Cross-platform interchange

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A diagram of how a cross-platform interchange works

Passengers interchange between the Central Line and 'one' train service at Stratford station in London, England.

A cross-platform interchange is a type of interchange between different lines in a metro system. The term originates with the London Underground; such layouts exist in other networks but are not commonly so named. In the United States, it is referred to as simply a "transfer".

It occurs in a system with island platforms, a single platform in between the two directions of travel, or two platforms between the tracks, connected by level corridors. In a cross-platform interchange, instead of the two opposite directions of a single line sharing an island platform, two similar directions of two different lines share it. (But this comes to a common exception in Hong Kong's Mass Transit Railway which 3 of its stations feature an inverse cross-platform interchange.) In London's deep-level tube network, these usually occur in pairs for both directions of two lines. This allows for extremely quick and convenient interchange. The effect is that the two lines, despite having completely separate operation, can be treated by passengers as branches of a single network.

Below is a simplified diagram of one such interchange at Oxford Circus tube station, between the Bakerloo Line and the Victoria Line:

Lionel-Groulx station in Montreal. The upper platforms serve Henri-Bourassa (orange line) and Honoré-Beaugrand (green line) trains, entering downtown; the lower platforms serve Côte-Vertu (orange line) and Angrignon (green line) trains, leaving downtown. Since most transferring passengers are either entering or leaving downtown, most transfers can be done by simply crossing the platform.

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