DRL Station Design

[Railization]

Ramps can be quite dangerous, and aren't the most practical use of space. The ramp would have to be built at a very low angle, making the distance quite long, and must be somehow safe enough with winter slush kicking around. Due to fire code regulations each station would need two exits by 2020?, but with a ramp it may only fit one. The space needed for one ramp can be used for multiple stairways and escalators.

Ramps are far safer than any stairway. I've come quite close to slipping badly on some of the downtown TTC station stairs many a time (amazingly, I never actually fall).

Obviously ramps have to be at a gentle slope (building code requirement).
Yes, they're space consuming, but with a creative use of space can be implemented. It's worth the investment to save endless maintenance costs for escalators and elevators, which are especially prone to breaking down in winter!

Both ramps and stairs can be covered. While that doesn't eliminate slush, it can keep it under control well enough with an appropriate surface texture (tactile) and water drainage.

 

[isittimetomoveyet]

I don't like not having a wall on one side of the platform. This is important when it gets crowded. If it is crowded both ways and there's no wall to take refuge, the risk is greater of someone falling to track level with centre platforms. Centre platforms are also notrious for being narrow around stairways, a situation side platforms are quite good at avoiding.

EVENTUALLY we will have the barrier/glass doors on the platforms, it is only a matter of time I think...

 

[Railization]

Platform doors are not coming anytime soon, and in fact the DRL serves the purpose of avoiding the need of platform doors. Platform doors are not a necessity and should not be a necessity. If they're "necessary" it means that our network is too small to handle the demands placed on it. The solution is to expand the network, not add platform doors. Platform doors aren't worth the capital nor upkeep costs.

 

[bleeepbluuup]

Ramps are far safer than any stairway. I've come quite close to slipping badly on some of the downtown TTC station stairs many a time (amazingly, I never actually fall).

Obviously ramps have to be at a gentle slope (building code requirement).
Yes, they're space consuming, but with a creative use of space can be implemented. It's worth the investment to save endless maintenance costs for escalators and elevators, which are especially prone to breaking down in winter!

Both ramps and stairs can be covered. While that doesn't eliminate slush, it can keep it under control well enough with an appropriate surface texture (tactile) and water drainage.

Oh yes, please. I get so paranoid walking down a set of slushy stairs. I really wish they'd enclose all the subway entrance stairs. People would still track in some wetness but at least it can't snow all over the staircase.

 

[299 bloor call control.]

Platform doors are not coming anytime soon, and in fact the DRL serves the purpose of avoiding the need of platform doors. Platform doors are not a necessity and should not be a necessity. If they're "necessary" it means that our network is too small to handle the demands placed on it. The solution is to expand the network, not add platform doors. Platform doors aren't worth the capital nor upkeep costs.

Platform doors are not only for safety purposes but for environment control as well. Air quality can be better controlled if there isn't a rush of air when a train enters or leaves a station. Also, it minimizes the risk of fire at track level, as it prevents garbage from being thrown onto the tracks. All these create operational savings that offset the capital cost of the doors.

A general prerequisite for PSDs though is Automatic Train Operation, which is coming on the YUS and will be standard on any extensions or new lines, including the DRL.

 

[scarberiankhatru]

If crowd control and at-capacity staircases are ever an issue at a station like Gerrard, centre platforms wouldn't be the problem...the lack of a "Downtown Relief Line Relief Line" would be.

 

[dunkalunk]

dunkalunk, it’s letterspacing or tracking, not kerning. Look it up.

Umm... Touché.

 

[CDL.TO]

I'm not familiar with an existing system anywhere in the world having platform-edge doors added later. PEDs require alternate ventilation measures since the air pushed down the tunnel by the trains cannot escape through the stations and stairwells.

Here's a pic of one of the ventilation and air escape tunnels from the Jubilee Line Extension in London.

 

[Prometheus The Supremo]

wow! it's like looking at mother earth's trachea!

 

[nfitz]

I really wish they'd enclose all the subway entrance stairs. People would still track in some wetness but at least it can't snow all over the staircase.

But then they can leave the doors propped open, like is often done in subway stations - where I've still seen snow all over the stairs during a storm.

 

[299 bloor call control.]

I'm not familiar with an existing system anywhere in the world having platform-edge doors added later. PEDs require alternate ventilation measures since the air pushed down the tunnel by the trains cannot escape through the stations and stairwells.

Hong Kong's MTR system retrofitted their existing system with platform screen doors starting in 2000 and finished in 2005 at a cost of HK$2-billion (or roughly C$300-million). Only a few outdoors elevated stations do not have them because, IIRC, the structures could not bear the added weight. They charged a 10-cent levy on all tickets to raise funds for the doors.

http://www.info.gov.hk/gia/general/200501/05/0105194.htm

The screen doors aren't air-tight either, there's vents at the bottom and top to continue to allow air to be pulled into the station by departing trains.

 

[Prometheus The Supremo]

do the arrows mean that people exit from the center and enter from the sides of the openings?

 

[299 bloor call control.]

It's a subtle reminder to stand to the side and let people get off the train first before getting in. It's amazing how much more etiquette there is for public transit in that city. People line up and are generally very patient.

 

[Prometheus The Supremo]

It's a subtle reminder to stand to the side and let people get off the train first before getting in. It's amazing how much more etiquette there is for public transit in that city. People line up and are generally very patient.

ah, i see. that's why the exit arrow is green. it goes first.

 

[Railization]

Platform doors are not only for safety purposes but for environment control as well. Air quality can be better controlled if there isn't a rush of air when a train enters or leaves a station. Also, it minimizes the risk of fire at track level, as it prevents garbage from being thrown onto the tracks. All these create operational savings that offset the capital cost of the doors.

A general prerequisite for PSDs though is Automatic Train Operation, which is coming on the YUS and will be standard on any extensions or new lines, including the DRL.

True on garbage/track fires and ATO (hopefully the re-introduction of garbage bins at platform level helps deal with the former), but I don't think the environmental control argument is worth its weight - none of the TTC stations are heated or air-conditioned, they are only venilated. Given that, with the exception of trips 3 stations or less, the vast majority of passengers spend (much) more time on the train than on the platform, it isn't really of any benefit to have the heating and air-conditioning of platforms, as the subway system is run frequently enough that people generally won't be on the platform long enough to care. There's no incentive for the TTC to spend the money in both capital and maintenance (on both platform doors and HVAC systems) to heat/cool their stations, it lacks a business case.

I know that sheltered waiting areas are often cited as an element people appreciate about subways over surface routes, but I think that has to do with 2 things:
1. It comes back to frequency; surface routes have less frequency than the subway... that's a fact, so people spend more time, on average, waiting for surface vehicles than for subways.
2. Wind Chill, which you won't get at most subway stations since wind doesn't get underground. Humidity is also less pronounced in sheltered [underground] stations in the summer. This leads to the impression that it is warmer in the winter and cooler in the summer anyway, without heating and air-conditioning.

As for the rush of air created by when a subway enters the stations, I really wouldn't consider that as significant. I know the effect you're talking about, but I have never heard of passengers complain about it. The air temperature they are pushing is generally already about the same temperature as the station it is entering anyway.