Stations with an over-supply of platforms considering their present services

[yorksrob]

With regard to suburban platforms on express lines, the ones at Chiselhurst in Kent used to come in very handy when Ashford trains were diverted via Maidstone East, as coast trains tended to stop there for a connection to Orpington. Whether the fast line platforms on this route have any regular services at other times, I don't know.

 

[northwichcat]

Cleethorpes surely qualifies it receives a very poor service but I think there are 5 or 6 platforms (although some maybe have had the track lifted by now??)

If the track has been lifted then it doesn't really qualify as a platform. Stockport has 6 platforms - 5 through and 1 bay, although the infrastructure is for 2 bays but the track to one of the bays has been removed.

 

[MadCommuter]

Its easy to remove platforms and track, a lot harder to put them back. If there was more spare capacity on the network, then delays could be reduced when incidents occur.

 

[krus_aragon]

Llandudno has three platforms. Platform one never seems to be used when I've been there. Now that Virgin have pulled out of there I assume that accounts for the lack of use of platform one.

As of two years ago, the Conwy Valley services tend to use platform 1, Manchester services on 3, and the Junction shuttle on 2.

Platforms 4 and 5 are, I'm told, now being redeveloped as a station car park. That still leaves three platforms for three services and hour, peak time!

 

[dk1]

Its easy to remove platforms and track, a lot harder to put them back. If there was more spare capacity on the network, then delays could be reduced when incidents occur.

Actually not that easy to remove. Wetherspoons wanted to open a pub incorporating the old station masters house & buffet at Lowestoft. This however involved the shortening of a practically disused side station siding to accomodate the moving of a concourse entrance. This is easier said than done & the legal side of things dragged on with no end in sight. The pub chain has made no further approaches & thus the station continues to rot away.

 

[IanXC]

The only platform reductions I know of that havn't negativly affected services has been Bridlington, retaining 4 - 6 for normal service and 7&8 for charter operations.

Are 7&8 actually still in use? The platforms certainly aren't in a fit state for passengers, and most of 7 particularly seems to be used for storing track maintenance materials.

Some of the track and pointwork from 7&8 to the running lines, up to about Brid South Signal Box looks a bit iffy too...

 

[Bald Rick]

Great Yarmouth rarely sees the need for 4 platforms these days. On summer saturdays though when the hauled set is running round in platforms 2/3 that only leaves 1 & 4 and the latter was out of use most of last year. Only takes a special or a fault & things get a bit tight.

I offer you Great Yarmouth also.

4 long platforms for one train an hour with a 5-8 minute turnround. Compare to Fenchurch Street.

 

[googolplex]

I'd suggest that Bletchley doesn't need 6 platforms.
It's always struck me as rather odd that the Bedford-Bletchley trains get put on Platform 6 which only has access to the footbridge via concrete stairs, when Platform 5 is almost never used and shares a lift with Platform 4.
I know it used to be possible to get from the Bedford-Bletchley line to Platform 5, as I was on a train that did it in the mid 90s, but don't know if they've changed it since.

 

[bse35]

Buxton has 2 platforms but could manage with 1 and a siding.

what about chrters etc. when i was there last year on a charter bothe the platforms were filled.

 

[Monster153]

I would argue that in general our rail network doesn't have enough 'redundancy'.
If you take the example of the National Grid, there is enough reduncancy that it can cope with the largest generator (sellafield) or the largest transmission line failing during peak times without the client noticing any disruption in supply.

Sellafield isn't a power station, it's a nuclear reprocessing factory. IIRC Drax is the largest power station.

However, your point is a good one, there aren't enough diversionary routes, spare platforms, spare train sets etc.

Yep Drax is the largest power station; but its output is shared over 6 separate 660MW generators, each with their own control and supply into the Grid. If any generator was lost then it would have no effect on the other 5.

The largest single infeed into the Grid is Sizewell B in Suffolk, for this modern PWR reactor supplies a 1320MW generator. The country's average total energy demand depends on the time of day and year but can be as low as 30000MW, hence the Sizewell B infeed could make upto 4.5%. As Generator Dispatch chooses to run Nuclear Power for baseload, this is often the case. With the increase in wind power we are losing inertia in the grid.

The end result is if Sizewell B is lost in the worst-case scenario, research has found the system frequency could drop to as low as 49.1Hz.

This will have an impact to the end user as it breaches the National Grid's statutory and operational frequency limits of 49.5 and 49.2Hz respectively.

As for the transmission system; with increased investment any short-circuit fault and the protection systems will discriminate immediately to prevent voltage sags or swells. Again this will have an impact on the end user. It is to the DNO's credit that this is rare.

The railway has comparatively much more redundancy!

 

[jaigee]

Southport always appears a bit excessive with six platforms.

