My idea for Crossrail extra platforms through central London.

[Railwaysceptic]

I think modern EMUs (possibly all trains) don’t normally allow doors to open on both sides together.

West bound Central Line trains open doors on both sides at Stratford. Works without problems every three minutes throughout the day.

 

[swt_passenger]

West bound Central Line trains open doors on both sides at Stratford. Works without problems every three minutes throughout the day.

I was meaning mainline trains. We’ve previously been told the normal safety systems don’t allow it.

 

[NSEFAN]

If the guard has already [safely] closed the alighting door why can't they subsequently cross to the boarding side and do that one?

In doing so, the guard will simply take longer to dispatch the train, which will largely undo the time savings of opening doors on both sides.

 

[NSEFAN]

West bound Central Line trains open doors on both sides at Stratford. Works without problems every three minutes throughout the day.

Stratford has very narrow platforms for the number of people it handles, perhaps this is done to spread out people to help prevent dangerous overcrowding?

 

[AM9]

Stratford has very narrow platforms for the number of people it handles, perhaps this is done to spread out people to help prevent dangerous overcrowding?

I think it was seen as a partial fix for Stratford's biggest congestion cause, i.e. the inadequacy of the subways A & B connecting platform 3/5 to the main concourse. When a Central line train drops passengers bound for the Jubilee, the stairs and subway used to sieze up and vice versa when a terminating Jubilee train arrives, many of it's passengers wanting the westbound Central line. Given that the upper concourse was already built to allow access over the DLR tracks, the addition of platform 3a was a cheap win. See my post #10.

 

[johnnychips]

Spanish-style solutions.

I’ve been to Barcelona a lot over recent years, and the only place I can remember this happening is at the FGC terminus at Placa Catalunya where alighting passengers exit one side of the train and boarders enter the other. Where else does this happen - and I’ll look out for it on my next visit?

EDIT: It does happen on funiculars but the door for the boarders never opens before the people have exited on the other side and that door is closed.

 

[AM9]

... EDIT: It does happen on funiculars but the door for the boarders never opens before the people have exited on the other side and that door is closed.

The most frequent locations that I've found (not mainline rail) is with airport shuttle trains. In this country there is Gatwick and Heathrow T5 that I've been on, both of which use phased door openings to prevent walk-throughs and reverse flow. With mainline rail safety procedures for dispatch, there is little to gain in dwell time vs the potentially massive additional costs (especially for a subterranean location like the Crossrail core stations).

 

[Dren Ahmeti]

But "safety says NO" is a good reason: allowing alighting/boarding both sides at any station is an added risk for dispatching, and I can see no obvious disbenefit to passengers at Ascot. ISTR it still happens in the Coast bay at Carlisle, but that's the exception.

Ascot is specifically mentioned within route knowledge information for traincrews, where it is called a “platform at risk”, as both down and up trains must release doors on the upside, facing the station building.

 

[LUYMun]

Crossrail 2 should be cost-effective, so what about taking over Thameslink (between the Sutton loop and Luton) services, the Moorgate to Finsbury section, the route to Welwyn Garden City and the Dagenham Docks branch (Tower Hill to Grays via Dagenham Docks)?
That way, it requires little construction (apart from tunnels between Moorgate and between F.S. and Limehouse) and not much need for new trains (simply take 700s, 717s and cascade 707s from SWR), thus allowing a cheap plan for Crossrail.
There's no need for new tunnels somewhere in the 2020s as there's plenty more to take over (like that Moorgate line).

 

[SteveOfTheStow]

That way, it requires little construction (apart from tunnels between Moorgate and between F.S. and Limehouse)

I understand there's no space for tunnelling beyond Moorgate; there are many vaults in that area under the Bank of England and other buildings. When the DLR was built, it had to thread through the space available into Princes Street, under the Northern line, and the DLR is pretty flexible with its curve radius. The Moorgate line is not, and it has the Northern line directly below it.

 

[Ianno87]

I understand there's no space for tunnelling beyond Moorgate; there are many vaults in that area under the Bank of England and other buildings. When the DLR was built, it had to thread through the space available into Princes Street, under the Northern line, and the DLR is pretty flexible with its curve radius. The Moorgate line is not, and it has the Northern line directly below it.

I understand that Crossrail infrastructure is now immediately beyond the end of the tunnels at Moorgate.

 

[Bald Rick]

Crossrail 2 should be cost-effective, so what about taking over Thameslink (between the Sutton loop and Luton) services, the Moorgate to Finsbury section, the route to Welwyn Garden City and the Dagenham Docks branch (Tower Hill to Grays via Dagenham Docks)?
That way, it requires little construction (apart from tunnels between Moorgate and between F.S. and Limehouse) and not much need for new trains (simply take 700s, 717s and cascade 707s from SWR), thus allowing a cheap plan for Crossrail.
There's no need for new tunnels somewhere in the 2020s as there's plenty more to take over (like that Moorgate line).

You would be summarily banned from London Reconnections for suggesting that!