London Banter - View Single Post - DLR

Recliner[_3_] · April 26th 15, 11:14 AM posted to uk.transport.london

On Sat, 25 Apr 2015 17:06:13 +0100, wrote:

On Sat, 25 Apr 2015 14:49:17 +0000 (UTC), Recliner
wrote:

Aren't there detectors at stations that will either stop a train or cut
power in the event that somebody falls onto the tracks.

Apparently not.

Skytrain in Vancouver has such a system, AIUI.

Yes, the discussion was whether the DLR should have such a system, too. It
is indeed slightly surprising that it doesn't. Perhaps the fear is of false
positives (eg, when a bit of rubbish triggers the detector -- you can just
imagine the local yobs experimenting to see just what it took to stop the
trains).

If the fatality rate is such that some measures are required could a
variant on the suicide pit be practical?
With DLR trains being reasonably light the supporting structure for
the rails could mainly be longitudinal beams leaving a larger
"pit"area in relation to the track than those on the Tube lines.
It wouldn't stop all as some people may still straddle a rail but no
system is really going to protect every one and at least there isn't a
negative rail for someone to get hung over .
Pits would bring their own problems, litter trap, drainage required
on ground level stations but othe wise they are a simple passive
measure where as detectors are another bit of onboard kit to test,
maintain ,go wrong.

Probably very hard/expensive to retrofit to existing stations,
however, for relatively little benefit.