A split platform or separate platform is a station that has a platform for each track, split onto two or more levels. This configuration allows a narrower station plan (or footprint) horizontally, at the expense of a deeper (or higher) vertical elevation, because sets of tracks and platforms are stacked above each other. Where two rail lines cross or run parallel for a time, split platforms are sometimes used in a hybrid arrangement that allows for convenient cross-platform interchange between trains running in the same general direction.
Reasons for usage
On the London Underground, to minimise the risk of subsidence, the tunnel alignments largely followed the roads on the surface and avoided passing under buildings.[note 1] If a road was too narrow to allow the construction of side-by-side tunnels, they would be aligned one above the other, so that a number of stations have platforms at different levels.[1] Moreover is very useful if the line branches from the station, so diverting tunnels or tracks do not intersect each other.
On Munich Marienplatz Station the Munich S-Bahn (suburban trains) are on two separate levels, where westbound trains depart from the lower level, eastbound trains from the upper level. Below the westbound level there is an interchange to the metro lines U3 and U6 in North-South direction.
In Nuremberg metro network, the station Plärrer has two platforms for cross-platform interchange between lines U1 and U2/U3. The upper platform is used for westbound/outbound services, while the lower one is designated for eastbound/inbound trains.
In Hanover light-metro network, Kröpcke has three levels, one for blue lines (3, 7 and 9); SW to NE, one for red lines (1, 2 and 8); NW to SE and one for yellow lines (4, 5, 6 and 11). The red lines level and the yellow lines level are situated directly below each other. An interchange between red and yellow lines is possible at Aegidientorplatz where the underground platforms are situated the same way like Plärrer. Eastbound/outbound trains use the lower platform, westbound/inbound trains use the upper one.
On Berlin U-Bahn line U9, the Schloßstraße station has two level platforms, with southbound trains departing from the lower level and northbound trains from the upper level. The station has two island platforms, one above the other, but the western part is closed off by a wall and is not in use, as it was originally designed to accommodate a transfer to the unbuilt U10 line.
^This is because a time limit was set for the compulsory purchase of land and the raising of capital to encourage railway companies to complete the construction of railways as soon as possible.
^Stations like Baker Street and Camden Town have split island platforms to provide cross-platform interchange between lines or branches.[3][4][5]
^Horne, Mike (1999). The Jubilee Line. Capital Transport. ISBN1854142208.
^Clive, Feather (17 November 2016). "Bakerloo Line — Layout". Clive's Underground Line Guides. Archived from the original on 27 November 2016. Retrieved 27 November 2016.
^Clive, Feather (8 June 2016). "Northern Line — Layout". Clive's Underground Line Guides. Archived from the original on 27 November 2016. Retrieved 27 November 2016.
^"JR東日本「イオンモール新駅」千葉・盛岡で同時開業、列車の増発も" [JR East "AEON MALL New Station": Simultaneous Opening in Chiba and Morioka, Increase in Trains]. news.railway-pressnet.com (in Japanese). 18 December 2022. Retrieved 9 June 2023.
Bibliography
Day, John R; Reed, John (2008) [1963]. The Story of London's Underground. Capital Transport. ISBN978-1-85414-316-7.