Luas Doors

MiniD

Can anybody confirm if Luas trams are supposed to open their doors after leaving the platform?
This happened today at Jervis, the tram had loaded and began to move away when the driver stopped to let some tourists on. This was at the entrance to the Millennium Walkway, just beyond the platform. I always though the doors could only be opened at platforms except in emergency.

MarkoP11

Doors can be released at anytime the tram is stationary there is no safety interlock to confirm a platform (which London Underground have)

There is one recorded incident where the driver opened the doors on the wrong side

europerson

MarkoP11 wrote:

There is one recorded incident where the driver opened the doors on the wrong side

I was on the LUAS at Harcourt once, heading into the city, when the driver opened the doors out onto Harcourt Street instead of onto the platform. It seemed he didn't realise his mistake.

MiniD

Thanks for the info Marko.

The idea of the doors opening on the wrong side seems scary considering the number of people who lean against doors during rush hour. The example given of Harcourt Street could result in passengers falling into traffic.

dowlingm

on the toronto subway there is an autobrake if people lean too hard on the doors in case the force was sufficient to open them.

nagero

dowlingm wrote:

on the toronto subway there is an autobrake if people lean too hard on the doors in case the force was sufficient to open them.

The thursday before christmas a luas from jervis to heuston did an auto emergency stop when some teenagers who were larking about (on it) fell against one of the doors and caused it to open outwards.

kevin

BrianD

MiniD wrote:

Can anybody confirm if Luas trams are supposed to open their doors after leaving the platform?
This happened today at Jervis, the tram had loaded and began to move away when the driver stopped to let some tourists on. This was at the entrance to the Millennium Walkway, just beyond the platform. I always though the doors could only be opened at platforms except in emergency.

Bear in mind that the red line platforms have 10m of "spare" platform as the trams are only 10m (can't recall if the trams stop at the very end of the platform). Also that these trams are designed to be used where there are no platforms and in many cities you alight from your tram straight into traffic e.g. Melbourne and San Francisco. I would say that there best practice prohibits opening doors once you've left the platform but in the Jervis st. case there isn't a safety issue.

I would have thought there is a way of preprogramming the trams so that the doors open at the correct side at each stop.

Victor

MiniD wrote:

The idea of the doors opening on the wrong side seems scary considering the number of people who lean against doors during rush hour. The example given of Harcourt Street could result in passengers falling into traffic.

Another reason to put a pedestrian barrier between the tracks and the road at that point. Many a taxi driver stops there and lets people out onto the tracks.

Doing it on the other side onto the footpath merely creates a trip / fall hazard. I think that footpath should have been made a platform, although as the second last stop, Harcourt tends to have nobody boarding inbound, but that may change with the BX extension.

Red Alert

The distance to the door step is less than 10 inches i'd say, so it's not really a falling hazard if the doors do indeed open. In fact a lot of streetcar systems used to and still do have the tram just stopping like a bus with no actual platform.

IMHO there are enough interlocks already - we don't really need platform edge detection. The doors could I suppose be included in the AVLS seen as it knows when a tram has entered and left a station; but sometimes keeping real-time safety like doors separate from information/timetabling equipment can be a good thing!

Victor

Red Alert wrote:

The distance to the door step is less than 10 inches i'd say, so it's not really a falling hazard if the doors do indeed open.

It's a hazard if there is a 10 inch step where nobody expects a step.