NSE
Established Member
- Joined
- 3 Mar 2010
- Messages
- 1,728
Raynes Park platforms 1 and 4 is particularly bad. Especially platform 1 at the country end.
Don't know if it's among the biggest but folks are forever moaning about the gap at pl 1 & 2 at East Croydon.
Don't know if it's among the biggest but folks are forever moaning about the gap at pl 1 & 2 at East Croydon.
Middle of platform 4 at Epsom; there was been at least one case a few years ago of the unwary vanishing down it which made the local paper.
I once had to take a flying leap from a 150 in Platform 7 at Bristol Temple Meads, holding a walking stick as well due arthritis. This was almost at the most extreme point of the curve.
Fortunate you didn't arrive on Platform 3 then, where it is significantly worse! I'd have to suggest that as a contender the worst big gap at any 'major' station, particularly when travelling on 1/3 and 2/3 doored stock (so Class 150s).
Staying in the Bristol area, there is a *very* steep drop at Lawrence Hill, and a nearly as severe one next door at Stapleton Road.
It was by no means unsafe but is definitely the largest gap I've come across in the UK.
Dorchester has a decent sized gap due to the curved platform.
Raynes Park platforms 1 and 4 is particularly bad. Especially platform 1 at the country end.
Speaking of Perth, the curve on P2 can make for quite a gap as well.Considering it's one of the longest, and busiest, on the station including northbound Chieftain and the sleeper, P7 at Perth isn't a great deal better than Dunkeld.
Why shouldn't they, they're enormous and not a little daunting for a short elderly person.
Are there any plans to make it more friendly in the long term by standardising the platform height on new rolling stock and platform rebuilds?I'm amazed at the number of busy commuter stations that seem to have this problem. Clapham Junction is notorious. Gargrave, on the Leeds - Carlisle/Morecambe line, used to have platforms that were not much higher than a roadside kerb; there were a couple of sets of wooden steps that were fine when the station was staffed but more recently were useless or dangerous. A few years ago somebody came up with the money (probably a local community group rather than BR/Network Rail) to bring the platforms up to standard height.
I've always wondered why British railways have had high platforms and trains with no steps, whereas most continental countries have had the opposite (though there seems to be a tendency towards higher platforms at least on commuter lines in some places). Certainly the British system is more passenger friendly except in the many cases mentioned so far in this thread.
Worcester Foregate Street platform 1 sometimes feels like a chasm when alighting a train.
Perth platform 7 is about as far as you can go before you need steps. As said, platform 2 can also prove a nightmare as it's a tight curve and super elevated.
This Youtube video (not mine) shows the Highland Chieftain on platform 7: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dedk5tjfDx0