TTC: Automatic Train Control and Subway Platform Screen Doors

[RedRocket191]

From Adam Giambrone's facebook:

Torontonians love to talk about transit, and have lots of ideas about how it can be improved. Just listen in to the conversations around you one day and try to keep track of how many times it comes up. We’re very lucky to live in a city that is generally very supportive of transit and has a high transit ridership by North American standards, and in many cases, by world standards.

When people find out that I’m the Chair of the TTC, they’re often eager to ask me transit-related questions or provide suggestions. They’re all helpful and appreciated, but of course, many of them come up again and again.

I thought I’d write a series of notes over the next little while to answer some of the more frequently asked questions I get, and respond to some of the suggestions. Public transit is a fascinating topic, and I think a lot of people will be very interested to learn some of what goes on to make it all work.

Today’s question: Why doesn’t the TTC installs platform screen doors at subway stations?

Platform screen doors, for clarity, are essentially a barrier in the subway between the platforms and track level, with sliding doors—like an elevator has—to let passengers on an off the trains.

Some newer subway systems around the world have them, and the TTC is looking at adding them to new stations as they’re built, but of course, existing stations would have to be retrofitted to accommodate them.

There are benefits, some more obvious than others, to platform screen doors. Most obviously, they would help prevent access to track level, whether intentional, accidental, or malicious. It’s extremely rare that someone is pushed onto the tracks, but people do find their way down there. Not only is this obviously very dangerous, but it causes delays as the situation is dealt with.

Another advantage of screen doors is that they reduce the amount of litter that blows onto the tracks. This has more than an aesthetic impact. You’ll often hear of track-level fires causing significant delays in service. These fires are caused by debris on the tracks like newspapers and plastic bags. During rush hour, a delay of even a few seconds can seriously—more seriously than most people realize—gum up subway operations and affect service levels and crowding on platforms and trains.

Perhaps a less obvious benefit is that at busy stations, platform screen doors can help to make boarding and disembarking easier and more efficient, because riders know where to stand each time the train stops. As a result, a path for exiting on the platform can be cleared. Getting on and off the train becomes more orderly, and delays are reduced, again improving overall reliability of service.

To retrofit the whole subway system will potentially cost hundred of millions of dollars and affect station operations for long periods of time. This isn’t an “off the shelf†product. It must be customized for each station, and it would take many years to complete.

Nevertheless, there is still some interest in platform screen doors in existing stations. The TTC has commissioned a feasibility study, which is due this year. Perhaps there will be a way to install this feature at only the busiest and most crowded stations at first, to help improve safety and operations where it’s most critically needed.

We do know that before the screens doors can be installed, automatic train control and operations (ATC and ATO) must be in place. This technology will allow the trains to stop at the same place consistently every time, which is not currently possible manually, given the size and speed of the trains. The TTC is in the process of installing ATC and ATO on the Yonge-University-Spadina line, another big project that will take many years to complete. Again, this is a necessary precondition to the installation of platform screen doors.

 

[jks]

Sorry to take this a little of topic, but seeing as the scarborough RT has Automatic train control, but it isn't used (there is an operator on the train to open and close doors), how can we expect the TTC to have the Y-U-S line run completely automatically. I really wish tehy did though, because it would cut down labour costs, and the system wouldn't be affected by strikes. I doubt the union will allow the lay-off of many workers due to ATC/ATO, and since they have the final say......

 

[nfitz]

Sorry to take this a little of topic, but seeing as the scarborough RT has Automatic train control, but it isn't used (there is an operator on the train to open and close doors), how can we expect the TTC to have the Y-U-S line run completely automatically. I really wish tehy did though, because it would cut down labour costs, and the system wouldn't be affected by strikes. I doubt the union will allow the lay-off of many workers due to ATC/ATO, and since they have the final say......

??? Why do you say it isn't used. As far as I know they use the ATC on the SRT.

They've been using ATC on the Montreal Metro for about 35-years, and they still have a driver - and for a decade or so had two drivers. I'm not sure why you are linking drivers to ATC. There isn't going to be any Labour cost savings from this.

 

[jks]

In Vancouver, the system is fully automated, so there is noone on the trains. My point is that the SRT had that ability, but the union wanted the TTC to still have drivers.

 

[RedRocket191]

In Vancouver, the system is fully automated, so there is noone on the trains. My point is that the SRT had that ability, but the union wanted the TTC to still have drivers.

Don't forget that we're still running the 1985 hardware and software. They've upgraded their system to the point where it's reliable enough to be operated reliably in the automatic mode.

 

[AKS]

once we catch up with the rest of the world's advanced transits in 20-25 years, we'll be behind again by another 20 years or so.

 

[nfitz]

once we catch up with the rest of the world's advanced transits in 20-25 years, we'll be behind again by another 20 years or so.

That's Toronto's strength isn't it? We were 20-30 years behind getting rid of streetcars, and it turned out that by the critical decision point in the early 1970s, that maybe they were worth keeping after all, so we ended up with CLRVs; and now we are looking at replacing them, they are back in vogue again.

