Train position at NYP platforms

I notice that sometimes, when I go to the platform from the NJT concourse, the train is parked at the extreme west end of the platform, so passengers tend to run along the platform for a couple hundred feet and then pile into the last car.
What's the reason for positioning the train that way? Is is so another train could pull up behind it?

Yea, sometimes, especially on tracks 7 to 13ish, trains are often brought in behind other trains, usually Amtrak trains. This is a real pain in the a$$, especially with passegners coming from the 7th Ave concourse.

Sometimes, someone has a brain fart, and boards the two trains on the same track. For example, the west train on track 11 being teh 1039 Dover train, while the east train is the 1041 Long Branch train.......This is very confusing and completely stupid...but gets done every once in a while.

But sometimes there is a short train, like 6 cars, that is "respotted" on the platform, so one group of passengers doesn't have to walk a long time to the train. It is moved to the middle of the platform, so everyone has to walk an "equal" distance to teh train.

And people always pile in teh last door anyway, and about 90 percent of the time turn to the right when they board....interestingly......

Tracks 10-13 are considered "Middle Tracks" because there are back-to-back interlocking signals at the middle of the platform. This is why you see 2 trains parked or loading right behind each other. It's most annoying when two trains discharge on the same platform in the morning. It'll take forever for the passengers on the 2nd arriving train to get upstairs.

Jtgshu wrote:And people always pile in teh last door anyway, and about 90 percent of the time turn to the right when they board....interestingly......

They have done studies for retail stores and have determined that people naturally turn to the right want to turn to the right when they enter buildings.

Olton Hall wrote:

Jtgshu wrote:And people always pile in teh last door anyway, and about 90 percent of the time turn to the right when they board....interestingly......

They have done studies for retail stores and have determined that people naturally turn to the right want to turn to the right when they enter buildings.

I've heard similar studies done on amusement parks as well. The conclusion: people always go to the right!

So the next time you enter a crowded area, go left!