms staring into their mobile devices does not help ...

 

[LSWR Cavalier]

Some people just seem to be stupid.

Waiting at a station yesterday I saw someone crouching right on the platform edge, talking on the phone, he stayed there for some minutes. I wondered about asking him to move back but I did not know if he was drunk, he might have attacked me, or if the shock of being spoken to would have caused him to start and fall onto the track.

 

[pne]

Literally as the train stopped, most people surged forwards towards the doors - blocking them for people trying to get off...

Perhaps the "Spanish solution" could help -- where people get off using one side of the train and get on using the other, so both can (in theory) happen simultaneously.

(It would require inside corridors and staircases to be wide enough to accommodate two streams of people moving in opposite directions, though.)

Admittedly, this is firmly in Crayonland as it would require redesigning pretty much all stations and all coaches.

 

[FormerBritInMe]

I can sympathize with those on railway staffs who have to deal with the situations described in this thread.

I volunteer as an operator at a trolley (tram) museum and the safety of the public (and other employees) is our #1 priority. Especially when we have special events even if we are not on a crew we are helping with crowd control at the platform. Of course the situation is a bit different as we are dealing with people on holiday, not grim faced commuters on a Monday morning anxiously waiting for the 0710. OTOH many of our customers are unfamiliar with trams or train operation in general. It is not unusual here in the US unlike the UK to find people who have never been on a train. There are also often small children who like to suddenly dart towards the incoming tram while the parents are momentarily distracted. Sometimes there is a need to be abrupt in the interests of safety.

 

[Bikeman78]

Hmm... Despite being a fairly regular user of said platforms I have never been 'spoken to', let alone 'shouted at' by any of the staff there. However, as a former Station Manager, I tend not to stand or walk close to platform edge with back to approaching traffic/ headphones on/ engrossed in my mobile phone/ examining the brake rigging on passing intermodal trains/ skateboarding/etc.

Obviously one isn't in a position of potential fatal jeopardy when engaged in most other customer service situations, such as in a shop or cafe.

If someone wants to have a nose at a stationary freight train, do it on platform 10A at Stratford. Rarely any staff there so no one cares. I've done it a few times whilst waiting for a train off platform 11.

 

[Bertie the bus]

Interestingly, when using Avanti managed stations (of which one is Coventry), i find platform staff only 'bark' about standing forward of the yellow line when a train is departing. When you have the acceleration of 350s that can reach 20-30mph by the end of the platform that is understandable when the aim is to stop coats/bags from being trapped in doors and people pulled along platforms.

You have obviously never used Crewe or Preston then. It is just a cacophony of shouting. Barking isn't the last resort but the first.

 

[Bikeman78]

Train guard here.

It is a number of factors at play. First off, stations have not been so busy as they are now for the last two years. This means you have got passengers who are unaware because they have not travelled in a long while. Secondly you have more services now which heightens the risk.

Both we and station staff do try to be polite at first - if nothing else, we will add a please at the end of the request. However we are getting a lot of travellers who are ignoring us and continuing the same behaviour. This gets frustrating because really, we just want everyone to be safe. Nothing more, nothing less. We and stations don't "get off" on shouting at people or coming across as authoritarian morons, I promise. We just desperately want to make sure that people don't get sucked under from turbulence from a fast-running through service such as a Voyager, or get dragged under by a departing train.

Partially loaded container trains at high speed are the worst for turbulence. Is anyone likely to get pulled towards a passing train? In my experience the air flow as the front of the train passes will tend to push me away. Same thing happens when a bus overtakes me when I'm on my bike.

As regards staff shouting at passengers, most manage to be assertive whilst remaining reasonably polite. Some sound hysterical/terrified. I think maybe they're in the wrong job. I wouldn't want that level of stress.

 

[SCDR_WMR]

You have obviously never used Crewe or Preston then. It is just a cacophony of shouting. Barking isn't the last resort but the first.

I think you'll find that it's hard to not shout at people when they're the other end of the platform. Especially on platforms 5 & 6 at Crewe.
If you happen to be closer, unlucky. It's the worst station for people ignoring the request on my part of the network

Partially loaded container trains at high speed are the worst for turbulence. Is anyone likely to get pulled towards a passing train? In my experience the air flow as the front of the train passes will tend to push me away. Same thing happens when a bus overtakes me when I'm on my bike.

As regards staff shouting at passengers, most manage to be assertive whilst remaining reasonably polite. Some sound hysterical/terrified. I think maybe they're in the wrong job. I wouldn't want that level of stress.

