Trivia: Narrowest platform?

[tsr]

Dorking Platforms 2 & 3 have a particularly narrow section at the country end. You can also only fit 11 coaches on any given platform, which is quite a rare number on the Southern network.

Crystal Palace Platform 2 is quite narrow and uneven at the Gipsy Hill end. The curves also make it incredibly hard to dispatch a 10 coach train on the very rare occasion that one arrives with a guard (it happens...).

Wandsworth Common Platform 3 is fairly narrow when you get near the staircase, but it's rare for a train to stop there. Which is part of the issue with that...

 

[duffield]

The part of the London end of Loughborough's platforms where they go under the road bridge is *very* narrow. This (and as a consequence the remaining length of the platforms beyond the road bridge) was taken out of use a number of years ago for safety reasons (and recently the platforms were extended at the other end).

 

[PHILIPE]

Even some of the platforms in that hell hole in Birmingham are on the narrow side in places.

 

[TheNewNo2]

Battersea Park isn't exactly wide... https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Battersea_Park_stn_main_line_fast_look_north.JPG

 

[Strathclyder]

Another station in Glasgow just came to mind...

Crosshill's island platform isn't exactly what you'd call wide, particularly beside the ticket office:

http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/2596451

http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/2596457

 

[RichardN]

Battersea Park isn't exactly wide... https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Battersea_Park_stn_main_line_fast_look_north.JPG

Battersea Park probably wins a prize for narrow platform combined with other scary feature (the steps from the platform). Three Bridges is quite narrow on platform 4 next to the buildings.

 

[backontrack]

Perhaps the former City Widened Lines? Disconnected from Thameslink and OOU since 2009; but when in use the northbound platforms at Barbican (and Moorgate?) must've been a contender - if memory serves me well, they extended right into the running tunnels!

Kings Cross Thameslink also had a narrow platform..

 

[fandroid]

The mods shunted this one into 'Trivia' from 'Infrastructure', after I had started it. However, although it's tempting to see it as just a listing exercise, there is a serious side to it too. Some of those platforms mentioned are really quite risky, or make passengers feel unsafe (a real customer service issue).

If railways had been invented in the late 20th century then the idea of unprotected drops onto tracks where trains pass at high speeds would have been treated with absolute horror. Although the road system is full of places where traffic passes close to unprotected pedestrians, there are actually very few where the sort of drop you see at platform edges is left without some sort of barrier. I am absolutely not asking for a bout of 'elf 'n safety to be unleashed on the railways, but it would be good if the worst examples were eliminated.

 

[hassaanhc]

Another station in Glasgow just came to mind...

Crosshill's island platform isn't exactly what you'd call wide, particularly beside the ticket office:

http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/2596451

http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/2596457

Sorry but I find there is acres of room there.

Try Brentford for a very narrow bit of platform halfway down, where you can't stay behind the yellow line, and in third rail land.

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Brentford_station_look_west_beyond_road_bridge.JPG

 

[Howardh]

That Brentford one, what is the height from the end of the platform to the roof? Thinking a very tall man might have to stoop a bit!

 

[61653 HTAFC]

The mods shunted this one into 'Trivia' from 'Infrastructure', after I had started it. However, although it's tempting to see it as just a listing exercise, there is a serious side to it too. Some of those platforms mentioned are really quite risky, or make passengers feel unsafe (a real customer service issue).

If railways had been invented in the late 20th century then the idea of unprotected drops onto tracks where trains pass at high speeds would have been treated with absolute horror. Although the road system is full of places where traffic passes close to unprotected pedestrians, there are actually very few where the sort of drop you see at platform edges is left without some sort of barrier. I am absolutely not asking for a bout of 'elf 'n safety to be unleashed on the railways, but it would be good if the worst examples were eliminated.

Most of these narrow platforms are a legacy issue. If you were part of a team designing a new station today, I imagine anything like some of the images we've seen on this thread would be a big no-no. Even that Glasgow one probably wouldn't meet group standards for a new build or reopening in 2015, let alone Brentford.

