PalQ

I recently read in the free publication News from France (www.ambafrance-us.org/publi) that new security measures were being put in place in the metro:

here's the exact wording that i really don't fully understand what it means:

"The Paris Metro is implementing a new safety system that will connect the doors of trains to platforms. This new system is expected to alleviate 60% of Metro irregularities. So far, the installation of these platform doors have taken place in ten metro stations, including Les Invalides and Saint-Lazare. Three prototypes are being tested and compared. It is like that the third prototype will become operational."

Now - what i don't for sure understand and maybe someone can help me:

"irregularities" - does this mean accidents?

and what does it mean to connect the doors to platforms - and they talk of platform doors - does this mean they are eliminating the gap (Mind the Gap) as this causes folks to stumble or

are they actually building platform doors that can be closed off when the train approaches to prevent overcrowding (like on the new Meteor line)??

I'm intensely interested in all things metro and am wondering just what the new devices are and how they will eliminate 60% of irregularities?

Help???

Demented

I'm not sure of what they're talking about, but maybe they're trying to fix the fact that not all of the doors open automatically when the train stops?

Sometimes they do, sometimes they don't and then you have to press a special release lever to get out?

I don't know.

D

Christina

Have you taken the Meteor line? I imagine it's like that.

The irregularities are people falling onto the tracks (or jumping, or being pushed). They have glass safety doors along the quay to prevent that, and they open automatically to synchronize with the train car doors opening.

JameJamerz

I think they are referring to these new metal like doors (it is a wall from one end of the platform to the other)that when the train stops the metal doors line up exactly with the doors of the metro. They do not open until the train comes to a complete stop and there is a small "wall" like piece that keeps things from falling between the platform and the metro. I saw them at one metro stop I just cant remember which one. Also it prevent people from jumping down into the tracks and stuff.

PalQ

Christina, JJ - yes i have ridden Meteor and now with your ideas i think it must mean those type of security doors. When i first read it i though they were eliminating the gap - the wording "connecting doors of trains to platforms" threw me - now it seems that this is really a revolutionary development - no more hopping on metro as doors are closing!
Thanks.

WallyKringen

The spiffy line 14 from St. Lazare to the Bibiotheque Nationale Francois Mitterand has a train that is one entire long open-space carriage, and the platform has a glass-wall, shielding it from the track - the train stops so that the doors line up with the openings in that wall - you couldn't jump onto the tracks ever, even if you wanted to. Is that what you meant?

WK

USNR

Funny, they have had doors like that in the St. Petersburg, Russia, metro for years.

AnthonyGA

The RATP is trying out doors on the platforms, synchronized with doors on the trains. The idea is to keep people from falling or jumping onto the tracks. Line 14 was built this way to begin with, but the other lines would have to be retrofitted. They slow traffic because the train driver must align the train with the doors at each station (line 14 is computerized, so it's not a problem there). I question whether all this investment is justified, but the RATP seems determined.

As I recall, a dozen or so people fall or jump from the platforms each month. The system carries over six million passengers per day.

PatrickLondon

A quick check on the RATP site turns up a press release referring to this as part of their bid for investment funding for the next 20 years. Under security they refer to "the project to deploy on metro lines 'façades de quai' currently being tested on two stations on line 13".

This must mean platform walls with doors to which the train doors line up, as is standard in Singapore - and we have them on the newer part of the Jubilee Line in London.

Doesn't get rid of any gaps between the train and the platform though, and it really only makes sense where platforms don't have a marked curve on them.

Intrepid1

The same kind of doors used on some airport "metro" systems such as in Atlanta and Orlando.

TweedyXC

I was just in Paris this past November and saw these for the first time along the 1 line. Not sure when they were installed but I didn't see them on my past 3 recent trips. They are basically clear thick walls that run the full length of the platform with doors every so many feet. When the train pulls in it lines up the train doors with the platform doors and only once it has come to a complete stop do both sets of doors open for you to get on and off like normal. I didn't see any signs posted as to why only this one line had these but made a guess that a lot of the big tourist stops (Champs Elysees, Concord, Louvre etc) are along this line making some stations very very crowded. I'm sure it is to prohibit people from either jumping or accidentally being bumped off during peak travel times. Even if it slows things down a bit Paris's metro system is still leaps and bounds above most public transportation here in the US.

kerouac

Another 5-year old thread resurrected! Line 14 was built with the doors and they have now been installed on line 1, which will be fully automated with driverless trains at the end of the year.