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Recliner[_3_] · August 19th 17, 01:40 PM posted to uk.transport.london

Clank wrote:
On 16.08.2017 6:25 PM, Anna Noyd-Dryver wrote:
Basil Jet wrote:
On 2017\08\16 03:04, Basil Jet wrote:
On 2017\08\15 19:14, wrote:
In article , Anna Noyd-Dryver
wrote:
The front of a stationary train is the end towards which it will next be
moving, surely? If it's a through station, or you enter at the middle of
the platform, I can understand the confusion - but surely walking onto
the platform past the end of the track and a huge set of stop blocks
should help you know which way the train will move?

When I worked at Victoria I was often asked, by someone standing right by
the stop blocks, which way would the train be going.

Surely they meant "Is this train with Sutton on the front going via
Hackbridge or Waddon?"

Incidentally, by "front" I meant the end facing the buffers... see what
I mean about the confusion. For me, the front of a stationary train is
the end facing me! I'm sure I'm not alone in this.

Since trains usually only have doors open on one side, they could just
say "the left end" and "the right end". This tells you where on the
platform to stand before the train is even in sight, and before you know
which way the train will arrive, which way it will depart, whether the
train normally reverses, and whether these things have changed today
because of engineering work.

If the platform has two faces you'll get people going to the wrong platform
if you try 'left end/right end'.

I think at Greenford the doors used to open on both sides, but I'm not
sure they do that any more, and I doubt there are ever two trains in
Greenford platform at the same time.

They only open one side.

Are there any stations where NR
trains have doors open on both sides?

Unlikely, as it'd need dispatch staff on both sides. Also on most modern
stock (certainly the ex BR power door units) the guard's 'door close'
button closes the doors on both sides of the train, and you can't watch
both sides at once.

I thought I saw boarding/alighting on both sides somewhere on NR, maybe
Doncaster... Might have been old stock though.

Of course, non NR, it's common on airport terminal shuttle type services.
And don't DLR trains open the doors on both sides at Canary Wharf?

(And here on the continent with the old style speed activated door locking
and a rather more "self preservation is your own problem" safety culture,
it's quite common to use the doors on both sides to board/alight whether
there's a platform on both sides or not...)

Ah, the Asian approach:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/recliner/12906280495/in/album-72157641801963124/lightbox/