Closing Doors

[becsfaversham]

hi,

I have witnessed in the past 2 days a couple of people vuirtually decapitated as doors have closed on them.

As mentioned before in a previous thread, this occurred to me as I do not hear the so called beep as they shut and I certainly don't notice any flashing lights.

However, the guy this morning I know his hearing is fine but people behave as if it is like lift doors and that they will re-open once some "sensors" pick up you are there. Er no! they keep on shutting. This guy this morning was centermentres away with his head outside and body inside and just pulled his head back in time. It was so worrying another guy made a grab to hold back the doors which you cannot do either.

One of these days they will cause some serious injury.

[sibodkent]

I actually saw a kid get his head stuck in a tube door a few years back.
he was checking what his Walkman was doing, headphones on full blast, head down, and the doors shut on him. He didn't even say thank you to the lady who pulled the emergency lever to get the train crew to rescue him!!!!

He could have been lobotomised - though you might argue that this would improve hius survival chances slightly....

[vinnie]

Dear Becs,
I don't think southeastern want to decapitate anybody, well maybe just a few.
I know it's madness, but i think,they would rather like you to get to the station in plenty of time.Crazy isn't it, but it might help keep the trains on time.
Just a pointer to your fellow travelers,don't try to enter the train when the doors are closing.Read the notice on the door,it's self explanatory.

[greenicing]

I once saw a clip on the local news of a lady getting a push chair stuck in some train doors - she wasn't hurrying to get on, but she somehow got stuck getting off, and the doors closed with part of the push chair stuck inside. The programme said that there were sensors at the bottom of the door but the chair wasn't far enough in to activate them. It was appaling watching a CCTV video of her desperately struggling with the chair before throwing her child from the chair onto the platform. Obviously people have to be careful and not try to jump on at the last minute but you would hope platform staff and the train crew would notice someone sticking out of a train before letting it go.

[Richard Trevithick]

Good post Vinnie.

My medium has contacted a technical expert on this area. Apparently each set of doors has a sensor to let the train and driver know they are fully closed though the "interlock"(??) circuit. Apparently some are worn a little, so doors may open by up to half-inch or so without the train or driver knowing. If the doors are open by any more than that then the driver can't take power and if forced open when travelling above a certain speed would give an emergency brake application.

When the doors are closing, they will make a beeping noise to alert you to this. For those with bad hearing, the lights above and/or to the side will also go out to act as a visual indication. As Vinnie said, the stickers tell you not to try getting on or off, but people still do. If the buzzer isn't sounding, then it's a clear safety issue and should be reported to the guard or driver immediately. However, they are not loud enough to be heard over most peoples walkmans!

As for the sensors for when the door is closing, they are only fitted on the newer Electrostar trains which have electric doors. On the older Networkers and 508s, once the guard/driver has pushed the door close button, they'll keep applying pressure until the door is closed and the circuit thingy tells the train and driver it's closed.

At the end of the day, it all comes down to common sense. If people want to misuse dangerous equipment then they should expect injury. I don't understand why people poke heads out of doors with tinny walkmans blasting their eardrums, or start holding doors open because their mates are too lazy to get out of bed on time, etc. If it's beeping, they you've missed either the train or the station - you'll have to wait for the next one - pay more attention or get up earlier next time! After all, why should the hundreds of other people who managed to get out of bed on time be delayed for those who didn't?

Good evening all,

RT

[chapelwood]

As Mr Trevithick says, if an object such as someone's head, or a pushchair, gets trapped in the doors, then the sensors ensure that the train can't start until the object is removed and the doors are properly shut. There have thankfully been very few incidents when something thin, like a scarf, has become trapped and the train has started, dragging the passenger along the platform. This shouldn't happen, and drivers and guards are trained to check the train carefully for this before starting off, and anyway, it should be possible to pull a scarf out from between the closed doors. In the rare cases when an incident has occurred it is thoroughly investigated, and changes made to try to prevent a recurrence.
www.raib.gov.uk/publications/investigation_reports/reports_2008/report172008.cfm
www.raib.gov.uk/publications/investigation_reports/reports_2007/report112007.cfm