List of London Underground, Overground, Elizabeth line and Docklands Light Railway Stations With Short Platforms and Selective Door Opening

A Freedom of Information request to Transport for London (TfL) has revealed a list of stations on the TfL network with short platforms and selective door opening (SDO).

Request ID: FOI-1716-2425
Date published: 20 September 2024

• On the London Underground S Stock (Circle Line and District Line and Hammersmith & City Line and Metropolitan Line) I would like a list of which platforms and which stations have short platforms and which doors and which carriages and doors are released or are not released at these stations.

Station	Platform	SDO	Notes
Baker Street	Plt 5 EB	1F and 3R cut out	Circle / H&C platform.  CSDE only for S7
	Plt 6 WB	2F and 1R cut out	Circle / H&C platform.  CSDE only for S7
	Plt 1	[Future]	PTI Project may implement 3R cut out on arrival, i.e. S8 North End car
	Plt 2	[Future]	PTI Project may implement 2R cut out, i.e. 2R on S8 South End car
Great Portland Street	Plt 1 WB	1R cut out (S8)
	Plt 2 EB	1R cut out (S8)
Barbican	Plt 1 EB	2R cut out (S8)
	Plt 2 WB	1F and 1R cut out (S8)	S7 is All Doors Enabled.
Harrow-on-the-Hill	Plt 4 NB	1R cut out (S8)	At SMA 9 ATC commissioning, stopping position to be moved and then All Doors Enabled.
Eastcote	Plt 1 WB	1R cut out
Rayners Lane	Plt 2 EB	1R cut out
Parsons Green	Plt 1 WB	1R cut out
Gloucester Road	Plt 1 WB	1F and 1R cut out
	Plt 2 WB	1F and 1R cut out
West Kensington	Plt 2 EB	1R cut out	Became 1 rear cut out at SMA5 ATC commissioning with change of stopping position.
Paddington (Circle)	Plt 1 WB/IR	1F and 2R cut out	Changed 29/11/2016 after OPO monitor removed.  No change of stopping position.
	Plt 2 EB/OR	1F and 2R cut out
Bayswater	Plt 1 WB/IR	2F and 2R cut out
	Plt 2 EB/OR	2F and 2R cut out
Notting Hill Gate	Plt 1 WB/IR	2F and 2R cut out
	Plt 2 EB/OR	1F and 2R cut out
Goldhawk Road	Plt 1 EB	1 front cut out	Changed early 2013 to allow for new platform edge barrier.  No change of stopping position.
Hammersmith (H&C)	Plt 3	1R cut out	Departure end doorway.
Temple	Plt 1 WB	1F cut out
	Plt 2 EB	1R cut out
Monument	Plt 1 WB	1R cut out
	Plt 2 EB	1F cut out
Ealing Broadway	Plt 7	1R cut out	Departure end doorway.
Ealing Common	Plt 1 WB	1F cut out	Changed 12/12/2014 after slimmer OPO monitor for Picc fitted.  No change of stopping position.
	Plt 2 EB	2R cut out
Acton Town	Plt 4 EB	1R cut out

Please note, the tinted items in the first column are for Metropolitan line S8 trains. The descriptions define S7 and S8 differences where both use the same platforms. For Circle line, District line and Hammersmith & City line the trains are always S7 (7 cars). For Metropolitan line, the trains are always S8 (8 cars).

• On the London Underground 1995 Stock (Northern Line) I would like a list of which platforms and which stations have short platforms and which doors and which carriages and doors are released or are not released at these stations.

FDCO/EDCO platforms

Location	Doors inhibited
Camden Town Northbound Platform 3	Rear Doors
Euston Southbound Platform 6	Rear Doors
Charing Cross Northbound Platform 5	Front Doors
Charing Cross Southbound Platform 6	Rear Doors
Moorgate Southbound Platform 8	Front Doors
Clapham Common Southbound Platform 2	Rear Doors

• On the Elizabeth Line Class 345 (the Reading to Shenfield route) I would like a list of which platforms and which stations have short platforms and which doors and which carriages and doors are released or are not released at these stations.

The Automatic Selective Door Opening (ASDO) system on our trains will release the doors based on the shortest platform at each station. Some platforms may be long enough to accommodate the train, but some doors may still not open. The system utilises a Global Positioning System (GPS) which is able to confirm where the train is but is not accurate enough to correctly identify the platform number. Therefore, where we have short platforms or large steps between train and platform (such as Paddington due to curvature) certain doors will not open, but this is applied for all platforms at that station.

All trains are 9 carriages long, with three sets of doors on each side of each carriage. Restrictions are in place at the following locations:

Shenfield Route
Maryland	7 carriages will open their doors (21 doors open out of 27).
Forest Gate	7 carriages, and one set of doors on carriage 8, will open (22 doors out of 27).
Manor Park	7 carriages will open their doors (21 doors open out of 27).
Seven Kings	8 carriages will open their doors (24 doors open out of 27).

Reading / Heathrow Route
Twyford	7 carriages, and two sets of doors on carriage 8, will open (23 doors out of 27).
Maidenhead	7 carriages, and two sets of doors on carriage 8, will open (23 doors out of 27).
Taplow	8 carriages will open their doors (24 doors open out of 27).
Burnham	8 carriages will open their doors (24 doors open out of 27).
Langley	7 carriages, and one set of doors on carriage 8, will open (22 doors out of 27).
Iver	8 carriages will open their doors (24 doors open out of 27).
Hayes & Harlington	8 carriages will open and two sets of doors on carriage 9 will open (26 doors open out of 27).
Hanwell	6 carriages will open, and one set of doors on carriage 7 will open (19 out of 27).
Paddington (National Rail station)	7 carriages will open their doors (21 doors open out of 27). This is due to platform curvature.

• On the London Overground Class 378 (the East London Line route) I would like a list of which platforms and which stations have short platforms and which doors and which carriages and doors are released or are not released at these stations.

The East London line operates only the class 378 fleet 5 car units which this answer responds too.

East London line Route
Canada Water	Both directions 8 door release (front 4 cars).
Rotherhithe	Both directions 8 door release (front 4 cars).
Shadwell	Southbound (Platform 2) only 9 door release (just the last set of doors in the rear car).
Surrey Quays*	Southbound (Platform 2) only 8 door release (front 4 cars).
Wapping	Both directions 8 door release (front 4 cars).

*This is a temporary measure while the works at Surrey Quays are taking place.

• On the Docklands Light Railway (I think the Lewisham route) I would like a list of which platforms and which stations have short platforms and which doors and which carriages are released or are not released at these stations.

There are 4 stations on DLR that have short platforms where “selective door opening” is used for 3-car trains (2-car trains fit fully in all platforms and all doors are enabled).

The 4 stations are Gallions Reach, Royal Albert, Cutty Sark, and Elverson Road. Selective door opening applies to both platforms at each of these stations, i.e., 8 platforms in total. At each of these stations, a 3-car train will have the first two sets and the last two sets of doors inhibited, i.e., four of the twelve sets of doors on the train will remain closed.

Going back three years ago (year 2021), I posted a Freedom of Information release on Twitter (now known as X), a list of stations on the TfL network with short platforms.

#TfL Freedom of Information release: List of #London Underground (Sub-Surface Lines & Northern Line), Overground, DLR and TfL Rail/Elizabeth Line stations with short platforms.https://t.co/PbLXZJcKhH pic.twitter.com/IyQwzVV1bn

— CLondoner92 (@CLondoner92) November 24, 2021

I invite you to follow me on X by searching for @CLondoner92 or by clicking on the direct link to my X page here. I'm also on BlueSky and Mastodon.