Tell that to the unfortunate soul who got sucked off the platform at Small Heath a few years ago. I'd you're too close, especially in a position not easily visible to a driver it's a very big risk to take.
Yes the initial air wave will push away, but followed by a suck towards the train if it's multiple units

 

[800001]

I think you'll find that it's hard to not shout at people when they're the other end of the platform. Especially on platforms 5 & 6 at Crewe.
If you happen to be closer, unlucky. It's the worst station for people ignoring the request on my part of the network


Tell that to the unfortunate soul who got sucked off the platform at Small Heath a few years ago. I'd you're too close, especially in a position not easily visible to a driver it's a very big risk to take.
Yes the initial air wave will push away, but followed by a suck towards the train if it's multiple units

Or watch the YouTube video of a, thankfully empty pushchair, been sucked off the platform at Nuneaton as a Freightliner passed through the platform .

 

[Bikeman78]

Or watch the YouTube video of a, thankfully empty pushchair, been sucked off the platform at Nuneaton as a Freightliner passed through the platform .

Didn't something similar happen at one of the stations near Slough. The lesson there is put the flipping brake on. I always did.

 

[800001]

Didn't something similar happen at one of the stations near Slough. The lesson there is put the flipping brake on. I always did.

Think so yeah.
Nuneaton I think brake was on but pushchair left unattended.

 

[PlatformEdgeVT]

Glad someone thinks about that!

It can be very nerve-wracking approaching a platform at high speed and having someone stood or walking inside the yellow line. I have to sound the horn at someone too close to the platform edge almost every shift, but even then sometimes they still don't move, or do move at the last second. Ultimately you just don't know what they're going to do next or what's going through their mind, if they're paying attention of course!

On very rare occasions (this has happened to me) the 'Please stand back' announcement was covered by another announcement, basically giving people on the platforms no warning, though it is very rare in my experience.

 

[ABB125]

Turbulence can be problematic. My tripod once fell over as a result of a passing freight train, the end of which coincided with a particularly strong gust of wind...

 

[SCDR_WMR]

Turbulence can be problematic. My tripod once fell over as a result of a passing freight train, the end of which coincided with a particularly strong gust of wind...

Best place to feel it is at Wembley Central if you stand on the platform next to the fast lines by the fencing. It nearly knocks you off your feet when a train goes through at line speed.

 

[kristiang85]

I do find Avanti particularly bad for 'yelling' at people; but I understand people are just doing their jobs and sometimes its more practical to shout than walk over to people.

However, nothing I've seen in the UK is as bad as the crazy platform staff in China. I was once slightly out of the yellow 'queue' line (my foot was half over it) for the doors, and suddenly I felt a tug at my shirt and a small lady yelling something incomprehensible into a very loud loudspeaker right into my ear as she put me in my rightful place. I didn't make that mistake again

 

[Varney]

Here's a good example, staring at his phone, oblivious.

 

[Neo9320]

I was away in my own little world this morning and accidentally crossed the yellow line. A member of the platform team shouted to me to move back behind the line (not shouted at, the gentleman was quite a way from me). He was quite polite, I apologised and moved back. No drama, I wasn’t paying attention and he called me out on it.

We all know we shouldn’t be crossing it. If you get offended by people enforcing safety then don’t travel…or leave the house…

 

[Bikeman78]

Here's a good example, staring at his phone, oblivious.

I see your point but the risk at that speed was pretty low. The loco driver evidently wasn't bothered. No horn and no reduction in power.

 

[SCDR_WMR]

Turbulence can be problematic. My tripod once fell over as a result of a passing freight train, the end of which coincided with a particularly strong gust of wind...

Best place to feel it is at Wembley Central if you stand on the platform next to the fast lines by the fencing. It nearly knocks you off your feet when a train goes through at line speed.

 

[Scotrail314209]

Best place to feel it is at Wembley Central if you stand on the platform next to the fast lines by the fencing. It nearly knocks you off your feet when a train goes through at line speed.

Isn't Wembley Central also an issue even if you aren't stood over the line due to the fact it's practically a wind tunnel?

 

[SCDR_WMR]

Isn't Wembley Central also an issue even if you aren't stood over the line due to the fact it's practically a wind tunnel?

Definitely. But that's why the through lines are normally locked out of use I think.

 

[HOOVER29]

Platform staff seem to be very hot on the 'stand behind the yellow line' at the moment; has there been some update in policy?

Had one yawp at me at Stafford not long back for not standing behind the line.
I looked down & was around 6 inches behind it.
Shout at me all day long if I cross it but you can shove it where the sun doesn’t shine if I’m not.
I later told him that I wasn’t in front of the yellow line but he totally ignored me!

Might have been because I had a camera & in his eyes a train spotter which I’m not.