This is a small detail but devil is in the details: I am pretty sure that this nuisance scares thousands of people away from French trains and I wish I was wrong.
Train departure board at Paris Gare d’Austerlitz (photo: Daniel Sparing)
In France, platforms are announced to passengers in the last minute, which forbids people to board trains already in the station while also making it impossible for the crowd around the departure boards to at least disperse to the different platforms (with hopefully some seats and waiting areas).
Dynamic is a positive word. If something is flexible, dynamic, adaptive, every engineer and researcher feels something warm inside… But I should get to the point.
In the Netherlands and Germany, train platforms are in the timetable. Fixed train platforms mean that commuters can get used to them in a week speeding up their journeys and raising their comfort, a fixed platform for two trains (hey, there are usually two tracks next to one platform) means a cross-platform, two-way connection.
Dynamic track assignment on a Schiphol platform (photo: Jayjay P)
Platforms do change, occasionally, whenever disruptions occur, and then you will be notified at latest on the planned platform.
There is a very good dynamic track allocation system in operation at the railway station beneath Amsterdam Schiphol Airport: Northbound trains use tracks 5-6 (and southbound trains 1-2). But these two tracks mean only one platform. Indeed, as you can see on the picture, the Hague-bound train is already assigned to the left platform, but the Paris high speed train might come on any side of this one platform.
In France, platforms are dynamic, so they are only announced some 20 minutes before departure, as written on the bottom of the board on the photo at the top, which is at Paris Gare d’Austerlitz. Now as you can see from the board, this is a station with 5 departures per hour, with some 21 tracks. You must be kidding…
And what is that message on the bottom right saying that you have to board the train 2 minutes before departure? What is the point of the advertised departure time then?
Look at Paris Gare du Nord as well:
Departure board at Paris Gare du Nord (photo: Daniel Sparing)
Ten departures an hour on some 27 tracks. Still, I can see the advantages of dynamic track assignment here, at Gare du Nord, which currently has much heavier traffic than Gare d’Austerlitz, and frequent delays can mean that dynamic platforms mean a relief in capacity.
Gated Eurostar platforms in Gare du Nord, Paris (photo: Daniel Sparing)
I am still not convinced, though, that all of these platforms are to be calculated in the future: consider, for example, that Eurostar trains running to London have to use one of the only two fenced platforms (see photo) because of paranoid UK security regulations. So my guess is that the Eurostar (to Ebbsfleet, London) already has a platform, but can’t be displayed pour des raisons techniques. Indeed, for example, my recent Paris-Rotterdam Thalys train was already on the platform with open doors (with LCDs displaying Rotterdam-Amsterdam) when the track number on the departure display was still blank.
The result, as you can imagine, is hundreds of passengers anxiously waiting and staring at the (one) departure board, which does not help either comfort or (passenger) capacity.
Passengers waiting for track announcements at Paris Gare du Nord (photo: Daniel Sparing)
To conclude, dynamic traffic management is awesome, but let me note the following on track assignments:
- Use fixed platforms whenever capacity is enough (or fixed platforms are necessary anyway because of infrastructure constraints). It is better to change 10-20% of the platforms then to not announce any of them.
- Okay, use dynamic platforms when you need to and can substantially increase a station capacity — although try to use pairs of tracks belonging to a single platform first (as pioneered at Schiphol).
- For God’s sake, announce those platforms you know in advance. Such as the Eurostar/Thalys platforms at Gare du Nord.
An exception I can think of, when waiting in a common departure area is much more comfortable for the passenger than on the platforms. Examples coming to mind are Chinese high speed stations with luxury departure areas over the platforms, or the case of Brussel Centraal where platforms are quite narrow so it does make sense to make people wait above.
Finally, something nice: here is said Gare du Nord from the outside. Metro (subway) and RER (commuter rail) connections are underground inside the building, but you can see the facade if you travel by taxi, bus or — like me — Vélib’.
Paris Gare du Nord (photo: Daniel Sparing)
Update: read this comment for some advantages of last-minute platform announcements.
