Doors opened on platform 7 at Guildford

[Krokodil]

They kind of do something similar in peak season. Passengers waiting to get on go behind the platform to a waiting area there. Passengers arriving then get straight off onto the platform and leave and the passengers waiting behind are let onto the platform and straight onto train.

I believe that the plans involve building a second platform so that departing passengers don't need to wait for arriving passengers to clear the station.

 

[Deafdoggie]

I believe that the plans involve building a second platform so that departing passengers don't need to wait for arriving passengers to clear the station.

They don't with this system. But it is only used in the very peak season. But probably only needs to be too.

 

[TT-ONR-NRN]

I'm sure that I read somewhere that this is the plan for St Ives.

Would be the perfect place for it.

 

[Wilts Wanderer]

A historical anecdote from my late Grandfather, who worked in Kings Cross Control office post-war, when it had been ‘evacuated’ and was actually located out in Knebworth.

He regularly had to travel to the City for a meeting and, living in Hitchin, his return route of choice was on a GN Moorgate local via the Widened Lines up to Finsbury Park - ignoring the interchange option at Kings Cross (Suburban) - where the Moorgate local was booked on an outer platform and another local train was booked to stand on the Down Slow platform at exactly the perfect time to facilitate an inter-platform dash - across the knees of the passengers in the compartments - to reach the Down Fast platform and connect into a Kings Cross-Peterborough semi fast (which was incidentally booked to a Kings X Pacific locomotive.) It can’t have been much fun for those in the middle local train but I imagine they were used to it!

 

[TurboMan]

This is going to sound like a stupid question (because, let's face it, it is a stupid question!), but do modern units have the ability to open both sides of doors at the same time? Or is there some sort of interlocking that prevents this?

Technically possible, yes, as it allows a door test to be carried out on prep on depot (release doors both sides, then walk through testing that each set of doors can be opened using the passenger door buttons).

But not generally something that's done in passenger service, especially on DOO/DCO services, as in-cab monitors for driver-controlled operation can't display from both sides at the same time, and on a lot of rolling stock, pressing any door close button on the driving desk closes all doors on either side.

 

[TEW]

It hasnt been stated here but it is stated very clearly in the instructions for train crew who 'sign' Guildford.

Very much a tea and no biscuits meeting afterwards.

Not really, as long as it's reported properly and not a regular occurrence it's a pretty minor issue.

 

[Tester]

A historical anecdote from my late Grandfather, who worked in Kings Cross Control office post-war, when it had been ‘evacuated’ and was actually located out in Knebworth.

He regularly had to travel to the City for a meeting and, living in Hitchin, his return route of choice was on a GN Moorgate local via the Widened Lines up to Finsbury Park - ignoring the interchange option at Kings Cross (Suburban) - where the Moorgate local was booked on an outer platform and another local train was booked to stand on the Down Slow platform at exactly the perfect time to facilitate an inter-platform dash - across the knees of the passengers in the compartments - to reach the Down Fast platform and connect into a Kings Cross-Peterborough semi fast (which was incidentally booked to a Kings X Pacific locomotive.) It can’t have been much fun for those in the middle local train but I imagine they were used to it!

To this day common in Japan.

A one minute advertised connection between two trains via a third train is mainstream, for example at Amagasaki (Hanshin). Being Japan, it just works.

It's rather fun to observe!

 

[Pinza-C55]

In the early days of DOO out of Kings Cross one of the drivers released the doors on the wrong side at Harringay, adjacent to the Up Fast line, in the rush hour.

 

[Michael B]

This brings back memories, I was a guard at Guildford until five years ago and also a staff representative and I remember discussions with local management about platforms 6/7 at Guildford. The issue was that we only had one train that stopped on platform 6 back then and it was one of the last suburban trains out of Waterloo - a 2 x 455. The main problem as both sides saw it was where an Up Pompey came into Guildford and was diverted from the normal Platform 5 at the last minute into platform 6. The guard would be at the local door expecting to open the doors on the left hand side of the train. If the train ran into platform 6 the guard would still see a platform on the left hand side and, if they weren't careful, could mistakenly open the doors onto platform 7 in the belief it was platform 5. We agreed the “platform not in use” signs as a visual cue to guards, also many Guildford drivers would make a quick PA announcement saying we were going into platform 6 which was more for the guard's benefit than the passengers!