 

[ValleyLines142]

Cathays station in Cardiff is very narrow if I may say so myself. Can get very crowded in the morning when all the university students alight!

 

[Holly]

If railways had been invented in the late 20th century then the idea of unprotected drops onto tracks where trains pass at high speeds would have been treated with absolute horror. Although the road system is full of places where traffic passes close to unprotected pedestrians, there are actually very few where the sort of drop you see at platform edges is left without some sort of barrier. I am absolutely not asking for a bout of 'elf 'n safety to be unleashed on the railways, but it would be good if the worst examples were eliminated.

One can only say - thank goodness the Victorians had a lot more wisdom than we do as a nation today!

 

[onlinespotting]

Even some of the platforms in that hell hole in Birmingham are on the narrow side in places.

I was going to mention this - in parts it seems very narrow and quite dangerous at rush hour!

 

[Peter Mugridge]

That Brentford one, what is the height from the end of the platform to the roof? Thinking a very tall man might have to stoop a bit!

There's a similar bit at Sutton and another similar bit at Ewell West.

 

[snowball]

One can only say - thank goodness the Victorians had a lot more wisdom than we do as a nation today!

Thank goodness we've left behind an era when human life was cheap and a lot of people died horrible, unnecessary deaths at an early age.

 

[Philip C]

Thank goodness we've left behind an era when human life was cheap and a lot of people died horrible, unnecessary deaths at an early age.

Yes, but don't expect the same not to be said of us in future centuries.

 

[40129]

Re New Street, platform 4c is particularly narrow as a result of being a bay platform created by removing a chunk out of 5b.

Most of the Cross City line stations seem to have quite narrow platforms

 

[66Yorks]

For new platform constructions, (taken from GI/RT7016)

New single face platforms
7.2.1 The usable width of a new single face platform shall be nowhere less than:
a) 3000 mm where the permissible or enhanced permissible speed on the line
adjacent to the platform exceeds 100 mph (160 km/h).
b) 2500 mm at other platforms.

New double face platforms
7.3.1 The usable width of a new double face platform shall be nowhere less than:
a) 6000 mm where the permissible or enhanced permissible speed on both
lines adjacent to the platform exceeds 100 mph (160 km/h).
b) 5500 mm where the permissible or enhanced permissible speed on one line
adjacent to the platform exceeds 100 mph (160 km/h) and the other does not
exceed 100 mph (160 km/h).
c) 4000 mm at other platforms.

I'm guessing that some of these current platforms may have derogation against them in terms of space etc or the fact they have been constructed like since the dawn of the railways.

 

[hussra]

Not on the national network - but, there again, that wasn't specified in the original post - what about Cynfal Halt on the Talyllyn? Both wider and longer than it was pre-preservation, mind you.

http://www.cowgill.org.uk/TR/2004/v...%20my%20backside!~27th%20September%202004~DN~

 

[VisualAcid]

Newton St Cyres looks pretty narrow, especially with someones garden fence on it

 

[b0b]

Kings Cross Thameslink also had a narrow platform..

That was going to be my nomination too, I remember it being a bit scary with both the narrow width and lots of passengers squeezing around...

 

[TheNewNo2]

Has anyone mentioned the very eastern end of the Circle line platforms at Baker Street?

 

[Abpj17]

From the first page, I don't recall the Moorgate platforms being particularly narrow - they never really got crowded either.

Kings X TL always felt narrow for the sheer number of passengers it was dealing with.

One the other day made me stop and look - I've not managed to find a picture tho Essentially the platform for the fast lines at Radlett and Elstree (where admittedly a train would rarely stop) the yellow line went under the stairs so there was no platform that was behind the yellow line for a modest distance. GTR have also been putting barriers around the bottom of stairs - which narrow the platforms as well...

 

[hassaanhc]

Kings X TL always felt narrow for the sheer number of passengers it was dealing with.

That photo makes them look pretty wide, but I passed it on a train yesterday and yes they're on the narrow side.