Western Railway will conduct field tests for closed doors on local trains. Automatic doors were installed on one ladies first class compartment of a 12-car Siemens rake on Wednesday. For six months, WR had conducted static trials of automatic doors on a disused rake at the Mahalaxmi Workshop. The door installed on the ladies coach has completed 100,000 open and close sequences.”This is the middle ladies coach that is converted to a general compartment after 11 pm. Trial runs will be done on the running train. We have to see whether the system is suitable in peak time traffic,” said a senior offcial of WR. [related-post] The design and technology of the automatic doors has been provided by France-based Faiveley Transport Company. Several inspections have been conducted in Mumbai by officials of the Integral Coach Factory, Chennai and the Research Designs and Standards Organisation, Lucknow. Officials have expressed doubts regarding the system during rush hours. They fear that commuters who manage to gain only a foothold will have to wait for the next train when the doors close, adding to the chaos and congestion on the platforms. Also, when a passenger comes in way of the automatic doors, it will not close for three seconds. If the doors are stalled three times in a row, the power is automatically switched off and the train will not move further. “This will affect punctuality,’’ said another official. The cost of fitting the doors in one 12-cars rake is Rs 4 crore, and WR is hard-pressed to cough up funds for the project. Closed doors are an imperative as up to 36 per cent of fatalities and up to 53 per cent injuries on the suburban rail network are due to passengers falling off running trains. kalpana.verma@expressindia.com