I personally opened the doors by mistake on platform 7, I was working a late suburban out of Waterloo at the end of a very gutty shift and when we ran into Guildford I had had enough for one day. I pinged the doors, picked up my bag, and heard a tapping noise from the opposite door; it was the shunter pointing and laughing at me from platform 6! I opened the doors on that side and stalked off in high dudgeon after making sure everyone had left the platform then reporting myself to Control; the controller's acknowledgement of my misdeed made it sound like he thought I was a numpty as well.

We didn't see opening the doors on platform 7 as a major safety issue however I have seen two passengers fall between a motionless train and the platform, as well as several others who slipped and almost fell down. The last suburban was nicknamed the 'Vomit Comet' especially Friday and Saturday nights due to inebriated passengers, many of whom would fall asleep and wake up at Guildford very disorientated, so the proximity of the juice rail on platform 7 was something of a worry.

In my case I had done everything right after my mistake, I think the local manager had a quick word with me and that was it. As TEW says above, as long as it is not a regular occurrence it's a pretty minor issue, least it was five years ago. These days the Guildford - Farnham shuttles regularly terminate and start from platform 6 at Guildford so I guess that local guards are now more aware of the platforms 7 issue at Guildford.

 

[Bikeman78]

Back in 2019 a twelve coach 450 from Portsmouth to London that i took opened up the doors on P7 and i alighted on to P7 so it has certainly happened before. I think the Guard noticed his mistake as after i alighted and walked towards the footbridge i saw all the doors get shut and locked very quickly and then reopened on the P6 side. It is quite an easy mistake for the Guard to make especially if they are looking out of the P7 side and do not realise what platform they are on or they think they are coming in to P5 instead. Guildford is the only station on the SWR network like this so it is a very rare layout. I would not say it is a big problem as for decades up until the early 2000s passengers alighted from slam door trains on both sides without issue.

The District Line released the doors on both sides at Barking until fairly recently. It probably stopped when the Gospel Oak trains started running to Barking Riverside, so the bay platform on the down side of the station is now disused. For some reason, National Rail has never released doors on both sides at Norwood Junction or Guildford.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 7 Dec 2023 ==

If a train arrives and the doors are released on the wrong side, sooner or later someone will alight into the fence and will be injured one way or another.

I saw a mini version of this at Stratford. There must have been a dodgy coping stone so someone had put up two cones with lots of tape between them. I thought, this will end badly. I didn't have to wait long. The second train stopped with a set of doors next to the cones and a passenger tripped over the tape and fell on her front. Still makes me chuckle to this day that someone could have thought it was a good idea.

 

[JohnElliott]

Looking back a few years in this forum, there was discussion of a system called TrackLink being fitted to SWR's fleet that was supposed to use balises to inform the train how long the platform was and which side to open the doors on. Did this prove unsuccessful?

 

[Efini92]

Technically possible, yes, as it allows a door test to be carried out on prep on depot (release doors both sides, then walk through testing that each set of doors can be opened using the passenger door buttons).

But not generally something that's done in passenger service, especially on DOO/DCO services, as in-cab monitors for driver-controlled operation can't display from both sides at the same time, and on a lot of rolling stock, pressing any door close button on the driving desk closes all doors on either side.

It’s not something I’ve ever tried, I always assumed the door close button only closed the doors for the side it related to.

 

[PGAT]

Trains pulling into Platform 1 at Norwood Junction (the 'suburban' platform) are adjacent to platform 2. To get from 1 to 2 means two flights of stairs linked by the tunnel under the lines. Platform 2 is an island with platform 3. Commuters wishing to catch a 'London Bridge Fast' service from Platform 3 can be seen making the rush from 1 to 2/3 each morning, Opening both the sets of doors of the train on 1 would save them the rush.

It wouldn't be possible unless the Platform 2/3 island were to be extended to the same point as Platform 1

 

[AY1975]

And of course Ascot in the slam door days - mad rush through the train at platform 1 to get to the one on platform 2, I remember it well. Now a high fence between them. If there were issues with third rail nobody seem to care.

Indeed, there have been a number of earlier threads about this, and in particular about Platforms 6 and 7 at Guildford, such as this one from three years ago: https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/guildford-platform-7.212135/ and this one from earlier this year: https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/guildford-platform-layouts.253172/

As someone said in the first of those threads, in slam door days passengers were much more expected to look after their own safety (and presumably in those days BR thought they could be trusted to do so). They were also expected to understand the etiquette of closing doors behind them after boarding or alighting if no-one else was waiting to use the same door. These days the powers-that-be tend very much to take a "better be safe than sorry" attitude even if it means sensible passengers have to suffer a bit of inconvenience.