Platform gaps

[whole diary]

[chrisoates]

Surely when built the platform height/gap must have be done to some standard, I can understand height varying a bit with ballasting but the gaps are always on a gauge or written on the brickwork - bit pointless if you're ignoring them.
Or...was the gauging done after the rails had moved ?

First visit to Saltash - TM^‡(resolve) gave same old 'gap' warning but nothing prepares you for the leap of faith, if I'd ever taken my Mother up there I'd have continued to Plymouth and got a bus back.

Falmouth Town (Dell) is another appalling platform but it looks brand new - the track doesn't look like it can have moved much as it's on a narrow embankment plus the entry curve loading is towards the platform....the height is so far off you'd think the builders left out a row of blocks but it's one of those precast things.

     

[IndustryInsider]

Surely when built the platform height/gap must have be done to some standard, I can understand height varying a bit with ballasting but the gaps are always on a gauge or written on the brickwork - bit pointless if you're ignoring them.
Or...was the gauging done after the rails had moved ?

First visit to Saltash - TM^‡(resolve) gave same old 'gap' warning but nothing prepares you for the leap of faith, if I'd ever taken my Mother up there I'd have continued to Plymouth and got a bus back.

Falmouth Town (Dell) is another appalling platform but it looks brand new - the track doesn't look like it can have moved much as it's on a narrow embankment plus the entry curve loading is towards the platform....the height is so far off you'd think the builders left out a row of blocks but it's one of those precast things.

     

It seems for new platforms that strict rules apply, but for old platforms anything goes - the up platform at Worcester Shrub Hill is a good example, as when track was re-laid there about a year ago the new ballast was dropped on the old ballast and there is a depth of around a foot. Having seen a wheelchair bound passenger go up a ramp that was at such an angle they nearly toppled backwards out of their chair, I am surprised that such a differential is permitted!

[willc]

At least you don't have Adelantes to contend with down there. They have very high floors and it's quite a step up or down even on straight and level platforms - and unless you're hale and hearty don't bother trying to get off one on the Worcester-bound platform at Shipton, on the Cotswold Line.

The platform is of GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) Victorian origin, so was low to start with, but with the track canted and ballast built up through the curve for faster running by non-stop trains it is now a yawning chasm, so the announcements by guards on the approach on the 180-operated 17.51 London-Worcester every evening tend to be on the firm side about watching your step there.

[marky7890]

When you look at some disused stations in Cornwall some of the platforms look really low down, is this because the track has been raised?

Mark

[Lee]

First visit to Saltash - TM^‡(resolve) gave same old 'gap' warning but nothing prepares you for the leap of faith, if I'd ever taken my Mother up there I'd have continued to Plymouth and got a bus back.

Quote from Saltash Rail Users Group (link below):
http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=4192.msg33891#msg33891

PS. We have had our own bit of engineering work recently. Network Rail used their large ^tamping^ machine to reduce the track cant on the Plymouth bound Platform 2 on the evening of December the 28th. The result is a reduced gap making boarding a little easier. A significant gap still remains, and SRUG will continue to lobby Network Rail for improvements.

[Worcester_Passenger]

The Worcester Shrub Hill platform mentioned is as nothing by comparison with platform 1 at Foregate Street (the to/from London platform).

[FarWestJohn]

Funny you should say Falmouth Town [The Dell] platform is new as it was originally Perranporth Beach Halt on the line from Chacewater to Newquay. Cannot be more green than recycling stations.

I agree it seems strange having a large gap here when the track is on a very slight curve and all movements are at a slow speed. I assume it came about when the section was relayed with CWR^▸ (Continuously Welded Rail) on concrete sleepers and the required depth of ballast raised the track level.

[IndustryInsider]

The Worcester Shrub Hill platform mentioned is as nothing by comparison with platform 1 at Foregate Street (the to/from London platform).

Or, to be fair, virtually all platforms on the continent!

[slippy]

Saltash up platform isnt helped by being on a curve. Is far worse with a class 150 as the passenger doors are mid carriage meaning there is a huge gap aswell as drop. It isnt so severe with 153s and HSTs^▸ (High Speed Train) as the doors are on the end of the carriage...

[Btline]

Try getting on a 150 on Worcester Foregate Street Platform 1!

The gap is the worst I have seen even without the curve in the platform making the doors even further away!

You could jump down to the track level without touching platform or train.

I think some people bring their own step - unacceptable (in Europe maybe where it is normal, but not in C21 Britain!)

[richard bickford]

The height problems at Saltash stem from a number of issues on the UP track. The curve we can't do anything about. Yes 150's are a bit of an issue, 153's and HST^▸ (High Speed Train)'s are really not too bad now.

The track bed was realaid by Tarmac under contract to Railtrack some 10-15 years ago, about 150-200mm too high. No one picked them up on it.

The second issue is the track cant. Leaning the trains away from the platform as the station is on a curve.

I actually got Network Rail to measure this cant and consider reducing it. Their conclusion was that this could be easily achieved as the cant present was enough for a high speed curve! The linespeed is in reality almost as low as 15mph for many trains, and must be by the time they are on the Royal Albert Bridge. I am not sure what the actuall spped limit is as they enter the station from the west, but it cannot be much over 45mph.

Anyway, on the night of the 28th December 2008, NR^» (Network Rail - home page) ran the tampeing machine throgh Saltash, building up the inner track to reduce the cant. It is a shame that they could not have reduced the outer track height as that would have gone some way to fix the height issue as well.

The result is a reduced stepping gap. Probably stil the worst in Cornwall but better non the less. A small vistory!

[eightf48544]

Interesting comments re too high ballast. We have the same problem on the Main Line platforms the ballast is too high and thus the step up into the train is deemed too high.

Thus trains are banned from using these platforms except in dire emergencies. This means that whenever teh Relief Lines are closed for engineering work we get a bus from Slough which means that any passenger from the West to Taplow can take over an hour to get from Maindenhead to Taplow (booked 4 minutes). Walk 40 minutes.

Just to show how versitile BR^▸ (British Rail(ways)) was with engineering work and when there was a ground frame on the Relief line by Lent Rise coal yard they ran trains on the mainline from Maidenhead to Slough stopping at Taplow and a Slough to Taplow service calling at Burnham on the Relief lines.   They shunted from platform 3 to 4 using the crossover for return journey. I did try to blag a run over the crossover but wasn't succesful.

I should add that both paltforms are dead staright.

[Lee]

Photos of Taplow station can be found in the link below.
http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=3769.msg29248#msg29248

[kizzers]

For a huge drop down, go to Exeter St Thomas. When jumping down from the train, the foot step is at my waist height (im 6 foot!)

[smokey]

Saltash up platform isnt helped by being on a curve. Is far worse with a class 150 as the passenger doors are mid carriage meaning there is a huge gap aswell as drop. It isnt so severe with 153s and HSTs^▸ (High Speed Train) as the doors are on the end of the carriage...

Well doors mid carriage are worse on an Outside side curved platform but off course are closer to the platform edge when it's an inside curve.

Bodmin Parkway has a Hugh gap on the Downside at the West End.