(Yesterday, 7:07 am)LVK 404L wrote You mean platforms 7 and 8 the shared platforms at rear,. Platform 9 is one of the 4 near Sainsbury's

I think for me some platforms are very under utilised .  Platform 1 now used a bit more since Northumberland Line started running.  But platforms 9, 10, 11 and 12 are constantly idle 

They could move some of the more locals to those platforms and free up the longer joint 5/6 and 7/8 platforms for Northbound if the lines have the layout to do so

It's better to keep the locals at the far end of the station. 

The track layout from both the Durham Coast and the Tyne Valley drops you over there (underpass at the Gateshead side). 

If you use P9-12 then it means crossing all the fast lines which reduces capacity. 

It's why pretty much btw. A Platform 0 for the Northumberland Line would be useful though especially since the platform the Northumberland Line currently uses can't take anything more than a 2 car train. 5 I think?