railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

and

rapid transit Rapid transit or mass rapid transit (MRT) or heavy rail, commonly referred to as metro, is a type of high-capacity public transport that is generally built in urban areas. A grade separation, grade separated rapid transit line below ground su ...

parlance, the Spanish solution is a station layout with two

railway platform A railway platform is an area in a train station alongside a railway Track (rail transport), track providing convenient access to trains. Almost all stations have some form of platform, with larger stations having multiple platforms. Grand Cen ...

s, one on each side of the track, which allows for separate platforms for boarding and alighting. The "Spanish solution" is used in several stations of the

Madrid Metro The Madrid Metro (Spanish: ''Metro de Madrid'') is a rapid transit system serving the city of Madrid, capital of Spain. The system is the 14th longest rapid transit system in the world, with a total length of . Its growth between 1995 and 200 ...

(e.g. Avenida de América) and

Barcelona Metro The Barcelona Metro (Catalan language, Catalan and Spanish language, Spanish: ) is a rapid transit network that runs mostly underground in central Barcelona and into the city's suburbs. It is part of the larger public transport system ...

(e.g. Sant Andreu).

Description

This platform arrangement allows the separation of passenger streams by using one platform only for boarding, and the other one only for alighting. The separate designation of platforms for boarding and alighting has been proven effective at reducing dwell time at stations with high passenger numbers. 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 An island platform (also center platform (American English) or centre platform (British English)) is a station layout arrangement where a single platform is positioned between two tracks within a railway station, tram stop or transitway inte ...

configurations. 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

An example of the Spanish Solution is the

Karlsplatz (Stachus) Stachus is a large square in central Munich, Bavaria. The square was officially named Karlsplatz in 1797 after the unpopular Charles Theodore, Elector of Bavaria. Munich natives seldom use that name, calling the square instead ''Stachus'', aft ...

station on the

Munich S-Bahn The Munich S-Bahn () is an Railway electrification system, electric rail transit system in Munich, Germany. "S-Bahn" is the German abbreviation for ''Stadtschnellbahn'' (literally, "urban rapid rail"), and the Munich S-Bahn exhibits characteris ...

, which has

s for boarding and side platforms for alighting. Additionally this solution can be found on several Metro de Madrid stations: Sainz de Baranda, Avenida de America and many others.

Gallery

File:München Marienplatz.jpg, Eastbound track at Marienplatz station,

File:Metro Paris - Ligne 6 - station Etoile 01.jpg, Spanish solution on Line 6 at Charles de Gaulle - Étoile.

Paris Metro Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

File:GreenLineMetroChabacano.JPG, Platforms of the Chabacano station on Line 8,

Mexico City Metro The Mexico City Metro () is a rapid transit system that serves Greater Mexico City, the metropolitan area of Mexico City, including some municipalities in the State of Mexico. Operated by the Sistema de Transporte Colectivo (STC), it is the Lis ...

. File:Park Street Under platforms, September 1912.jpg, Boston's Park Street Under station in 1912. The same platform configuration is still in use. File:Pioneer Square Station center platform transfer from above.jpg, A temporary center platform at Pioneer Square station in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

used for transfers between trains File:Sydney Olympic Park train station (49755055828).jpg, Olympic Park station in

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

. All passengers alight on the middle island platform and board from the significantly wider outer platforms during major events. File:Rogier metro station platform.jpg, alt=, Platforms of the Rogier station on Lines 2 and 6,

Brussels Metro The Brussels Metro ( ; ) is a rapid transit system serving a large part of the Brussels-Capital Region of Belgium. It consists of four conventional metro lines and three '' premetro'' lines. The metro-grade lines are M1, M2, M5, and M6 wi ...

References

External links

* Rapid transit Railway platforms {{metro-stub

Description

Examples

Gallery

See also

References

External links