Split platform

This configuration allows a narrower station plan (or footprint) horizontally, at the expense of a deeper (or higher) vertical elevation, because sets of tracks and platforms are stacked above each other.

On the London Underground, to minimise the risk of subsidence, the tunnel alignments largely followed the roads on the surface and avoided passing under buildings.

[note 1] If a road was too narrow to allow the construction of side-by-side tunnels, they would be aligned one above the other, so that a number of stations have platforms at different levels.

The station has two island platforms, one above the other, but the western part is closed off by a wall and is not in use, as it was originally designed to accommodate a transfer to the unbuilt U10 line.

On Vienna U-Bahn line U3, the stations Neubaugasse, Zieglergasse, Herrengasse, Stephansplatz and Stubentor have two levels of platforms.

On the Brussels metro network, a similar arrangement can be found at stations Merode and Weststation (on lines 2 and 6).

When Makuharitoyosuna Station opened on the Keiyo Line on 18 March 2023, it became the newest split platform in the country.

In Sydney, Town Hall station is bi-level; additionally the surface level Redfern and Central have underground platforms as part of the Eastern Suburbs line.