A railway platform is a section of pathway, alongside rail tracks at a train station, metro station or tram stop, at which passengers may board or alight from trains or trams. Almost all stations for rail transport have some form of platforms, with larger stations having multiple platforms. The term platform is most commonly used, in British usage, for designated areas where trains stop. Almost all stations have their platforms numbered consecutively from 1; a few stations including Cardiff Central, Haymarket, King's Cross, Stockport, (in the UK), Uppsala, (Sweden) and Lidcombe, Sydney (Australia) start from 0. The American equivalent is track.
The term railway platform can also mean any type of freight platform beside a rail siding for loading/unloading freight to/from rail cars.
Read more about Railway Platform: Characteristics, Types of Platform, Facilities, Platform Safety, Longest, Sharpest Curve
Famous quotes containing the words railway and/or platform:
“Her personality had an architectonic quality; I think of her when I see some of the great London railway termini, especially St. Pancras, with its soot and turrets, and she overshadowed her own daughters, whom she did not understand—my mother, who liked things to be nice; my dotty aunt. But my mother had not the strength to put even some physical distance between them, let alone keep the old monster at emotional arm’s length.”
—Angela Carter (1940–1992)
“It was a favor for which to be forever silent to be shown this vision. The earth beneath had become such a flitting thing of lights and shadows as the clouds had been before. It was not merely veiled to me, but it had passed away like the phantom of a shadow, skias onar, and this new platform was gained. As I had climbed above storm and cloud, so by successive days’ journeys I might reach the region of eternal day, beyond the tapering shadow of the earth.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)