Just about all new Metros/subways have “platform screen doors” - a wall along the platform with doors that line up with the transit car’s doors that open at the same time. This prevents (or at least increases the difficulty) falling (or being pushed) onto the tracks.
Some systems are retrofitting their stations. How time consuming is this? How fast could you install them in one station? Days? Weeks? Months? It would mean shutting down a station (or part of a platform - warning passengers wanting to disembark at this station to move to appropriate cars) while installation took place. (of course - some platforms are so narrow (e.g. many in NYC) that installation would be impossible.)
Some Metro systems (such as Montreal) have more than one type of train - with doors that would line up in different places. Can this be accommodated?
Have you experienced such retrofitting in your system? How long did it take (for one station), and what impact was there on transit service?
The biggest issue is that the trains need to have an Automatic Train Control System to ensure that they stop in the correct place. The doors obviously have to match the gates.
We are experiencing a refit of our rail line from a normal heavy rail to a metro system right now. The rail line has just been closed down for at least a year and possibly longer to get all the required work done. That is on top of year’s + worth of weekend preparatory work. A few built-as-metro lines have just opened up and this will serve as an extension of those, so has to be consistent with them.
While the change in the platforms with installation of new screens is the most visible change, the fact that its working on a 130 year old railway line means that almost everything needs replacement. The platform heights might be wrong, all the signalling equipment and so on has to be changed to deal with a driverless train belting along every few minutes instead of a slow standard train every 15. If you adjust platform heights, then all the site drainage, step, building thresholds and wall vents may need adjusting as well, so it goes on and on into the detail.
There are no tunnels on this section but modern high-speed trains tilt, so their kinematic envelope [there’s your word of the week] means that tunnel and bridge passage walls have to be modified.
Platform work can be accommodated by spot closures but signalling, track and adjacent infrastructure work all require much longer periods of safe shutdown to be done properly.
The Bankstown line, which runs southwest from the city is being converted to a metro line. A year-long shutdown is painful, but I think most regular commuters are looking at the eventual benefit. It will change my work trip from 3 trains to one, which is a nice thing to wait for.
I don’t think that’s true. I’ve been using it for decades and all the cars looked identical. Now they have new cars, but I think the door layout is the same as the old one. Although there is an operator, the actual operations are automatic and the trains all stop at the exact same place, so such an installation would certainly be feasible. That said, there are some rail lines that certainly are different from the Metro including one that is supposed to start up some time next year.
The two older Montreal models had four doors; the newest ones have three doors. Same car and train lengths. All the driver does is close the doors, and keep a lookout for anything on the tracks in front of the train. They will be keeping some of the older ones for a few years longer.
The new REM light rail system (part of which is in operation) is totally incompatible with the Metro.
We have two separate train systems which are used by commuters:
The Chicago Transit Authority’s “L” (for “elevated train”) system, which uses subway-style electric train cars (which take power from a third rail). Despite the name, only part of the system is actually elevated (often running directly above city streets); other sections either do run in subway segments, or at street level. The L primarily runs in the city of Chicago, though some lines extend out to nearby suburbs.
The Regional Transportation Authority’s “Metra” system, which uses more traditional passenger train cars; Metra trains run on traditional railway tracks (most of the lines run on trackage which are owned by freight railroads), and all but one line use diesel-electric locomotives to pull/push the trains. Metra’s lines run out from downtown Chicago to the suburbs, and are primarily used by workers (and tourists) coming into the city from the burbs.
All of the stations on both lines have some variation on a traditional passenger platform, with the platform being either even with the bottom of an open train door, or (in the case of many Metra platforms) requiring taking a step up to board the train, as shown below. It does mean that the platforms are higher than track level (L trains moreso than most Metra platforms).
While both systems (which have operated for many decades) have been undergoing some modernization over the last decades, not only have they not undertaken the sort of safety improvements which the OP describes, I’ve not ever even heard of such systems being considered here.
