Trivia: Stations with the most platforms

[Jorge Da Silva]

What stations have the most platforms (past and present)?

 

[DarloRich]

Clapham Junction?

 

[SouthCentral10]

Waterloo?

 

[CaptainHaddock]

Grand Central, New York?

 

[Jorge Da Silva]

Please specify how many platforms if possible.

 

[LUSOwner]

Birmingham New Street, if you're counting A&B ends (plus 4C). [25]
Otherwise it would have to be Waterloo, with a staggering 22 platforms (incl. Waterloo Intl)

 

[Jorge Da Silva]

Birmingham New Street, if you're counting A&B ends (plus 4C). [25]
Otherwise it would have to be Waterloo, with a staggering 22 platforms (incl. Waterloo Intl)

24 not 22

Birmingham New Street Is a hard one is it 25 or 13.

Waterloo is 24 platforms
Birmingham New Street is technically 13 but functions like 25

 

[30907]

24 not 22

Birmingham New Street Is a hard one is it 25 or 13.

And Leeds has 17, some of which are labelled a,b,c,d.... but try getting a train eastwards out of 11a when 11d is occupied
Separate platform faces is perhaps the least confusing, though even then there are oddities like Cambridge and Waverley...

 

[Jorge Da Silva]

And Leeds has 17, some of which are labelled a,b,c,d.... but try getting a train eastwards out of 11a when 11d is occupied
Separate platform faces is perhaps the least confusing, though even then there are oddities like Cambridge and Waverley...

do you Class a and b as platforms or not?

 

[SouthCentral10]

Waterloo would be 32 if you include the tube platforms. It would be 36 if platforms A-D at Waterloo East are included as well.

 

[Jorge Da Silva]

Waterloo would be 32 if you include the tube platforms. It would be 36 if platforms A-D at Waterloo East are included as well.

Waterloo East I would not count as it is a separate station.

 

[Deepgreen]

Waterloo East I would not count as it is a separate station.

I have yet to hear of a larger number than Grand Central with its 44 platforms.

 

[Jorge Da Silva]

I have yet to hear of a larger number than Grand Central with its 44 platforms.

Grand Central is probably the largest

 

[LancasterRed]

Grand Central is the largest.

But in the UK it depends on the classification of what a platform is with a/b categorisation, which as aforementioned has a massive impact on the likes of Birmingham New Street.

 

[PHILIPE]

Edinburgh Wavreley has 20

 

[The Planner]

do you Class a and b as platforms or not?

Should you not count a,b and the entire platform as seperate?

 

[norbitonflyer]

Otherwise it would have to be Waterloo, with a staggering 22 platforms (incl. Waterloo Intl)

The International station (platforms 20-24) closed in 2005, but the platforms were re-opened as part of the main station last year. For historical reasons, the Waterloo & City platforms are also numbered as part of the main line station, rather than the separate numbering sequence for the Underground, bringing the total to 26. As has been noted, there are also six LUL platforms (1-6) and four at Waterloo East. `

 

[Jorge Da Silva]

The International station (platforms 20-24) closed in 2005, but the platforms were re-opened as part of the main station last year. For historical reasons, the Waterloo & City platforms are also numbered as part of the main line station, rather than the separate numbering sequence for the Underground, bringing the total to 26. As has been noted, there are also six LUL platforms (1-6) and four at Waterloo East. `

closed in 2007 and i would not class Waterloo East as part of Waterloo.

 

[Jorge Da Silva]

Doncaster does something similar with platforms which it usually has 9 but often platform 3 and 4 are split into 4a and 4b and 3a and 3b. so does that make it 11? Anyway, Birmingham New Street seems like the highest in NR platforms.

But Waterloo has 32 including LU Platforms.

 

[BluePenguin]

Waterloo East I would not count as it is a separate station.

Strictly speaking yes, although not physically. Waterloo East is technically only another part of the same station which to avoid confusion is why its platforms are lettered instead of numbered.

It feels like another station because of the branding but still really the same place. Should we count it?

 

[Jorge Da Silva]

Strictly speaking yes, although not physically. Waterloo East is technically only another part of the same station which to avoid confusion is why its platforms are lettered instead of numbered.

It feels like another station because of the branding but still really the same place. Should we count it?

Imo, no because they are classed as two separate stations

 

[mailbyrail]

I was surprised to discover the largest number of platforms at a station in India is only 23, at Howrah, given how busy Indian Railways are.
The next largest station in suburban Kolkata (Calcutta) has 20, with 15 platforms at the station in 5th place.

5 Biggest Stations in India With Highest Number of Platforms

Gorakhpur Railway Station has the longest railway station in India followed by Kollam Junction,Kharagpur and Bilaspur Railway Station. But in terms of the number of platforms Howrah has the largest station with 23 Platforms and 26 tracks, lets find out the more Railway stations of India with...

www.walkthroughindia.com

 

[Tractor37]

And Leeds has 17, some of which are labelled a,b,c,d.... but try getting a train eastwards out of 11a when 11d is occupied
Separate platform faces is perhaps the least confusing, though even then there are oddities like Cambridge and Waverley...

p11a eastwards is easy via the mid platform crossover to the through line, likewise p11d westwards via the crossover to the through line. Would you mean p12a eastwards as this has to go via p12d.

 

[Deepgreen]

Imo, no because they are classed as two separate stations

Indeed. East is not part of the same station, which is why it has a different name, and it is on a different line. It just happens to be connected via a footbridge (and also used to be via a single line from the terminus using the now-disused lower bridge). Bank and Monument is another example of connected, but separate stations. I don't think letter suffices count either - rather physical platform faces should. In other words, platform numbers rather than letters. However, I'm not the thread author, so...

 

[BeijingDave]

Shanghai Hongqiao has 30 platform faces, all long enough for 17-carriage trains. 1.3 million square meters. It has (from bottom to top) an underground station, arrivals floor, a departures floor and a mezzanine of shops on top. It's footprint seems to me to be bigger than Waterloo. Certainly the biggest I have been to, but I haven't been to Grand Central Station.

 

[Surreyman]

Birmingham New Street, if you're counting A&B ends (plus 4C). [25]
Otherwise it would have to be Waterloo, with a staggering 22 platforms (incl. Waterloo Intl)

Throw in Waterloo East A-D, plus the Tube lines (Bakerloo, Northern, Jubilee & Waterloo & City) that adds another 12.

 

[Surreyman]

Throw in Waterloo East A-D, plus the Tube lines (Bakerloo, Northern, Jubilee & Waterloo & City) that adds another 12.

Apologies - Southcentral10 beat me to it!

 

[London Trains]

Are tube platforms included?

Clapham Junction - 17
Euston - 18 (16 currently, 24 (22) with tube)
Victoria - 19 (23 with tube)
Waterloo - 24 (32 with tube)

 

[Captain Bigwig]

I don't think letter suffices count either - rather physical platform faces should. In other words, platform numbers rather than letters. However, I'm not the thread author, so...

Just to throw this out there, there are of course stations with separate platform faces distinguished with letters rather than numbers. For example, Milton Keynes Central has seven separate platforms numbered 1,2,2a,3,4,5 and 6. (2a having been added at a later date.)

 

[BluePenguin]

Are tube platforms included?

Clapham Junction - 17
Euston - 18 (16 currently, 24 (22) with tube)
Victoria - 19 (23 with tube)
Waterloo - 24 (32 with tube)

Personally I don’t think they should be included as that wouldn’t be comparing apples to apples. Tube stations are separate stations themselves.

Hardly any big stations south of the Thames have a tube station anyway - not even Clapham Junction!

However it is down to the OP to decide