Platform change

Thank you Steamer,

I will then try to route the train into a different platform. You say I can change the platform number in the timetable window (F2 menu). If I can just route the train into a new platform, why would I also consider changing it in the timetable window?

And how do I know if the platform is long enough?

If I change the platform in F2-> Right click train-> Timetable Options-> Edit Timetable. Will that change the platform for this train "for ever" or just this session?

Hello,

Can I easily change the platform a train should arrive at (or depart from)?

Sometimes I would like to have an early arriving train waiting at a not-so-busy platform so that other trains can pass.

In some locations platform changes will be quite common and not much of an issue, whilst in other places may cause issues for staff (or even passengers!).

DavidSplett in post 140215 said:

In some locations platform changes will be quite common and not much of an issue, whilst in other places may cause issues for staff (or even passengers!).

Queue Absolute scenes at Birmingham New Street...

Hoggorm in post 140199 said:

Hello,

Can I easily change the platform a train should arrive at (or depart from)?

Sometimes I would like to have an early arriving train waiting at a not-so-busy platform so that other trains can pass.

The signalman can certainly alter platforms and routings if he sees fit.

However, I’d say there should always be a reason for doing it. In the absence of a good reason then it’s generally the case that trains should be routed as per the timetable as far as possible.

In real life there’s an element of local custom and practice to this. In some locations platform changes will be quite common and not much of an issue, whilst in other places may cause issues for staff (or even passengers!).

A real example - in many of the King’s Cross modern timetables there’s one through service in the mid evening booked to run via Welwyn Garden City platform 1. I’m not sure of the exact reason, but it’s either to keep the signalling and platform equipment in working order and perhaps an element of route knowledge retention. In practice it essentially never happens. By contrast re-platforming at Finsbury Park between platforms 2 and 4 is nowadays frowned upon as it causes considerable inconvenience for passengers and staff. It still happens though!

I wouldn’t be minded to go altering platform allocations to accommodate an early service though, unless the early service was going to block other trains up - in which case the early service may well have been misregulated further back.

If a platform change involves transfer over from Fast to Slow or the other way around, do I have tomchange this as well in the timetable to avoid a penalty?