Short Platforms

Overview
Just like in real life, the length of platforms at a railway station can vary. This can be either to the station being made "Future Proof" or it maybe down to spacing or construction costs. When the platforms of a station on the line cannot accommodate the length of a train consisting of a certain number of carriages, the station will be classed as having Short Platforms.

To deal with this, longer trains will use a feature called Selective Door Opening or SDO, to control which doors are opened at the station and which ones will remain locked. In TS2015, the system for opening train doors is comparable to the SDO on the Class 458/5s in that, it'll open the doors on each coach that fully serves the platform. Regardless if the train is 5 or 10 coaches long. This is unrealistic for certain stock, such as the Class 321, 375, 465 and 466, where only the front full unit would open it's doors. If a full unit cannot fit at the station, a single door opened by the guard would be opened instead.

What counts as a short platform:
An example of a station with a short platform would be Platform 1 of East Minsterton. Platform 1 was never extended and can only fully accommodate an 8 coach train. If it's served by a train formed of 10 or 12 coaches, only the doors on the front 8 coaches will unlock. Passengers would have to move down the train to those coaches if they are in the incorrect part of the train and wish to alight at that station.

What DOESN'T count as a short platform: An example of a station that wouldn't be classed as having short platforms would be Ruxbury. At this station, the platform was shortened and can only accomodate a train of 6 coaches. However, that is the maximum coach length of a local stopping service on the line. No local services are longer than 6 coaches. In fact, they are most commonly seen in 2, 3 or 4 coach formations due to how rural the line is. The short platform classification would only be added if an Intercity service (formed of 9 coaches) were to stop there.

List of Stations with Short Platforms
Listed here are all of the stations on The Medway Vale Line & South East that are classed as having short platforms. Depot halts do not count and are, therefore, not included.

Stations with a maximum coach length of 2 coaches.

 * Pegwell Halt

Stations with a maximum coach length of 4 coaches.
Stations with a maximum coach length of 8 coaches.
 * Little Wallend
 * Lower Merley
 * Orsett
 * Westerby Calvert
 * Westerhedge
 * Royal Sevenoaks Hospital*
 * Chosley Crescent
 * East Minsterton (Platform 1 only)
 * Hantsbridge
 * Marden Green
 * Paisley Street
 * Summerton Rushett
 * Twynersh High Road (Platform 1 only)
 * Ulcombe
 * Uplyme