Stratford station

[jamesb]

Stratford station is given £104m
The proposed upgrade of Stratford railway station in east London will be fully funded by the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA), it has been announced... Improvements include 14 new lifts, two new station entrances and an additional westbound Central Line platform. Stratford is served by two underground lines, overground rail services and the Docklands Light Railway.

(Story from BBC NEWS:
news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/england/london/6457359.stm)

What does an additional westbound Central Line platform mean? Will Central Line trains be able to terminate at Stratford and be turned around?

[Chris W]

More info on the TfL site:
www.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/initiatives-projects/stratford/scheme.asp

[suncloud]

What's the benefit of the new central line platform? Would both sets of doors open on W/b centrals? If only the new platform is used, what happens to the many people who do a cross platform interchange from the Ilford line to Central services?

Also a good opportunity to renumber the platforms... the plans have so many xA platforms.

[jswallow]

Most likely answer is that the new westbound platform face will provide a convenient way of getting from the westbound Central line across to the Docklands Light Railway (when it moves platforms) without having to go up and down stairs.

The plan shows the platform on either side of the train, so it will be a "both sides open" station.

[Deleted]

My guess is that as Stratford will be handleing a lot of Olympic passengers, the additional westbound platform will also allow faster boarding of passengers travelling into Central London and maintain the existing headways.

[Deleted]

But there still won't be a platform 7... excellent! And they're going to re-open the eastern subway too! Lovely!

[jamesb]

If it's "both sides open" won't that double the amount of time it takes for the driver to successfully close the doors and depart the station, especially if it's crowded?

jswallow said:

Most likely answer is that the new westbound platform face will provide a convenient way of getting from the westbound Central line across to the Docklands Light Railway (when it moves platforms) without having to go up and down stairs.

The plan shows the platform on either side of the train, so it will be a "both sides open" station.

[Deleted]

When stephenk shows up, he will explain this far better than I will, but:

The reasons why there will be two westbound platforms for the Central Line at Stratford Regional are: crowd control concerns on the existing westbound platform face, heavy traffic flows to the westbound from the Jubilee, DLR and NR, and increased station efficiency thanks to flow separation.

By providing a separate platform face for traffic exiting the westbound Central Line, traffic entering the westbound Central Line will no longer conflict with traffic headed for the up local services to Liverpool Street. As a result, dwell times will be significantly shorter than they are now, which will increase the theoretical capacity of the westbound service by lowering the RIRO time. Additional flexibility will be gained if the new platform face is to be used for two-way traffic, as opposed to Way Out traffic; this may allow direct high-level access between the westbound Central Line and the high-level DLR terminus.

Most importantly, by having separate platform faces for separate traffic flows, the risk of people being pushed onto the tracks is significantly lowered, and flow contention at the existing platform entrances and exits will also be significantly reduced, which helps the station overall.

Here comes stephenk!

[Deleted]

Did someone mention my name?

Generally opening doors on both sides reduces station dwell time at busy stations as there is potentially double the door flow capacity. It works more effectively if one platform is used for alighting, and the other for boarding. Stations like this can be found on the Barcelona, Madrid, Rio, and Sao Paulo metro systems.

[Tom]

Yours truly was the Lead Signalling Engineer for that project, I did the high level scoping and estimates. There's a lot more to providing the extra platform than you'd think!!

[suncloud]

Would dual side door opening complicate matters with in cab cctv?

[Deleted]

suncloud said:

Would dual side door opening complicate matters with in cab cctv?

Good question. I don't know if the 1992TS is capable of receiving CCTV from multiple antenna cables; if it isn't, a standard set of OPO monitors may be required.

[Deleted]

works at White City... tho, we tend to open up one side only when in middle road... If terminating heading west, I usualy open up westbound, change ends [checking everyone is off] open up east end, close up doors and open eastbound side doors...

I'd like to see the east and west platforms combined into an island, but don't think that is a good idea with One TOC passenger flow.

[Tom]

theonekea said:

suncloud said:

Would dual side door opening complicate matters with in cab cctv?

Good question. I don't know if the 1992TS is capable of receiving CCTV from multiple antenna cables; if it isn't, a standard set of OPO monitors may be required.

It probably wouldn't need multiple cables - just additional signal inputs into the equipment that feeds the exisitng cable.

[Deleted]

Currently, its a bit hap hazard... to get out from Central platforms, you have to walk along the subway, across near to the Jub ticket gates, up an escy, over the NLL platforms, down another escy [fighting against the upcoming flow] and then out across the bus station...

[suncloud]

Or turn around and use the other stairs to the other subway that comes out on the right side of the NLL platforms. It is fun when you're passing from the Jubilee to Central through with heavy luggage or as a MIP though.

3 lifts or 1 set of stairs.