Spanish solution
In railway and rapid transit parlance, the Spanish solution is a station layout with two railway platforms, one on each side of the track.[1]
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Description
This platform arrangement allows the separation of passenger streams by using one platform only for boarding, and the other one only for alighting.[1] The separate designation of platforms for boarding and alighting has been proven effective at reducing dwell time at stations with high passenger numbers.[2]
The Spanish solution is most commonly applied at high-frequency underground metro stations. Stations are sometimes retrofitted to include a Spanish solution layout to expand the capacity of existing stations when there is no space to widen the existing platform, an issue that can occur in island platform configurations. For instance, Stratford station's westbound Central line platform on the London Underground was expanded from an island platform layout to a Spanish solution layout in 2011 as part of the 2012 London Olympics upgrade works.[3]
To encourage passengers to exit to the correct platform, arriving trains typically first open their doors facing the platform for alighting passengers, and then open the doors for boarding passengers after a slight delay.
Examples
The term "Spanish solution" derives from its use in several stations of the Madrid Metro (e.g. Avenida de América) and Barcelona Metro (e.g. Sant Andreu).
An example of the Spanish Solution is the Marienplatz station on the Munich S-Bahn, which has island platforms for boarding and side platforms for alighting.[4]
Gallery
Eastbound track at Marienplatz station, Munich S-Bahn
Looking from one train through another, with doors open on both sides, to a third train. At Barking in London, England eastbound Underground trains open their doors on both sides for cross-platform interchange with two main-line services, C2C and London Overground Barking - Gospel Oak, this photograph from inside one of the latter.
Westbound platforms 3 and 3a at Stratford station (with a London Underground Central line train arriving). Trains now open their doors on both sides at this platform.
Boston's Park Street Under station in 1912. The same platform configuration is still in use.
A temporary center platform at Pioneer Square station in Seattle used for transfers between trains.jpg.webp)
Olympic Park station in Sydney. All passengers alight on the middle island platform and board from the significantly wider outer platforms.
Spanish solution: the principle. Passengers board from the left platform, and alight in the middle island.
References
- Olshausen, Hans-Gustav (9 March 2013). VDI-Lexikon Bauingenieurwesen [VDI-Lexikon civil engineering] (in German) (2nd ed.). Springer-Verlag. p. 63. ISBN 978-3-642-48098-0.
- Fendrich, Lothar (25 January 2007). Handbuch Eisenbahninfrastruktur [Railway infrastructure handbook] (in German). Springer-Verlag. pp. 36, 37. ISBN 9783540317074.
- "Stratford Station Upgrade | Adams Hendry". Retrieved 2021-04-17.
- Walter, Dirk (1 April 2017). "So wird Münchens zweite S-Bahn-Röhre" [This is how Munich's second S-Bahn-tube will be like]. ovb-online.de (in German). Oberbayerisches Volksblatt GmbH & Co. Medienhaus KG. Retrieved 21 October 2018.
At least the new main train station stop and the Marienhof stop are being built with a "Spanish solution", ie with a central platform and an exit to the right for the rapid change of passengers (such as today on Stachus) [via Google automated German-English translation service].
