• Hildegarde@lemmy.blahaj.zone
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    2
    ·
    26 days ago

    They are called platform edge doors and they are common in Asia, and rare in Europe or the Americas. They make the platform a much more pleasant place. Full height walls and doors makes the platform be a normal interior space.

    If you’ve travelled that far you have seen those doors. They are included on every automated people mover at airports. Securing the track area is required for driverless operation, so every automated people mover will have them The doors are seen as optional in most subways and light rail so they are often cut from the project.

    • Wren@lemmy.today
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      4
      ·
      26 days ago

      Makes sense, I’ve never been to Asia and I was only in Europe for a couple weeks, so the only European airport I saw was Heathrow, where I took the metro.

      I’m not disagreeing that it’s safer to have a barrier, or saying that barriers aren’t a thing, just that it’s common enough not to have them to be used to it. I don’t think about that danger. I haven’t seen a space like that before, no.

      I lived in Vancouver for almost a decade, where the trains are driverless and there aren’t walls or barriers, even at the airport.

      But I did just learn what an automated people mover is, and some of them are adorable.

      • ZDL@lazysoci.al
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        2
        ·
        26 days ago

        just that it’s common enough not to have them to be used to it

        It’s the difference between public transit as a public service vs. public transit as a profit-making venture (in some places) or at least as public service being “run like a business” (more common in the west).

        As soon as “business” is uttered in the management of something, you get to cost minimization and life-saving measures tend to cost money. They’re thus the first things cut unless forced otherwise by regulation.

        • Wren@lemmy.today
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          2
          ·
          25 days ago

          Yep. I agree. All I said was that it’s common, not that it’s correct.

    • ZDL@lazysoci.al
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      26 days ago

      Not always full height, but always high enough you can’t easily go over them, yes. I’m actually shocked all the time now when I visit places like Toronto and Ottawa and see how unsafe the subways are.