 

[northwichcat]

what about charters etc. when i was there last year on a charter both the platforms were filled.

Charters have to fit around normal services. If every station had a spare platform which was only needed for charters it would cost a fortunate to maintain all the spare platforms and tracks leading to them.

 

[Max]

Are 7&8 actually still in use? The platforms certainly aren't in a fit state for passengers, and most of 7 particularly seems to be used for storing track maintenance materials.

Some of the track and pointwork from 7&8 to the running lines, up to about Brid South Signal Box looks a bit iffy too...

From my many visits to Bridlington I can confirm that I've never seen anything use 7 or 8, and this has been the case for about 15 years at least.

 

[ANorthernGuard]

Southport always appears a bit excessive with six platforms.

southport have Merseyrail as well so (IMO) not really

 

[gnolife]

id say Chester, it has 2 disused bays (1 and 6), and id also say Reddish South and Denton (although those are a different kettle of fish altogether, with 1tpw they dont warrant existance at all!)

 

[MidnightFlyer]

You could argue that if need be, stations like Scarborough and Hull could survive platform cuts, but, like many stations nowadays, each platform warrants its existace.

 

[dk1]

If petrol prices keep going up & up and Iceland erupts a few more volcanos we might be lucky enough to see future use for many a redundant platform (or even line). Plymouth has just shut it's airport & rails share of the lucrative domestic air routes keeps on growing.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Llandudno appears to still have 5 platform faces with track on Google Earth - it's a while since I was there and I don't know how up-to-date their mapping is.

Quick inspection of current timetables seem to suggest only a handful of times a day there are two services there at any one time.

Look at the North-West and North-Wales coastal resorts.....remember that the rail stations at Morecambe, Blackpool, Southport, Llandudno were all built by the rail companies who needed all these platforms for the vast number of trains that used to dis-embark mill-workers by the countless thousands every week during the late Spring to early Autumn every year. They even had to offer temporary extra platforms at certain times. Morecambe, Blackpool and Southport had more than one station.

Morecambe seems to have rationalised its station at the cost of being further away from the sea front. Blackpool (north!!) and Southport have a certain amount of spare capacity (especially Southport)....but what use is proposed for any redundant station infrastructure? I won't discuss Blackpool South as I am still to be convinced that it is NOT a ride that has escaped from the Pleasure Beach!!!

Llandudno is a very sad reminder of how rail travel to what once was a major rail destination for holidaymakers has succumbered to road travel. The upgraded A55 gets road travellers there very quickly and near to Chester, there are links to the national motorway network. I was on the station last year and the total air of decay and dereliction was very sad to see. It must have been a very close call between Llandudno and Manchester Victoria as being voted the worst station in Britain...and for having the worst station facilities!!!. All I would query was the will to do something to divest the large unused capacity of this station. It must give incoming passengers a totally wrong image of the resort.

 

[LE Greys]

Platform 2 at Aberdeen hardly ever sees any use. Before the barriers, it was once my observation post, because of the view into the old yard. I've seen spare stock waiting in there a few times, but there are no servicing facilities, so it usually just sits there. At the other end, we have an example of what can happen when they go. The car park/taxi rank is on top of the Buchan bays, which will probably never be needed again.

Closer to home, does anything use the fast line platforms at Biggleswade?

 

[rail-britain]

Platform 2 at Aberdeen hardly ever sees any use.

Platform 2 hasn't been signed since at least 1988, after the resignalling removed the platform departure signal
However it does see occasional and rare use, plus is kept as strategic reserve with alternative route
Throughout the late 1980s it was used to store and service LHCS, as this was easier for the staff, and for the daily parcels service which continued to do so into the 1990s

When one of the Aberdeen - Euston sleepers was involved in an accident and derailment in the 1990s blocking the southbound platforms a Class 158 arriving was brought into Platform 2
This then formed the delayed Edinburgh service (stuck in Platform 4)
I believe a similar accident in 2002, where a pair of Class 158s derailed whilst arriving into Platform 6 also resulted in Platform 2 being used

It would be very difficult to remove such platforms

 

[krisk]

Blackpool North stands out a mile as a station that doesnt just need remodelling (4 platforms) but rebuilding. That cow shed of a station made worse by the gates installed is still the same basic build that I remember from the 80s. Queueing up at the platform number, peering through the glass door, questioning amongst ourselves why are they not letting us on yet and then eyeing up the competition that once we get through them glorious glass doors its gonna be a free for all.

I don't know if it's still on the cards but Blackpool North needs to be made into a public transport interchange as since the loss of Talbot Rd bus station, if you were visiting Blackpool would you know where you get the bus to Cleveleys, Fleetwood or St Annes from? Made even worse by the face that half the town centre is now pedestrianised.