Not only would they require massive retrofits, but both systems have faced decreased ridership (and thus, decreased revenues) for years, a situation which was accelerated by COVID. Right now, funding is going into simply making sure that the trains keep running, and that the tracks, trains, and stations aren’t falling apart – such a safety upgrade isn’t in the cards here.
I don’t have any experience with that, but here in Cleveland, trains can be up to three cars long, and some stations have a platform shorter than that. The solution as implemented is that only one door opens at that platform. I think there might be some platforms that can’t even accommodate the front door of the last car; for those, if you’re planning on getting off at that station, you just need to make sure you’re in one of the front cars.
It’s a chicken and egg situation. Make the system more user-friendly, and people will use it. Most inner-city transit systems have a hard time coping with traffic.
I’ve ridden metro lines in many cities, but I’ve only seen this type of door system in Japan and with some airport shuttle trains. Reading the Wikipedia article, it looks like most of the older locations are in Asia, with just a few much newer lines trying it out elsewhere.
In part, but a big part of the issue is also that the Chicago systems (Metra, in particular) are built around the primary goal of supporting work commuters who are coming into the downtown area, either from outlying parts of the city, or the suburbs. They’re hub-and-spoke systems.
Changes in where people work (e.g., the growth in office areas beyond downtown) have been happening for decades, and going from your home in one suburb, to your place of work in a different suburb, is challenging and time-consuming, if not impossible, with the current system
Add to that the fact that, nearly five years after COVID began, many office workers either are now working hybrid (not going in to the office every day), or working entirely from home. Making the commuter rail system “more user-friendly” won’t bring back daily commuting among these people.
This article on the CTA’s website indicates that, in a given year, close to 2,000 people wind up on the tracks in the L system. However, it notes that the “overwhelming majority” of them are intentionally going onto the tracks: retrieving a dropped cell phone, vandalizing or tagging, and intending to walk along the tracks to another station. It does not give a number for how many fall onto the tracks.
My dad was a printing machinist. I remember him marveling over the fact that commuter train platforms had no protection other than a yellow line separating commuters from passing trains. OTOH, other than some sympathy for what I suspect is a very small number of people who are pushed in front of trains, absent derailments, in 100% of train/pedestrian accidents, the train is where it is supposed to be…
Due to the Americans with Disabilities Act, train systems have been retrofitting train platforms with a “bumpy” surface in the danger area. That said, it requires someone to be paying attention in order to notice them.
Based on the annual safety campaigns that Metra runs, I suspect that the major cause of train-pedestrian incidents, at least around here, are impatient people crossing tracks while the warning gates are down and the warning lights are flashing.
Yeah, I thought about mentioning the bumps. Still pretty meagre “protection” for a distracted person in a hurry wrassling a briefcase and umbrella in inclement weather, within just a few feet of 50 ton train passing at 60 MPH…
I’ve never been terribly sympathetic for pedestrians who got in the way of commuter trains. Of course, I remember when the trains used to stop at our local station and wave pedestrians to cross in front of them to get on.
Montreal’s Metro has at least one suicide attempt every week - many are not successful. There was a noted increase after a major bridge installed “suicide barriers” next to its sidewalks. Jacques Cartier Bridge Sidewalk | PJCCI
The platform barriers do a couple of things. Firstly, as everyone has noted, they reduce the chances of people waiting for trains falling onto the tracks, letting prams and strollers roll over the edge, or people to drop their phones. Each of these can be fatal and horrible. Crewed trains have little chance of stopping in time, but driverless trains probably have nil.
The metros work on high frequency of trains, but to keep safe separation they need to arrive and leave within a very narrow time band. The platform doors enforce that better than people running for a train and it leaving with someone still trying to pull themselves through a closed door, especially if there is no guard. And trains with a human guard will inevitably hold the train that few seconds longer, which encourages a few more desperadoes to then try to board.
The train line closure and upgrade that i’m experiencing is also part of a larger task in untangling the city and suburban system, to stop a delay or closure on one track from affecting every other rail operation. That’s where the big wins come in on-time running and long-term reliability, which is what encourages people back onto trains.
