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When can I operate the emergency door release on a train?

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  • 28-07-2015 1:40am
    #1
    Fir3Fly1995
    Registered Users Posts: 38 ✭


    So... I have been in a position where I have been locked on a train with no way off.

    The train was shuttling between clonsilla and the M2 parkway? Anyways. I got locked on the train for about an hour. All the doors had either closed automatically or were closed by passengers leaving the train (probably the last ones to leave that carriage) I didn't get off because I was content to wait there for the train to shuttle back. Then the engines cut and a few minutes later the power cut off. Now the doors are locked because the button doesn't work. Would I be within my right to use the emergency door release (without breaking the glass. Say I had something that would unlock the cover) and open the door manually then reset the thing to get off the train?

    I am only asking because Google has failed me when trying to find an answer.

    It would be brilliant if someone could inform me if it would be appropriate to use the door release on the platform side of the train to get off if I'm locked on a train in the future.

    Thanks in advance.


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    #2
    Peregrinus
    Registered Users Posts: 26,152 ✭✭✭✭Peregrinus


    I don't see why you couldn't use the door release, assuming there is no other way to get off the train - e.g. you have tried and failed to attratct someone's attention, you have used your mobile phone to call Iarnrod Eireann, etc. They obviously shouldn't be locking the doors until they have checked that the train is empty.


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    #3
    Victor
    Registered Users Posts: 78,290 ✭✭✭✭Victor


    Fir3Fly1995 wrote: »
    when can I operate the emergency door release on a train.
    The requirements are in the name - you can use it in emergencies. Merely being locked in the train is not yet an emergency - you should contact Irish Rail or if that isn't possible, members of the public at the station or the Garda.

    If a train arrives at a terminus, you are meant to get off. You have no legitimate expectation that it will 'shuttle back'. The train may have been taken out of service for any number of reasons and the next service may be provided by another train, even on shuttle arrangements like Clonsilla-M3 Parkway.

    Do not attempt to reset any piece of railway equipment - you may be putting it to an incorrect setting - which may have implications in an actual emergency.
    Fir3Fly1995 wrote: »
    Say I had something that would unlock the cover) and open the door manually then reset the thing to get off the train? .
    Why do you have such equipment in your possession?


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    #4
    Fir3Fly1995
    Registered Users Posts: 38 ✭Fir3Fly1995


    Victor wrote: »
    Why do you have such equipment in your possession?

    I am only speaking hypothetically. However it's a square rod that goes into a circular hole. Or so I was told.


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    #5
    flyingsnail
    Registered Users Posts: 2,752 ✭✭✭flyingsnail


    Fir3Fly1995 wrote: »
    I am only speaking hypothetically. However it's a square rod that goes into a circular hole. Or so I was told.

    Another way of looking at it would be that it is a key that goes into a key hole, also depending on they type it may not be a simple square.

    Given that you got locked in, and presuming you have walked the length of the train in order to find an open door or somebody to let you out, and exhausted all available means to contact somebody to let you out, then I would say you could operate the emergency door release to get out but you should not attempt to reset it because you do not know the correct procedure to do so. After you got out find a member of staff and explain what happened an let them deal with it.


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    #6
    Miaireland
    Registered Users Posts: 4,063 ✭✭✭Miaireland


    The best way to avoid getting locked in a train is to get out when you get to the terminal regardless of whether it is a shuttle or not.

    Once you exhausted all other methods of trying to attract attention, ringing etc you could use the foor release. However once you get off you should make a member of staff aware of what you did.

    To be honest I would not be surprised if you could be open to some sort of fine however if you remained on the train at the terminal. Basically you created the situation for yourself. However I guess it could be argued that the train should not be locked until it is checked for remaining passengers.


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    #7
    Fir3Fly1995
    Registered Users Posts: 38 ✭Fir3Fly1995


    All good points. A few people had that happen before. For one, I knew the train was shuttling. I had overshot my stop twice because I was too busy being useless at listening and looking out for the stop. My uncle worked with Irish rail and says that to reset the emergency door release, just turn it back to the position you found it be it a handle like on a door or a twist knob. Just return it to its default position after opening the door.

