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Brunel may have designed the whole thing with a lot of clearance, but elevated passenger platforms have to be sufficiently close to train doors so that passengers don't fall down, so modern platforms should conform to standard standard-gauge British trains and thus likely follow a narrower clearance. British W6 etc. and C1 loading gauges are 2,820 mm wide at platfrom level, UIC loading gauges are 3,150 mm wide, that is, you may need to move back platforms by up to 165 mm. From the point of view of infrastructure, this is a minor problem if Brunel-time platforms only got some light structure added, which can me dismantled easily; but a big problem if concrete or masonry side walls have to be removed and replaced. From a train operator point of view, British-gauge passenger trains on UIC-gauge lines may need telescoping doorsteps to bridge the gap.

*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.
by DoDo on Mon Dec 5th, 2011 at 12:30:17 PM EST
[ Parent ]
165 mm ; aka "Mind the Gap", a commonly heard expression on UK railways already

keep to the Fen Causeway
by Helen (lareinagal at yahoo dot co dot uk) on Mon Dec 5th, 2011 at 12:33:13 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Not only in Britain. You normally have a gap anyway because you leave a tolerance and because train width is less than loading gauge width due to curvature – the up to 165 mm would come as extra to that. (It's been a long time I was in Britain, though, so you tell me if gaps can be much wider there than say France.)

*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.
by DoDo on Mon Dec 5th, 2011 at 12:42:05 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Telescoping doorstep of a Eurostar train (which is British loading gauge) at Gaure du Nord in France:



*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.

by DoDo on Mon Dec 5th, 2011 at 12:38:24 PM EST
[ Parent ]
I've seen that style of door before, on the 1935 style Burlington Zephyrs that didn't have to call at floor-level platforms.

Stephen Karlson ATTITUDE is a nine letter word. BOATSPEED.
by SHKarlson (shkarlson at frontier dot com) on Tue Dec 6th, 2011 at 12:09:04 AM EST
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