Platform

… [Shigeki Murayama]
[Station functions and facilities]
The most basic function of a station is to ensure the scheduled operation of trains, including arrival and departure, and to allow passengers to board and disembark safely and smoothly. In addition to arrival and departure, trains can also pass, wait, overtake, split and merge (splitting is when a train has two destinations or the number of cars in a train is reduced, and merging is the opposite of splitting), and the shape of the tracks and platform (also simply called a platform) required (this is called wiring) is determined accordingly. Platforms are facilities for passengers to board and disembark, and their size depends on the number of passengers getting on and off, the length of the train, etc. …

*Some terminology explanations that mention "platform" are listed below.

Source | Heibonsha World Encyclopedia 2nd Edition | Information

…【村山 繁樹】
［駅の機能と設備］
　駅の最も基本的な機能は，到着や出発など列車の定められた運行を確保することと，旅客の乗車，降車を安全に円滑に行うことである。駅における列車の運行形態には，到着や出発のほかに，通過，待避と追越し，分割と併合(分割は列車の行先が2方向になる場合や，列車の編成両数を減らす場合に列車を二分すること，併合は分割の逆)などがあり，これに応じて必要な線路とプラットフォームplatform(単にホームともいう)の形状(これを配線という)が決まる。ホームは旅客の乗車と降車のための設備で，その大きさは旅客の乗降数，列車の編成長などに左右される。…

※「platform」について言及している用語解説の一部を掲載しています。

出典｜株式会社平凡社世界大百科事典 第２版について | 情報