On 2011-03-04 19:06:08 +0000, Paul Corfield said:

On Fri, 04 Mar 2011 13:14:12 +0000, Tristan Miller
wrote:


I suspect that in many cases trains actually do leave from the same
platform on a consistent basis - it just doesn't feel like it.
Stratford is a great big jumble of a station and yet many services use
the same platforms day in, day out and passengers know exactly where to
go. Trains are also shown on indicators well in advance of their
arrival time and certainly before they will have left Liverpool Street
(for e/b services).

Of course they leave from the same platforms consistently, at least at
Liverpool Street. One of the problems caused by the late advertising of
platforms is that by the time you get onto the platform you find it's
full already as the regulars know which platform the train almost
always uses. It puts you at a real disadvantage when seats are short.

Note that I'm not talking about Tristan's complaint, that platforming
by destination is not consistent. He's right, but individual services
do, much more often than not, leave from the same, allocated, platform
every day.

If anyone doubts that platforming is planned in why do they imagine
that the railway so often makes platform alteration announcements? It's
not because they've changed their mind (advertised it first at one
platform then another), It's because the train will not be using its
booked platform, the one that all of the regulars expect it to use.