A split platform or separate platform is a station that has a platform for each track, split onto two or more levels. This configuration allows a narrower station plan horizontally, at the expense of a deeper vertical elevation, because sets of tracks and platforms are stacked above each other. Where two rail lines cross or run parallel for a time, split platforms are sometimes used in a hybrid arrangement that allows for convenient cross-platform interchange between trains running in the same general direction.
A pair of split level platforms in Harvard station of the Boston-Cambridge MBTA Red Line service. The upper (outbound) platform at left is empty, while the lower (inbound) platform is relatively crowded.
A railway platform is an area alongside a railway track providing convenient access to trains. Almost all stations have some form of platform, with larger stations having multiple platforms.
Platform at Rotterdam Centraal station, Netherlands
Station platforms at Arts et Métiers station on Line 11 of the Paris Métro
Oslo airport train station, Platform 0
Platform barriers on the Berlin-Hamburg high speed line