Doors on both sides

No need, in fact it would possibly be counter productive.

Certainly at White City and probably also at Loughton (and Arnos Grove, Golders Green's centre track) the centre / middle tracks are generally used as terminus points by short working trains. So they only open their doors to alighting passengers on the correct side* for the direction of travel as then passengers who wanted a subsequent station can easily catch a next train on the other side of the island platform.

Then the doors on that side are closed and the doors on the other are opened. Perhaps not immediately, but instead not until that specific train is the next train. This way only passengers wanting to travel in that train's new direction of travel board it.

*At White City trains travel on the right, at all other named stations they travel on the left.


Much more irksome is not using both platforms alongside the centre tracks at terminus stations - Uxbridge, Cockfosters and Greenford^ (for the diesel shuttle to West Ealing) come to mind here. Also Norwood Junction where cross platform is actively stifled because the northbound Overground trains only open their doors on one side and the station stops are not lengthy enough to allow you to reach the other train if you use the steps and underpass. Anyway, running on steps is a tripping hazard!

^Cross platform interchange is also stifled at Greenford; in the days of slam door trains passengers could board / alight on either side but this facility was withdrawn when sliding door trains were introduced.


Maybe there is a reason for this (and at Norwood Junction) but to the passengers it just seems that the mainline railway does not like being *too* convenient to passengers.

The procedure when arriving on the "middle road" at White City and Loughton is to open the doors on one side, make announcements over the PA (this train terminates here, etc.), warn that the doors are about to close before closing them, CHECK THE "DOORS CLOSED VISUAL" IN THE CAB IS ILLUMINATED (which you could not do if both sets of doors were open) and then open the doors on the other side before changing ends or being relieved by another driver.

...leading to the annoying situation in the centre GWR bay road at Greenford that their doors only open one side despite passengers changing to/from Central line trains on both sides.

Stratford isn't a terminus so we aren't changing ends or changing driver

The procedure is to re-open doors on one side and close, if DCV doesn't come on try again on the other side.  If that doesn't work repeat the process a couple of times and if it still doesn't work you have to walk back one side physically checking the doors, use the rear cab to cross to the other platform then do the same along the other side.

Thankfully I've not had that happen once since Platform 3A opened in 2011

The Greenford branch used slam door Class 121 bubble cars for many years from 1958, and slam door steam hauled carriages before that.
There was NEVER any problem
Then, somebody found a way of spending money and proclaimed that a fence should be built on one side. Waste of money, time, resources, (intelligence), etc,

There hasn't been a fence on either side of the middle platform at Greenford since I started driving the Central line in 2003

I lived in Greenford from 1984 until 2012 and for all the time I can remember there wasn't.

Do they still open both sides at Barking eastbound? I suppose that will cease with the Barking Riverside extension opening. Do S stock have the same problem of not knowing which side has a door problem? The plan is for South Kensington eastbound sub-surface lines to also have a platform each side before the escalator works commence. (Oh well, some time I suppose!)

Officially doors are supposed to be opened both sides for the reasons I gave.

At the back of my mind there was a ORR|whoever mandate, or possible RAIB|whoever commentary in an incident report that all dual faced platforms served by non centrally locked passenger operated doors had to be blocked off on one side ? Whether that was simply related to driver|guard|other observation or some other factor no idea. Don't think the old mechanical DMMU as used on Greenford ever had CDL at that time did they ?

ISTR a main line station somewhere else that had short bays (3 car DMMU) with faces both sides that had to be taken out of use because of this and unable to fence off one side. I know Derby and Reading both had such layouts bays, but I'm not going to say it was one of those; there must be several other stations with the same configuration.

/digression

Are there any special safety rules for a double sided platform around traction current, particularly on the side where the conductor rail would be at the bottom of the gap?