Едва электричка подошла к перрону, как люди встали и начали забирать сумки.

In this pattern, едва ... как means as soon as ..., hardly ... when, or no sooner ... than.

So:

• Едва электричка подошла к перрону, как люди встали... = As soon as the train pulled up to the platform, people stood up...

A very important point: едва by itself often means barely, but in the construction едва ..., как ... it introduces two actions that happen almost immediately one after the other.

Электричка is a very common Russian word for a local electric commuter train or suburban train.

It is:

• feminine noun
• colloquial but completely standard in everyday speech
• different from a long-distance train (поезд)

So this sentence is talking about a commuter-type train arriving at the platform.

Because электричка is a feminine noun.

In the past tense, Russian verbs agree with the gender and number of the subject:

• masculine: подошёл
• feminine: подошла
• neuter: подошло
• plural: подошли

Since электричка is feminine singular, the verb is подошла.

The verb подойти means to come up to, to approach. It commonly takes к + dative.

So:

• подойти к перрону = to come up to the platform
• к requires the dative case
• therefore перрон becomes перрону

This is a normal verb + preposition pattern that you mostly just learn as a unit:

• подойти к окну = come up to the window
• подойти к двери = come up to the door
• подойти к перрону = come up to the platform

Because к requires the dative case, and перрон is a masculine noun.

Its forms are:

• nominative: перрон
• dative singular: перрону

So:

• к перрону = to the platform

Correct — here как does not mean how.

In the construction едва ..., как ..., как works like the second half of a fixed pattern, linking the two clauses:

• Едва X, как Y
• Hardly had X happened, when Y happened
• As soon as X happened, Y happened

So in this sentence, как is functioning more like when/then in English, not how.

Because the sentence has two clauses:

1. Едва электричка подошла к перрону
2. как люди встали и начали забирать сумки

Russian separates these clauses with a comma. This is especially normal in the paired construction едва ..., как ....

Because встать means to stand up / get to one’s feet, while стать usually means to become or sometimes functions as an auxiliary-like verb.

Here the meaning is physical movement:

• встали = stood up
• стали would not mean that here

So:

• люди встали = the people stood up

Встать is the perfective partner of вставать.

Perfective is used because the sentence presents the action as a completed event:

• the train arrived
• the people stood up
• they began taking their bags

So встали means they actually got up, as a completed step in the sequence.

If you used вставали, it would sound more like an ongoing/repeated process, which does not fit as well here.

Because начали забирать means started taking/picking up, which focuses on the beginning of the action.

Compare:

• начали забирать сумки = they began taking their bags
• забрали сумки = they took/collected their bags completely

The sentence describes what people did immediately when the train arrived: they stood up and started gathering their things. The focus is on the reaction beginning, not on whether every bag was already fully taken.

After начать, Russian often uses the imperfective infinitive when talking about starting an action.

So:

• начали забирать сумки = started taking their bags

This is very natural, because starting usually points to a process, and the imperfective expresses that process well.

Using начали забрать would be ungrammatical.

Russian often leaves out possessive words like my, your, their, or their own when the meaning is obvious from context.

Here it is clear that the people are taking their own bags, so сумки is enough.

Russian often sounds more natural than English in this way:

• Он поднял руку = He raised his hand
• Она закрыла глаза = She closed her eyes
• начали забирать сумки = started taking their bags

Adding свои is possible, but it is not necessary here.

Here сумки is in the accusative plural because it is the direct object of забирать.

For an inanimate noun like сумка, the accusative plural looks the same as the nominative plural:

• nominative plural: сумки
• accusative plural: сумки

So the form is the same, but its role in the sentence is different.

The word order is quite natural and helps the sentence flow as a sequence of events.

• Едва электричка подошла к перрону sets the scene
• как люди встали и начали забирать сумки gives the immediate result

Russian word order is more flexible than English, but this order is a very standard narrative pattern.

You could move things around in some contexts, but this version sounds smooth and neutral.

Yes, and that is something learners often notice.

By itself, едва often means barely:

• Я едва успел = I barely made it in time

But in the construction едва ..., как ..., it usually means something closer to:

• hardly had ... when
• as soon as ...

So you should recognize the whole pattern, not translate едва word-for-word on its own.

If you said:

• Когда электричка подошла к перрону, люди встали и начали забирать сумки

that would mean:

• When the train pulled up to the platform, people stood up and began taking their bags

This is perfectly normal, but едва ..., как ... adds a stronger sense of immediacy:

• almost instantly
• no delay
• right away

So the original sentence feels a bit more vivid: the train arrived, and immediately people were already on their feet and grabbing their bags.