On Wed, 29 Jul 2009 20:33:54 +0100, Paul Corfield wrote:

The fact one pair of doors is open while the guard shuts the others just
means people dash and plead with the guard to be allowed on - this
certainly happened with the lunchtime trip I saw at Highbury where there
is a constant stream of passengers.

I'm really confused by by this. Why is one pair of doors open while the
other isn't? What does 'pair' mean here?

The concept is the same as DLR - i.e. the guard is in control of one
doorway (i.e. two door leaves that slide across). From what I saw today
the guard stepped out on to the platform to ensure the other doors where
clear before initiating the door close process. Once the other doors are
closed he then steps into the train and closes the one remaining doorway
where his control panel is. If you've seen what happens with DLR then
you've seen what is happening with the 378s. Sorry for confusing doors
with the bits that actually slide across the opening!

Oh dear. So the procedure at *every* stop is:

- Guard opens own set of doors
- Guard step out onto platform and checks train is correctly
platformed
- Guard opens remaining doors
- After passengers have finished boarding/alighting, guard closes all
but own set of doors
- Guard checks everything is OK
- Guard steps (or squeezes) onto train
- Guard closes own set of doors.

Surely it's easy enough for the guard to travel in the rear cab,
allowing them to lean out of the window and open/close all doors at
once?

Why oh why do they still manufacture trains with such horrifically
slow procedures that result in completely unnecessarily extended dwell
times? Totally unsuitable for LO.