Ok, I understand that the Railway Authority don't want people to guess / predict platform numbers because of various reasons (problems with platform maintenance, safety and last min changes etc.
But what I don't understand is that why can't they change the seat allocation process such that people can reserve remaining available seats on the trains for free if they have arrived in station lobby? This can result is reduced rush to grab seats and will help people to make a more informed decision around whether to wait for the next train.
it takes longer to load a train with assigned seating -- that's why say, Amtrak might do it, but commuter rail trains, that at peak run minutes apart and want to minimize dwell-times at highly contended platforms, optimize for loading speed.
But what I don't understand is that why can't they change the seat allocation process such that people can reserve remaining available seats on the trains for free if they have arrived in station lobby? This can result is reduced rush to grab seats and will help people to make a more informed decision around whether to wait for the next train.