Anecdotally, this is also true of the San Francisco Municipal subway. The subway cars take a long time to open and close doors because there is a mechanical bridge that closes the gap between the train and the platform. This is also a pretty big time sink for the subway system
No. It's because the whole thing is crazy slow. Fear of lawsuits? I don't know. The door warnings on Caltrain, Bart, Muni are often comically offset compared to the door motions. That is, too late to be useful as legal warnings.
It's interesting... I wonder if extending the step while the train is in motion has the potential to knock people down who's currently on the platform and standing too close to the train.
> since the step itself does not extend over the platform (it reaches only 63.5 inches from vehicle center line when fully extended) there can be no hazard to passengers
I dunno about that. What if they had an umbrella or grocery bag or such dangling over the platform edge?
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Maybe the more relevant question is how was it done before? Did the old train also have slowly-extending steps? How is it handled in other countries with functional train networks?
The old trains have no moving steps.
> This can be fixed in software. As seen in the timeline graphic, allowing the step to deploy and retract while the train is in motion would remove this wasted dwell time.
If it's over the edge the train itself will take their arm with it.
The step does stick out a little more.
Fixed, non-moving stairs. IIRC, the bombardier model was 2 steps (one step up to a metal stair, one more step into car) and fairly easy, and the older gallery models were a bunch of stairs and a pretty steep climb.
> How is it handled in other countries with functional train networks?
Level boarding, no? IIRC NYC's commuter rail is level boarding within The City (but not further out like CT) and, e.g., the more subway-y line of the T in Boston are level boarding, but those are subway. (I don't recall the MBTA's commuter rail, but I suspect it isn't, or isn't everywhere.)
My understanding is that the primary overall improvement is about the additional service hours that can be provided by the new trains.
Yes, it's nice to shorten the time for an individual traveling SF <-> SJ... but the benefits compound even more because now Caltrain can offer more trips per day using the same number of train consists.
Why?