 

[golodhendil]

Sorry to take this a little of topic, but seeing as the scarborough RT has Automatic train control, but it isn't used (there is an operator on the train to open and close doors), how can we expect the TTC to have the Y-U-S line run completely automatically. I really wish tehy did though, because it would cut down labour costs, and the system wouldn't be affected by strikes. I doubt the union will allow the lay-off of many workers due to ATC/ATO, and since they have the final say......

The ATC is used, the drivers are there only as a backup (and yes for the doors). The ATC/ATO is for much more than just the doors (train distance, speed, starting/stopping).

 

[wyliepoon]

 

[AKS]

The ATC is used, the drivers are there only as a backup (and yes for the doors). The ATC/ATO is for much more than just the doors (train distance, speed, starting/stopping).

I don't think they have anyone working the trains in HK? I didn't notice anyhow. But there was a person sitting in the middle monitoring the platform inside an enclosed area at certain stations.

I think like someone mentioned. half enclosed might be better for ventilation. But instead of 5' I think 6' or so would probably be better. Kids seem to be getting taller and taller these days.

 

[golodhendil]

I don't think they have anyone working the trains in HK? I didn't notice anyhow. But there was a person sitting in the middle monitoring the platform inside an enclosed area at certain stations.

There is. In the past before PSDs were installed, the driver would step out at each station, monitor that all doors were closed properly, before stepping back in to let the train start. I am not sure if they still do it now with the PSDs installed (I think they still do). And whenever emergency situations arise or something, the drivers will make special announcements on the train.

 

[Darren B]

Media spin?

Is the local media that incompetant that it cant do a simple google search or worse case scenario a background check for the fare collector who is literally running to their doorsteps to give his view of the event that unfolded at the shoving incident at Dufferin station.

Dont know what Im talking about? Then google search his name for more info. He is also taking credit yet he gave up on the chase and another person stopped the perp, and the 'media savy' fare collector only caught up later.

This isnt inuendos, just reference to what is out there already in the public domain.

 

[Swarley]

The TTC has put platform edge doors in the new budget as a "Recommended Project" over the next 10 years... along with a bunch of other likely and not-so-likely projects... $10 million for a Transit Visitor Centre? They budget the screen doors at $494 million - at that cost I really can't this being funded.

 

[Northern Light]

Remember the 494M is only for the Y-U.S. line as Bloor will not have ATC in the next 10 years.

That's consistent with the historical cost of 1B for the whole system.

 

[wyliepoon]

TTC plans suicide barriers on Yonge line

http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/tra...-plans-suicide-barriers-on-yonge-line#article

TTC plans suicide barriers on Yonge line
It’s unclear how cost, up to $10 million per station, will be paid

Published On Wed Mar 24 2010


Tess Kalinowski Transportation Reporter

The TTC wants to install suicide barriers on its subway platforms, possibly within three or four years at some stations.

Councillors on the transit commission recommended Wednesday that the barriers, known as platform screen doors, be added to the capital budget between 2011 and 2015.

But with the TTC anticipating a $1.5 billion capital shortfall by the end of the decade, the cost of up to $10 million per station has no funding yet.

“Anything that would add to the capital shortfall would be the responsibility of the province and the city to cover,” said TTC chair Adam Giambrone.

Platform screen doors are in use on subways around the world, including London, Paris, Barcelona, Hong Kong and Rome, according to a TTC report.

The platform doors must line up precisely with the train doors, something that can’t be done manually but will be possible once the TTC installs its new computerized signaling system, called automatic train control.

The first phase, from Eglinton to Union, won’t be complete until 2013, and it will be 2015 before it is installed all the way to Downsview.

As well as suicide and accident prevention, the barriers would permit trains to move faster, stop people from jamming the doors and keep garbage from falling to the tracks, where it sometimes catches fire and causes delays.

The TTC reported 18 suicide attempts last year, 77 incidents of unauthorized people going down to track level, and 14 accidental falls.

“Suicide is an illness and it is not something within the person’s control. Anything they can do to prevent suicide is going to save lives, and I think they have a responsibility to do that since the technology exists,” said barrier advocate Lindsay Hill, a lawyer, wife and mother who has personally suffered from mental illness. “Sometimes you walk down to the platform and you hear the silence and you hear the rushing wind, and that calls to you,” she told the commission.

TTC vice-chair Joe Mihevc said the commission will need mental health advocates to support the call for provincial and federal funds to pay for the barriers.

The TTC has an awareness program to help employees spot people who may be in distress on the system.

*****

If the TTC is planning to install floor-to-ceiling platform screen doors, I wonder why they failed to mention another benefit of these doors - the possibility of adding heating and/or air conditioning to stations, since the doors prevent air inside the station from escaping into the tunnels. That, and not suicide prevention, was the main reason why Hong Kong and other Southeast Asian metro systems installed those doors. It's also the reason why Hong Kong's MTR still has jumpers today, since most open-air stations still don't have any platform doors or gates.

MTR paid for retrofitting its stations with screen doors by charging $0.10HK on every fare collected from Octopus fare cards.