Platform 0 (Was Platform Y) at King's Cross

[mackenzie_blu]

Yes to a certain point, I can see a journey from A to B and what traction it's booked as but as a example it just says Sprinter which could be anything from a 153 to a 159 so unless you know beforehand you wouldn't know!

Unless of course the TOC has decided to pay out for TOPS access as well which in NXEC's case, you can indeed find out what the exact formation and the numbers for the carriages, DVT and Clas 91 and what way round it is.

I know we used to have it (TOPS) but we don't as it got taken out years ago as a cost cutting measure.

Still we have TRUST and P2 so between the pair of them, it tells us basically what the train should be.

I'll just edit that to some GN station have TRUST, its gone on the TL side!

 

[Bittern]

Why not just change all the platform numbers so it's 1-9 and 10-12?

Because that would make sense.

 

[Barclay]

I was working on the roof of Kings Cross on Tuesday, and noticed the first test train into the new platform 0. Here's a photo:

 

[Aictos]

Wow, thanks

 

[GNERman]

one of snapper's shots shows a Mk4 set in...

 

[Andrew Tiffin]

Cardiff Central has a Platform 0

 

[Aictos]

And the first test train is a FCC 317, woohoo! Can't argue against that,

 

[Crossforth]

Wow, how long before the restoration is finished in King's Cross?

 

[Aictos]

I "think" you would be looking at the May timetable, one of the things they as in Network Rail ought to have done is lengthen Platforms 9 to 11 to take 12 cars which would help greatly.

 

[swt_passenger]

Cardiff Central has a Platform 0

So does Kings Cross - it is no longer referred to as Platform Y, assuming I have not got the wrong end of your stick.

Platform Y was the intention when this thread commenced though...

 

[jon0844]

I thought it was going to become platform 1 and everything shifted up by 1 by the time the 'new' station is completed and opened? Common sense prevailed, even though there will no doubt be more than a simple change of platform signs in order to make it happen.

 

[A60K]

I understood it to be platform 1 as well. The entire redevelopment - roof, concourse - won't be complete until 2012.

 

[stut]

Arrived alongside the new platform today, and noticed a sign saying "electric traction only". Presumably because of the amount of cover?

 

[A60K]

That would make sense, yes, presumably no fume extractors. I remember when an HST arrived in platform 13 (east side) at Liverpool Street on a railtour around 20 years ago, and that certainly fugged the place out for a while!

 

[Aictos]

The date it officially opens for business has been 100% confirmed as the 23rd May 2010, wondered how soon before I have to use it after opening....

 

[jon0844]

I've been on a few FCC services that are booked to terminate at platform 1 during the day, which is quite a trek when you might expect it to be platform 11 or something.

I'd like to know what trains will be booked to start/stop there to go and check it out.

 

[MidnightFlyer]

It will be called platform 0, and will open before the May timetable change next week. They want it used by electric services only.

 

[Crossforth]

Any particular reason why only electric services?

 

[Pumbaa]

Presumably no extraction means for diesel fumes.

 

[Aictos]

Presumably no extraction means for diesel fumes.

Didn't know they had any full stop!

 

[jon0844]

Platform 0 makes sense for now, but I presume they're still going ahead with the eventual renaming to platform 1 and all of the others to go up by 1, for when the station is completely renovated?

 

[A60K]

Didn't know they had any full stop!

The roof space above platforms 1 to 8 as about as high-tech as fume extraction gets!

I notice that the space above the train for platform 0 is very limited, with the new offices directly above. I imagine a diesel train in there would monoxide half of the KX staff if it stayed very long

 

[MidnightFlyer]

Any particular reason why only electric services?

I don't know - that's just what I read.

But what everyone else is saying is probably correct.

 

[A60K]

Formally opened today - platform 0 signs everywhere. It looks a bit of a bodge job to be honest - brickwork on the track side spray painted grey, all the pillars between it and platform 1 making it a bit hemmed in. Still, it adds a bit more capacity to the station, and when a train is in it the worst is hidden.

Believe trains are timetabled to use it from Sunday, and platforms 1 and 2 will then be closed for several months for rebuilding - followed by all the other platforms in pairs over the next couple of years.

 

[jon0844]

So the extra capacity lasts for how long before we actually LOSE capacity?!

 

[shinkansen1966]

Formally opened today - platform 0 signs everywhere.

Will platform 0, become platform 1 ? Then add one to all the others ? Are there any other UK stations with a platform zero ?
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

So the extra capacity lasts for how long before we actually LOSE capacity?!

Oh no... further disruption ?

Trouble is, after being the poor relation for so long, its neighbour St Pancras has emerged as the wonderful modern interchange. By comparison, Kings Cross is now looking decidely cramped and dilapidated.

Let's by hope by 2013, all that will change with the new KX booking hall on the western side facing St Pancras and the removal of that vile green awning facing out onto Euston Road.

 

[philjo]

I can think of Cardiff Central, Stockport & Haymarket which all have a platform 0. They may have been renumbered by now as not been to these stations recently

If platform 1 is closed there won't be much room for the passengers off a crowded 8-coach train arriving in platform 0 to leave the platform! (it is bad enough on platform 1 at the moment when a morning peak train arrives!)

 

[jon0844]

I expect disruption at King's Cross and I am happy to put up with it to get a station that will be significantly better than the run down station we have now (and it's only looking so run down because there's no point keeping a station building 'clean' during building work).

I am looking forward to the result, and hope we'll start to see some real improvements along the way. I presume there are specific phases, not just hoardings up for years and then a single unveiling?

 

[shinkansen1966]

I am looking forward to the result, and hope we'll start to see some real improvements along the way. I presume there are specific phases, not just hoardings up for years and then a single unveiling?

And so am I. Kings Cross is really looking the poor relative over the road from St Pancras. Doubt if there will be any single unveilings. The key dates appear to be
2011 - new western concourse opens
2013 - removal of the vile green Euston Rd awning and public space opens in its place

http://www.networkrail.co.uk/aspx/6292.aspx

 

[Oswyntail]

Mrs O, a hardened KX-LDS traveller, returned from London yesterday. I had pre-warned her about Platform 0, and, sure enough, her train went from there. She said that, without my advice, she would have just assumed there was a problem, and expected the indicator to be corrected (other travellers expressed the same opinion). She was not aware of any other signs. Now I think that this is an interesting psychological point - she is so familiar with the setting that she does not see the signs that are there, particularly when she arrives "just in time" as I would guess most commuters do. Expect fun and games.
Incidentally, I seem to recall from somewhere that there was the possibility that the platforms across the whole of the Kings Cross/St Pancras/Thameslink complex were eventually going to be renumbered into one sequence. Is this true, or had I had too much cheese before going to sleep that night?