 Desiro trains will run on the route from September |
Hundreds of passengers will have to squeeze through one door when getting on and off a busy commuter train that is too long for a station platform. South West Trains is to introduce new Desiro 444s on to the Portsmouth to Waterloo service which runs through Portchester station in Hampshire.
Work to lengthen its platform is not due to start until next January.
When the 10-carriage trains start running in September, commuters will only be allowed to use the one door.
The rail firm says about 60 passengers are expected through the door during every peak-time trip by the trains, which have a 670-strong seating capacity. South West Trains spokesman Michael Cavanagh told BBC News Online: "We are happy that from a safety aspect everything is fine. We would not be doing it if it was not safe.
"The guard will open one door and the people will go in and out through that single entrance.
"It is a situation that is not the best but enables us to stop at that station."
The 444s are being introduced onto the route to replace existing slam-door trains and will run about twice every hour.
It had been feared that the short Portchester platform would see none of the trains stopping there.
�100,000 extension
Network Rail had originally said it would cost �750,000 to extend the platform - but the Strategic Rail Authority declared it would not get enough use to justify the expense.
However, a �100,000 extension project will get under way next year, to finish in the spring.
The Rail Passengers' Committee for Southern England has in the past questioned why train bosses had failed to anticipate the problem.
But chairman Tim Nicholson told BBC News Online that he accepted a solution of sorts had now been found.
He said: "If you ask the passengers if they are happy to get on the train with one door or have no trains, it's a no-brainer.
"It is not satisfactory but we can take heart that the passenger demand to lengthen the platform and keep the trains has been listened to."
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If you ask the passengers if they are happy to get on the train with one door or have no trains, it's a no-brainer 
