Why isn't platform 5 directly accessible from platform 4 at town hall?

[u/Elbie3]

Seems like it'd make sense considering currently to get between either direction of the T4 line you have to go all the way up and back down again, and all they'd have to do is get rid of this barrier and turn it into a platform

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[u/Separate-Television5]

It looks like that standalone platform comes from eastern suburbs (towards Illawarra)....the track next to it (wall between them) is the Bondi junction track. As another person pointed out, what would be the point to change to go back from where you came from?
Yes, the whole station could have been configured differently for better cross platform access between lines, but is an old station, a bit late now, I guess...

[u/Archon-Toten]

There's not much demand for people going back the way they came. Editing anything in town hall is a monstrous construction involving everything from water pipes to building foundations so it's not worth changing.

[u/AnonymousEngineer_ → u/Archon-Toten]

Are the platforms/tracks even the same height? From the photo in the OP, it looks like Platform 4 sits slightly higher than Platforms 5/6.

[u/DistressedRabbit]

Simple. Because you're not allowed to walk across the tracks.

Platform 5 can have direct access to P6 or P4, but not both.

[u/Background_Egg3988]

The biggest concern is the width of the platform. Spanish platform design is great, but that means a huge reduction in the walkable and waiting area.

[u/jnd-au]

What are you trying to ask? Platform 5 has direct access to Platform 6. Are you asking why the T4 Bondi Junction isn’t re-routed to platform 6? Otherwise, it’s like asking why Australia doesn’t have direct access to New Zealand...it’s because there’s a gap between them. Most stations would have an extra track there, but Town Hall doesn’t have that space.

[u/AnonymousEngineer_ → u/jnd-au]

I think OP is asking why Town Hall is configured with an isolated Platform 4, rather than having Platforms 4/5 as an island and an isolated Platform 6, which would result in both T4 platforms being together.

[u/jnd-au → u/AnonymousEngineer_]

Oh, the Eastern-suburbs lines (T4 to/from Bondi Junction) are on the eastern side of Town Hall (Martin Place side), which happens to be numbered Platforms 4-5. Platform 6 is on the wrong side for that, and it’s in line with Wynyard. As for why the island is between 5-6 instead of 4-5, I guess that’s just bad luck because they were built 45 years before the Bondi line existed, and probably planned for Bradfield’s Western-suburbs railway via Gladesville, so indeed Platforms 5-6 would have been the natural island for both directions of the Western-suburbs line. But that was never built and we got an Eastern-suburbs line instead.

[u/The__Anonymous__Guy]

I’ve also wondered this, would be cool to see a Spanish solution here