Why were most railways stations built with a curving platform?

Question

I'm sure I watched a program where a reason was given, other than it fitted in with existing street layout - its drivin me mad!

Answer 1

I would say that the platform had to finish somewhere / somehow and may be due to aeshetics ?

Answer 2

Railways had to follow the contour of the land when built and often had to avoid other structures that were there beforehand. Hence curved lines, and where they reach a station, curved platforms.

Another reason is that at big stations the tracks have to 'fan out' from the running tracks, then cut in to run parallel with them and this again means curves, and platforms designed to follow them.

Answer 3

I don't think "most" is right. Its really a matter of geography and if it was necessary to put a station beside a part of the line with a curve, then the platform had to curve also. Bristol Templemeads station has all curved platforms. That's because the original straight-platformed terminus (Brunel's "train shed") was by-passed when the new extension of the line was built (connecting the Great Western and Devon & Exeter railways). Therefore the tracks had to curve through nearly 90 degrees to connect the two existing networks. Other than that, all terminal stations and mainline stations were built alongside straight tracks. Its the meandering branch railways that tend to have more curved platforms as the lines follow the contours of the countryside. Doing that reduced the necessity for the cuttings and embankments that would be needed to "straighten" the lines and therefore reduced costs.

Answer 4

They aren't - the TV programme that suggested this was fallacious. In fact, there are very good reasons why a station should be straight. On a curve, neither the driver nor the guard would be able to see the full length of a train in a platform on the outside of a curve (think about it). In the UK the only curved platforms I can call to mind are triangular stations built in the 'Y' of a junction. As an example look at this picture of Morfa Mawddach, formerly Barmouth Junction, which had lines on 3 sides:- http://www.subbrit.org.uk/sb-sites/stati...

There are curved platforms on the London Underground, most notably Bank on the Central Line, which were built like that as the lines followed the line of the streets above (to avoid having to pay wayleaves to the landowners)

Otherwise, curved platforms would only be built if space was at an extreme premium.

Answer 5

Ideally platforms should be straight or slightly convex, (although in the UK recent rules require new platforms to be straight) so that the guard can see the whole train as he prepares to close the doors. Platforms that have great curvature have blind spots that create a safety hazard. Mirrors or closed-circuit cameras may be used in these cases to view the whole platform. Also passenger carriages are straight, and so doors will not always open directly onto a curved platform – often a gap is present. (Usually such platforms will have warning signs, possibly auditory, such as London Underground's famous phrase "Mind the gap"). In some cases, sections within the platform may be movable, so as to cover any gap; moving away again to allow the train to leave.

Answer 6

Most stations were not built with curved platforms, although it may sometimes seem like it.

The railway lines were laid out to specifications of minimum curve radius, gradient, soil type, land ownership issues and other routing concerns.

When a station was be built to serve a place then wherever possible they would put it on straight track.

This is for several reasons, including safety (it's safer if the guard can see the whole length of the train and the engine crew can easily see the station signals).

Curved platforms are generally bad things for railways because it increases the gap between train and platform; it restricts the "overhang" (the length of carrigage that extends beyond the bogies); it restricts the maximum width of the rolling stock below platform level (this limited the maximum size of steam engine cylenders and hence their power) and many other bad things.

Unfortunately, matters such as land availability and road access often dictated that stations could not be built in ideal conditions or locations.



That explains not only why so many are on curves; but is also  why many country stations were nowhere near the village that they purported to serve, and hence fell under the Beeching axe.  

The continental railways don't suffer from many of the curved platform problems that we do because they don't have so many curved ones (especially in the countryside); and their (main line) platforms are much lower so the overhanging bits of trains are less likely to clout the platform edges.

Answer 7

maybe the same length platform would take up less space?

Answer 8

Railway stations where originally built with 2+ man dispatch in mind so straight platforms did not matter too much, now days it is a little more difficult due to cutbacks and certainley with DOO services it gets even worse.