April 17, 2008
Metro Opens Doors ... Manually
Metro sent around an announcement yesterday that in the past 100 days, train doors have opened on the side without a platform four times. While they say these mistakes mark only four instances in about the last 22 million times that train doors have opened, they're taking the problem seriously enough that for the foreseeable future, Metrorail operators have been instructed to open train doors manually.
Train doors are supposed to open automatically, although operators have always closed them manually. The four mistakes have occurred as the result of electromagnetic interference from ongoing power substation upgrades. Until a new electronic component can be installed in each of Metro’s 1,066 rail cars, which will take at least until the fall of 2009, operators will have to both open and close the doors by pushing a button.
Having Metrorail doors open on the wrong side and accidentally plummeting down to the tracks ranks right up there at the top of my list of semi-irrational city life fears, such as falling through a loose sidewalk grate or getting hit by a Metrobus. As such, I'm relieved that Metro isn't taking any more chances. Still, I'm also curious to see how this change will affect train schedules. Will doors open more slowly? Will it mean an end to operators needing to scoot the train forward a few feet so that the doors can open? Take note, DCist readers, and let us know what you see.
Photo by Lilliang
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Um, getting hit by a Metrobus is a deeply rational fear.
ah... already working on new excuses for lousy service. but i'm heartened by the fact that they're at least thinking ahead...
The Metro is haunted, I tells ya! Whenever I rides through the Rhode Island Avenue stop, I hear children weeping in the dark. Its the ghosts of crybaby bridge!
buncha wimps! the metro in Paris lets you open the doors yourself while the train is still moving. public transit is so much more exciting that way!
Does this mean I am more or less likely to get stuck in a closing door? Because that is a fear I've had since it happened to me and most of the people on the train just stared at me like I was facing certain death.
I haven't seen doors opening on the wrong side. But I did sit in the front car of a Metro train and have a Metro guy who had gotten on at Union Station get off at the Metro repair shop between (I think) NY Ave and Rhode Island Ave metro stops. The conductor slowly stopped the train, the guy opened one of the doors, hopped out, door closed, and we kept on going. I had never seen that before. But it was kinda cool.
What was scary was the Metro driver's fingernails. She had super-curving claws of death. I dunno how the heck she was able to do much with those scary claws.
Meh....I bet it's just a minor annoyance on behalf of the train conductors. But for what it's worth, they now have full power to slam the doors on silly tourists and commuters who run their asses off to try and get on a train!
terrific. just one more thing that's going wrong. keep up the good work, sen. coburn.
stupid okie ass.
"the metro in Paris lets you open the doors yourself while the train is still moving. public transit is so much more exciting that way!"
In fact, that is the only way to open the doors. You have to do it yourself. It is a very "hands-on" Metro system.
It will take 3-5 more seconds for doors to open at stations with middle platforms, since the operator will have to walk across the cab to access the controls. There shouldn't be any issues.
Madrid's Metro (actually called Metro in that case!) also is hands-on for the doors, although you have to be at a station for them to open. I don't know if there is an electronic station interlock, or more likely a wheels-stopped interlock, but you either have to hold a lever (older cars), or push a button (newer cars) for the door to open. That goes from the outside and the inside. Onboard, people hold the lever/button as they roll in to the station so the door opens as soon as it can.
In one way it saves wear/tear on the doors as they only open when needed. And in good Washingtonian spirit, it can keep out the uninitiated riff-raff who don't know to press the button to get in and the train takes off without them...
It's not the doors opening that's the problem... it's trying to get them shut... I always love wind-swept Metro rides when the doors fail to close.
I saw a picture of Sen. Coburn when I went to his website this morning. I think his furrow-like middle part is meant to remind people of the agricultural nature of the state he represents.
Now there's even more reason for me to want to drive the Metro for a day! I want to play God by controlling your doors, making your random Metro warnings, and mispronouncing your stop at Judiciary Square! When will this contest be announced???
so 100 days from now, we get another press release that says they're switching back after metro operators manually open the wrong door 10 times? I mean really... what's the over/under on that one?
Well, if there's a 4/22,000,000 chance that the computer will open the wrong doors, I would guess that's better than the chance of an absent minded conductor opening the wrong doors??
Metro is just trying to avoid a passenger self evacuation like the one in Chicago. And, of course, by passengers I mean the CHUDs.
The signs are clear people. The CHUDs, and possibly the Goatmen are out there and their rise is imminent. Doors opening on the side without the platform? Makes perfect sense if you live underground.
Stock up on consumer durables; this is the big one.
How does Metro work anyway? I've heard conflicting things about Metro being a fully-automated system, but I used to take the yellow line across the Potomac every day and I always saw the conductor speeding up and slowing down with his little joystick instead of just sitting there, and what about the 'few feet' platform adjustments, etc?
I would assume that they control the speed. There are days when you go flying through the tunnel, and there are days when you wish you were flying through the tunnel.
Though, officially, Metro never speeds.
"we get another press release that says they're switching back after metro operators manually open the wrong door 10 times?"
Afaik, the platform detection interlock is still active, even when doors are manually opened. In order for a wrong side opening to occur, the operator would have to hit the button on the wrong side of the cab, and the interlock would have to malfunction.
Operators have the choice of controlling the speed or letting the computer do it.
I always heard that Metro could be 100% automatic, but the conductors were there in case of emergency. (Ever seen Westworld?)
But, like 8-car trains, the groovy 70s utopian ideal of Metro has been crushed by cold, hard reality.
Metro should organize a conductor fantasy camp. I'd be there.
All drivers do on metro trains is close (now open too, apparently) the doors. That's it. Everything else is 100% computer controlled.
Madrid's Metro (actually called Metro in that case!) also is hands-on for the doors, although you have to be at a station for them to open.
A couple of other European systems do the same thing (Munich and/or Berlin come to mind from personal experience). I kind of like that system. Otherwise I just feel tempted to block someone who comes running down the escalator and throws their briefcase, arm or leg at the door to stop it from closing.
Does this mean I am more or less likely to get stuck in a closing door? Because that is a fear I've had since it happened to me and most of the people on the train just stared at me like I was facing certain death.
You really didn't think someone was going to actually help you, did you? They were all thinking "there but for the grace of God....oh well...hey, let's see what Garfield's up to today!"