    Yep. It's my fault for not obstructing the door. Especially because the train was shuttling and synced with the maynooth service. If I obstructed the door, when the power was cut then I'd be able to get off and shut the door behind me if nobody else was on board.

    What I don't get though is why the release levers are behind glass but the brakes are not.

    Keep the ideas coming. They are helping me to determine if I could exit the train and reset the release without getting fined.


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    #8
    Fir3Fly1995
    Registered Users Posts: 38 ✭Fir3Fly1995


    flyingsnail wrote:
    Another way of looking at it would be that it is a key that goes into a key hole, also depending on they type it may not be a simple square.


    That is a brilliant point. Although I generally consider a key to provide security of some degree. This I would call a... um... key? Lol. The fact the driver told me it was OK to remain on the train probably was a bad decision on their part.


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    #9
    Peregrinus
    Registered Users Posts: 26,152 ✭✭✭✭Peregrinus


    You won't be fined for remaining on the train after it has finished its journey (unless you are asked to get off, and refuse). That's not an offence, I'm pretty sure. The worst you will be subjected to is a bit of plain speaking about the idiocy of assuming that you know when the train is next scheduled to move. But the guy who was supposed to check the cars for passengers and didn't will be in more trouble than you.


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    #10
    flyingsnail
    Registered Users Posts: 2,752 ✭✭✭flyingsnail


    Fir3Fly1995 wrote: »
    That is a brilliant point. Although I generally consider a key to provide security of some degree. This I would call a... um... key? Lol. The fact the driver told me it was OK to remain on the train probably was a bad decision on their part.

    Well it does provide security, you can't just stick your finger in and work it.


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    #11
    L1011
    Moderators, Business & Finance Moderators, Motoring & Transport Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 67,859 Mod ✭✭✭✭L1011


    There are two stops between clonsilla and m3 - how did you miss your one twice?!


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    #12
    Fir3Fly1995
    Registered Users Posts: 38 ✭Fir3Fly1995


    I was destined for dunboyne. There was Hasfield and Dunboyne. Both were called dunboyne. Plus I didn't know that Dunboyne at the time was the second of the 4 places. I do now though. The second time I overshot was confusion again. I'd get lost in a saucer tbh.


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    #13
    Vic_08
    Registered Users Posts: 3,042 ✭✭✭Vic_08


    Massive stench of bullsh!t about all this.

    You missed your stop twice and managed to get locked on the train but just happen to have a key for the lock and some inside knowledge about how to work the door release mechanism? Yeah right, sounds much more like a silly little boy who is desperately looking for a justification for doing what he knows he shouldn't be doing namely playing with train controls he has no business playing with.

    Now that you know which station is which and that trains get locked when on extended stops you have no excuse to be in that situation again so all your hypotheticals are redundant.

    Passenger controls are for passengers.
    Emergency releases are for emergencies and are clearly marked as such.
    All other switches are to be used by authorised staff only and if placed behind a locked panel are there for a reason. If you are caught accessing these you would be liable to prosecution for interfering with railway equipment.


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    #14
    Victor
    Registered Users Posts: 78,290 ✭✭✭✭Victor


    A few years ago, on a Mark 4 set, the steward noticed that one of the doors (I think on the dining car) had been locked* using the key - so they unlocked it. What they didn't realise was that the normal lock had failed and this is why the door had been locked. The door opened when the train was travelling at speed.

    For all you or anyone here knows of door systems on specific train models, you will create a similar scenario where a door will open when the train is in service - a train that might have people standing against the door.

    *I suspect the situation is that a limited number of doors on a train can be locked (rather a certain minimum need to be usable) when the train is in-service. However, this shouldn't include the doors at the end of the train - people should have two routes of escape in the event of fire or other incident.


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