Trivia: Stations where track splits into overground terminus and underground through lines

[TT-ONR-NRN]

Hi

What terminus stations can you think of where the track splits into terminus platforms above ground, and through lines either below ground, or above ground and then almost immediately disappear below ground?

I can think of Blackfriars - all above ground, but the through tracks disappear underground sharpish, and Paddington - GWML terminus platforms above ground and GWML through platforms (for Elizabeth line) underground.

Glasgow Central Low Level would not count because the through platforms are on entirely separate lines. You couldn't arrive at the approach to Glasgow Central Terminus and then just diverge into Glasgow Central Low Level to continue the service, if you get what I mean. But arriving into Blackfriars or Paddington, you could continue either into the through platforms or terminus ones.

Thanks! For a fantasy project I'm working on, a key railway station would have a layout like this, and I could do with some inspiration on how it would look

 

[ls2270]

St Pancras ?

 

[D6130]

Birmingham Moor Street?

 

[TT-ONR-NRN]

Birmingham Moor Street?

and, internationally:

Paris Gare du Nord

Paris Gare de Lyon

Antwerpen Centraal

and once upon a time Genova Piazza Principe....but the terminus platforms have now been closed.

Moor Street! Fabulous, thanks.

 

[sharpley]

Looking further afield to the southern hemisphere Sydney Central station has terminating platforms, through above ground platforms that soon go underground around the city, and a few underground platforms. Busiest station in Australia

 

[jfowkes]

Edinburgh Waverley? I think it technically meets your requirements in both directions, but not sure if it actually is quite what you're after.

Haymarket also has a single west facing bay platform.

Dundee as well.

 

[DanNCL]

In the UK:
Blackfriars
Paddington
St Pancras and Kings Cross - for both approaches you have the choice of terminating in the main station or going underground to the Thameslink core.
Birmingham Moor Street

Can think of a few in Germany too:
Frankfurt Hbf
Stuttgart Hbf
München Hbf

Historically Wien Südbahnhof met this criteria too but no longer applicable since its replacement with Wien Hbf.

Glasgow Central Low Level would not count because the through platforms are on entirely separate lines. You couldn't arrive at the approach to Glasgow Central Terminus and then just diverge into Glasgow Central Low Level to continue the service, if you get what I mean. But arriving into Blackfriars or Paddington, you could continue either into the through platforms or terminus ones.

Is your criteria that there can’t be any stations on either route between the divergence point and the location in question then? As for Glasgow Central there aren’t any stations between where the low level lines branch off the WCML and Glasgow Central High Level, though there are stations on the low level lines between the divergence point and Glasgow Central.

The same principle would go for Liverpool Street, no intermediate stations between the divergence point and the terminus, but Crossrail has one intermediate station between the divergence point and Liverpool Street.

 

[Haywain]

A splendid example is Antwerp Central.

 

[bahnause]

Zürich would be another example.

Overgrund terminus (Platforms 3-18)
Underground terminus (Platforms 21/22)
Underground through lines Museumstrasse (Platforms 41-44)
Underground throug lines Löwenstrasse (Platforms 31-34)

 

[Dr Hoo]

Sheffield. Terminate in bay platform 7 (or 2C if you’re short enough) or carry on via the through platforms then into the tunnel up towards Nunnery.

 

[Rescars]

Would old-layout Kings Cross have met your criteria if you were to include the York Road platform? Presumably Baker Street doesn't quite work, though the through lines certainly go underground.

 

[WideRanger]

In Tokyo:

• JR Shinagawa - some platforms for terminating, but as far as I remember few (or none) of them are bays. At lot of terminating trains are from the opposite direction to what I think @TT-ONR-NRN is thinking. Through trains continue on both the surface and in tunnels.
• Keikyu Shinagawa
• JR Ryogoku. 1 terminating platform at ground level (although only used for special trains), 2 through lines heading on to a bridge (with platforms) and 2 through lines going underground (with no platforms)

There are quite a lot of lines where some of the trains go to a surface level terminus, but some trains go off into through-running tunnels, but the split tends to happen several km out and then run in parallel to (or near to) the terminus station. This provides a lot more capacity (or reduce the traffic on the surface section with level crossing disruption). Some examples of this are the Tobu Tojo line, the Seibu Ikebukero line, the Odakyu line

 

[Harpo]

Moorgate before it was built over.
Even further back, Liverpool St platforms 1&2.
Fenchurch Street and the accompanying DLR.
Kings Cross if you fudge the criteria to include the tube stock transfers that passed through.

 

[swt_passenger]

Sheffield. Terminate in bay platform 7 (or 2C if you’re short enough) or carry on via the through platforms then into the tunnel up towards Nunnery.

