On 22 Jan, 18:25, MarkVarley - MVP
wrote:
I've often wondered and was reminded today, why is there a delay in
opening the doors for trains arriving at Victoria?
At other terminating stations the doors are released as soon as the
train has stopped, but at Victoria there seems to be a delay, anyone
know why?


You're talking about the arrival of Electrostars into Victoria
mainline station. I don't know the details, but basically they used
GPS to get a fix on where they are. As a safety measure, they also
have a system that means drivers (or can guards also do this?) are
only able to release (i.e. open) the doors on the correct side of the
train. In the western (aka Brighton aka LBSCR [1]) side of the station
the platforms and the approaches to the platforms are all covered up
because of a number of developments that have been built 'on top' of
them - this all messes up the GPS signal reception from the satellite.

There's some kind of workaround to this - I've a feeling that they may
have created a 'fake' GPS signal for these covered platforms, but I'm
not too sure - basically it's a method of convincing the on-train
computer that it is indeed in Victoria station and the driver should
be allowed to release the doors. This process takes a bit of time, so
meanwhile one stands at the doors pressing the button and wondering if
the driver has gone to sleep or has done a runner and left you all in
there which is annoying because you've only got 15 minutes until
you're supposed to meet someone at Oxford Circus/ 20 minutes until
your train leaves from Kings Cross.

Not an ideal arrangement, but not the end of the world either!


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[1] London, Brighton and South Coast Railway