I was in Blackpool yesterday and what struck me was for all the improvements being made to the town centre and seafront, it's what you walk past first to get there that needs the real work doing.

And it really does need a metroshuttle type bus every few minutes circling the town centre, North Pier, the Tower and back to the station.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Blackpool North stands out a mile as a station that doesnt just need remodelling (4 platforms) but rebuilding. That cow shed of a station made worse by the gates installed is still the same basic build that I remember from the 80s. Queueing up at the platform number, peering through the glass door, questioning amongst ourselves why are they not letting us on yet and then eyeing up the competition that once we get through them glorious glass doors its gonna be a free for all.

I don't know if it's still on the cards but Blackpool North needs to be made into a public transport interchange as since the loss of Talbot Rd bus station, if you were visiting Blackpool would you know where you get the bus to Cleveleys, Fleetwood or St Annes from? Made even worse by the face that half the town centre is now pedestrianised.

I was in Blackpool yesterday and what struck me was for all the improvements being made to the town centre and seafront, it's what you walk past first to get there that needs the real work doing.

And it really does need a metroshuttle type bus every few minutes circling the town centre, North Pier, the Tower and back to the station.

The points you make about the loss of Talbot Road bus station are very well made. A large number of incoming travellers do find the lack of a proper interchange which has a good quality enquiry office very fraustrating.

The idea of a metroshuttle bus has really proved its worth in all the areas where the introduction of these has occurred.

 

[ANorthernGuard]

id say Chester, it has 2 disused bays (1 and 6), and id also say Reddish South and Denton (although those are a different kettle of fish altogether, with 1tpw they dont warrant existance at all!)

they are used regularly 6 usually by CLC back to Picc and 1 for the shuttles to Crewe

 

[northwichcat]

id say Chester, it has 2 disused bays (1 and 6), and id also say Reddish South and Denton (although those are a different kettle of fish altogether, with 1tpw they dont warrant existance at all!)

Northern use both platforms 5 and 6 from Chester and they use platform 6 for most of their services. Maybe the use of platform 5 could transfer to platform 7A* (yes Pacers can use the third rail platform as they've done it before.)

* I think A is the opposite end to where Merseyrail usually stop their trains but if that's the same end then I mean 7B.

 

[d1015fan]

Apologies for sounding dumb - but what is a R.E.S platform?

isn't that the parcel platform on the far side

 

[krisk]

Paul I think Blackpool really needs one, every 3 minutes in the height of summer and maybe 10 minutes at other times of the year.

And taking away the bus station and leaving it as different services going from different roads causes me no end of confusion. At least with a bus station most services went from there or the adjacent streets. Similar to Piccadilly Gardens in Manchester where if it doesn't depart from the stands there it will be an adjacent side road.

 

[headshot119]

Northern use both platforms 5 and 6 from Chester and they use platform 6 for most of their services. Maybe the use of platform 5 could transfer to platform 7A* (yes Pacers can use the third rail platform as they've done it before.)

* I think A is the opposite end to where Merseyrail usually stop their trains but if that's the same end then I mean 7B.

It is 7A you mean, however some the of Llandudno Manchester trains run through 7 when Virgin have got something sat in 4, so it's not really do - able.

 

[73001]

southport have Merseyrail as well so (IMO) not really

Merseyrail tend to use just 2 platforms, Northern could probably get away with 1 but as they tend to stable units there, could use 2... still leave 2 extra platforms. Even with charters etc there is probably no need anymore for 6 - there's plenty of sidings, run around places between the two lines as they enter the station.

 

[Welshman]

Llandudno is a very sad reminder of how rail travel to what once was a major rail destination for holidaymakers has succumbered to road travel. The upgraded A55 gets road travellers there very quickly and near to Chester, there are links to the national motorway network. I was on the station last year and the total air of decay and dereliction was very sad to see. It must have been a very close call between Llandudno and Manchester Victoria as being voted the worst station in Britain...and for having the worst station facilities!!!. All I would query was the will to do something to divest the large unused capacity of this station. It must give incoming passengers a totally wrong image of the resort.

I think there are plans to build a new transport interchange at Llandudno later this year.

 

[NSE]

Closer to home, does anything use the fast line platforms at Biggleswade?

Yeah, a couple of evening peaks run non-stop from KGX and come into SNO on the fast lines, AFAIK these also use the fasts at Biggleswade. I think this is a good point regarding the earlier comment about Potters Bar, as on a four track mainline its wise to stick in four platforms for operational flexibility anyway. Off peak nothing uses the SNO or Biggleswade fasts, infact just about all stations where platforms are on dedicated fast lines (ECML, WCML, MML, GWML, GEML and plenty of other lines) gives you this situation.