I’d say no, because Sheffield itself would not be considered as a terminus station, it’s mostly a through station with some bays.

 

[Dr Hoo]

I’d say no, because Sheffield itself would not be considered as a terminus station, it’s mostly a through station with some bays.

So we’re including Blackfriars, where the great majority of trains are ‘through’, with a few in the bays but reject Sheffield where the majority of trains in any direction terminate/reverse?

 

[swt_passenger]

So we’re including Blackfriars, where the great majority of trains are ‘through’, with a few in the bays but reject Sheffield where the majority of trains in any direction terminate/reverse?

Oh, then perhaps my recollection of Sheffield being a majority through station is out of date? But on my initial read of the first post I must admit I thought it was asking about “underground railways”, not just nearby tunnels. If all we need is a tunnel near a station where some trains terminate then should we include Southampton?

 

[jfowkes]

If all we need is a tunnel near a station where some trains terminate then should we include Southampton?

I don't think it's terminating services the OP wants, it's specifically terminating platforms.

 

[TT-ONR-NRN]

I don't think it's terminating services the OP wants, it's specifically terminating platforms.

Yes, well for a project I'm doing, a railway is included where most lines terminate at a city station, but a pair of tracks continue underground through the city to onward destinations. I'm just trying to get some inspiration for how it might look

 

[778]

Yes, well for a project I'm doing, a railway is included where most lines terminate at a city station, but a pair of tracks continue underground through the city to onward destinations. I'm just trying to get some inspiration for how it might look

Would Perth station in Australia count?

 

[The exile]

Yes, well for a project I'm doing, a railway is included where most lines terminate at a city station, but a pair of tracks continue underground through the city to onward destinations. I'm just trying to get some inspiration for how it might look

Moor Street is therefore probably the classic example where the continuing underground is due to the topography, whereas Paddington and the German examples (with the addition of Leipzig) do for the “new burrowing tunnel built to allow through services into the city”.

 

[Rescars]

Moor Street only became a through station in 1987 when the Snow Hill tunnel was reopened (and the terminal platforms were closed). Before that it was only a terminus, bypassed by the main line. The terminal platforms reopened in 2002.

 

[The exile]

Moor Street only became a through station in 1987 when the Snow Hill tunnel was reopened (and the terminal platforms were closed). Before that it was only a terminus, bypassed by the main line. The terminal platforms reopened in 2002.

True - still fits my distinction between “natural” and “burrowed”.

 

[Rescars]

True - still fits my distinction between “natural” and “burrowed”.

So after a couple of false starts, it got there in the end!

 

[stadler]

High Street Kensington might count. This station is the same as London Blackfriars in that all platforms are above ground with two terminating platforms and two platforms that then dissappear underground. So i think this station would count.

 

[4COR]

A while ago, you also had (close to Blackfriars!) Holborn Viaduct - the lines through Snow Hill tunnel towards King's Cross ducked underground to the west of the terminus.

A good shot from 1969 (Tom Burnham on Flick):

https://flic.kr/p/5LnbdR

 

[signed]

Gare du Nord, Gare de l'Est, Gare de Lyon, Gare d'Austerlitz all fit the point (with the various RER Lines)

 

[Dr Hoo]

Birmingham Moor Street has a complex and changing morphology. It wasn’t built with the current layout in mind. Also only a small proportion of trains currently terminate, in ‘bays’ that were strictly part of a separate terminus station.

Thinking a bit more widely, how about somewhere like Guildford (yes, I know that it’s not a proper ‘patented’ city despite having a cathedral)? There are three parallel approaches from the North over six tracks. Quite a few trains terminate. The through platforms rapidly converge into a two-track tunnel to the South.

 

[plugwash]

How far can the split be away from the station? Liverpool Street has surface-level terminus platforms and underground through platforms, which both have services towards stratford, but the junction where the lines from the through platforms merge with those from the surface level platforms is several kilometers away with multiple junctions and even a station in between.

Even St pancras has a junction before the lines from the through platforms merge with those from the terminus platforms. The through platforms can reach both the ECML and MML, while the terminus platforms can only reach the MML or HS1 depending on the platform.

 

[Topological]

Only Blackfriars and Birmingham Moor Street really fit the bill. The junctions for the Thameslink at Kings Cross/St Pancras, or Elizabeth Line at Paddington are a long way from the ends of the other platforms.

These are the sorts of stations railway modellers liked because you could use the through platforms to handle reversals or let the trains run round and round when you did not want to be messing about with out-and-back workings. Because of that modelling link, there must be a list somewhere.

 

[plugwash]

In addition to the Crossrail platforms, Paddington also has the circle/hammersmith platforms. The western end of these platforms faces out onto the same formation as the mainline platforms. The tracks do not seem to be connected today, but they have been in the past.