Spanish solution

In railway and rapid transit parlance, the Spanish solution is a station layout with two railway platforms, one on each side of the track,[1] which allows for separate platforms for boarding and alighting.

[1] The separate designation of platforms for boarding and alighting has been proven effective at reducing dwell time at stations with high passenger numbers.

[2] The Spanish solution is most commonly applied at high-frequency underground metro stations.

Stations are sometimes retrofitted to include a Spanish solution layout to expand the capacity of existing stations when there is no space to widen the existing platform, an issue that can occur in island platform configurations.

To encourage passengers to exit to the correct platform, arriving trains typically first open their doors facing the platform for alighting passengers, and then open the doors for boarding passengers after a slight delay.