[Trivia] Stations abroad which have an excessive number of platforms

[30907]

Edinburgh Waverley!

Excellent example of an "island station."

Maybe we don’t have the same definition, but I was thinking about Crewe, Darlington etc. Obviously Crewe has other platforms as well, but the two major ones both have passenger facilities on them, as well as various bays.

Darlington is another, Crewe has a separate entrance building at road level.
Anyway, we are a bit off topic....

 

[riceuten]

Munich I think has 36, but they all seem needed.

 

[Richard Scott]

Munich I think has 36, but they all seem needed.

They may be numbered up to 36 but there aren't 36 platforms, certainly 1 to 4 don't exist. Never counted them so don't know exact number. Remember a lot of European countries actually use track numbers not platform numbers so not is always as it would appear.

 

[riceuten]

They may be numbered up to 36 but there aren't 36 platforms, certainly 1 to 4 don't exist. Never counted them so don't know exact number. Remember a lot of European countries actually use track numbers not platform numbers so not is always as it would appear.

Platforms 1 to 4 are the S-Bahn under the main station.

Munich Central: Tickets, Map, Live Departure, How-to, Routes | G2Rail

Munich Central(München Hbf) station guide with detailed introduction, departure and arrival times, train delay notifications, platform information, hot destinations, railway ticket search. For the reference of Munich(Müchen) travellers.

help.g2rail.com

 

[Richard Scott]

Platforms 1 to 4 are the S-Bahn under the main station.

Munich Central: Tickets, Map, Live Departure, How-to, Routes | G2Rail

Munich Central(München Hbf) station guide with detailed introduction, departure and arrival times, train delay notifications, platform information, hot destinations, railway ticket search. For the reference of Munich(Müchen) travellers.

help.g2rail.com

Ah, yes, forgot about those!!!

 

[alex397]

BER Airport Terminal 5 (at Brandenburg Airport, Berlin) certainly has excessive platforms now that regional services have been moved to the new Terminal 1-2 station.
It has 8 platforms but now just has an S-Bahn service. It looked quite run down when it was the main station, but now even more so.

 

[318259]

I’m guessing “BER Airport Terminal 5” is the old Schönefeld station? If so, it was always a bit depressing and run-down.

A lot of rural Hungarian stations are good examples of this, especially on the Budapest - Esztergom line before it was electrified and rebuilt a few years ago.

You had stations with 4 or 5 platforms, connected by a single-track line. Two of the platforms would be used as a passing loop while the rest rusted away. There was only an hourly DMU in each direction so the capacity really wasn’t needed.

 

[TravelDream]

Something a bit different to most of those mentioned is Lodz Fabryczna in Poland.

It opened in 2016 and cost around 2 billion zloty (£375 million). It has eight platforms (four under Polish description as both sides of a platform have the same number) and is 65 thousand square metres in surface area.
There are times of the day where fewer than one train an hour using the station... Tonight between 6pm and 9pm there was a single train.

This isn't a station built for a different time. It opened in 2016.


Now, in defence of the station, they are still constructing an underground tunnel so Lodz has a cross-city line and Fabryczna will become a through station rather than just an awkward terminus. However, the station will still be massively oversized.

 

[newmilton]

Remember a lot of European countries actually use track numbers not platform numbers so not is always as it would appear.

Of which the supreme example must be Lille Europe, with four platforms/tracks numbered 43-46 ...

 

[pne]

There are many, many stations like this in Italy - and in other European countries - where the provision of platforms, running lines and loops reflects the area's past glories, rather than the present day traffic situation.

Similarly in Hoek van Holland, which back when I was there (before they converted the line to trams) had, not an excessively large number of platforms, but the ones they had were ridiculously long given the little "Sprinter" service that served the station.

Back in the heyday of international direct boat trains, they were certainly needed, but that age was long gone.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

Latour-de-Carol has more than it needs. Two platform faces for the metre-gauge Cerdagne line; two platform faces for the SNCF standard gauge to Toulouse; and two for the Iberian gauge line to Puigçerda and Barcelona. Unless there's a failure only one of each pair is likely to be occupied at any given time, and for most of the day the station is empty. There are tons of mostly standard gauge sidings too, slightly overkill for stabling the loco and maybe 4 coaches from that portion of the sleeper train.

 

[Taunton]

Sometimes they come back. Los Angeles, California, for decades had far more platforms (12) than daily departures in its grand 1930s structure (and unlike other US stations, the platforms were nicely done, with stylish art deco canopies instead of a stygian gloom), but now the Metrolink commuter service has started and extended there's more use made.

I recall the main Czech station of Karlovy Vary, four platforms plus many running lines beyond. Despite going over to it from the town several times, I never saw a train there ...

 

[duesselmartin]

Many European border stations are now larger than they need to be. Bi-current locomotives, lack of costumes make stops unnecerssary or only a short procedure.
Emmerich (D-NL) or Görlitz (D-PL) are examples.
The ultimate was of course Canfranc (F-ES).

 

[jamesontheroad]

Similarly in Hoek van Holland, which back when I was there (before they converted the line to trams) had, not an excessively large number of platforms, but the ones they had were ridiculously long given the little "Sprinter" service that served the station.

Back in the heyday of international direct boat trains, they were certainly needed, but that age was long gone.

It's now closed, but in its heyday Rødby Færge in Denmark had four platforms and a big modern station house and a large number of switching tracks to handle international trains between Denmark and Germany (including, at one time, through trains and carriages from Norway and Sweden). In the final years, the traffic diminished to such a limited number of IC3 trains that didn't require complicated shunting movements that a completely new fifth wooden platform was actually built on the northern side of the tracks, so that through trains could pause briefly before/after joining the ferry to Puttgarden.

 

[mmh]

4th and King station, San Francisco. 12 platforms for a service of 2tph off-peak, 4tph peak.

 

[rg177]

Cartuja Station in Seville felt grossly overengineered for the terminus of a very short 1tph Cercanias service.

Unsurprisingly the line was declared a failure during the pandemic and its been closed for the past two years or so.