Great Western Coffee Shop

Quote from the latest Train Fellows post (link below) :
http://trainfellows.blogspot.com/2007/12/genuinely-new-experience.html

It does help when travelling on an HST to close the door behind you if no one is boarding/leaving the train.

But then there is those idiots who get up as the train pulls into the station and can't open the doors.

Simple solution:

Put springs on the doors so they slam shut by themselves.

Or order "Mark 4" or new "Mark 5" coaches to replace the Mk 3 ones. The doors are automatic.

Or keep the Class 180s. The doors are automatic.

Gosh, in two minutes I have come up with three solutions. I must be good....

1) What happens when somebody with heavy luggage cannot get it off the train without the door closing on them, also bear in mind considerable force is needed to close the doors so the chance of them hurting somebody is quite high.

2) Does the Daft/FGW really have the dosh to splash out on new stock when the Mk3s are perfectly fine, and much safer than the mk4s along with having a better ride quality.

I don't see why everybody is incapable of closing the bloody doors!!!

Or those who cant open the doors full stop!

I am 5' 2'' and have short arms - I physically cannot reach the outside handle through the windows that dont open fully.

And at Foregate street - I have to crawl onto the train as the step is so high above the platform I physically cannot step up to it with a 24 inch inside leg!

I am NOT disabled - I am a 31 year old reasonably fit female - but sometime I feel I should be disabled

Sliding plug doors should have been fitted to MKIII's when built!

Silly question that there's probably an obvious answer for- why isn't there a door handle on the other side of the door so people don't have to reach out the window?

Even with CDL locked operation of the door handle will take the door off latch and if it is inside, it may get knocked.

The Mk3s don't have handles on the inside because as built they didn't have CDL. So it would be easy to open the door when the train was moving, with the inevitable consequences. When CDL was introduced a few years ago, because there were a number of fatalities when the door "mysteriously" opened from the inside, the upgrade bolted the doors shut with a mechanism that I believe is independent of the handle. So there was no need to change the handle, and to do so would have added considerable cost to the project.

   

Why weren't they? Was the technology around?

That is the only fault with the Mk3s (except the lack of tilt), and I hope the new Mk5 (HST2s) are just like the Mk3/4s with just these functions added.

The Irish MKIII's have sliding plug doors and so do the "Wessex electrics" which are a MKIII body.

Is it only HST's that are too high ? at Freshford (Wilts BTM - WSB) after years of campaining the platform height has been raised, one dear lady before the work was done used to bring her own stool.......

Was Freshford that was raised, due to units being too much of a step.

Me thinks, with the 142s, that Starcross needs rasing, I was thoroughly astonished at the step.

Have you tried Newton St Cyres?

Raising Platform 1 at Worcester Foregate Street is not possible- there are buildings on the platform, so the track would have to be lowered instead. This is not going to happen. This is awful, because the step is huge, and as for the gap!!!!!!! A child (eg one of the many school children who use the station) could easily fall down!

One other solution would be to install some scissor crossovers east of Foregate Street station (and re-signal the Worcester area), to allow FGW trains to use platform 2- this would also add extra capacity to the station and increase flexibility. Obviously, the long term plan has to be completely re-do the Worcester track layout, installing full dual track and turning the two single lines section into a one double line section- Beeching did not see the traffic increases that came when he got out his axe.

PS- platform 2 has much less of a gap/step- but it is still there. Virgin Pendalinos would be quite good with their folding out step.

But, again, this is not going to happen, it is not linked to the 2012 Olympics, so is unlikely to get funding!!!!!!!

In my opinion, Foregate Street needs new bay platforms added, so that trains that terminate at Shrub Hill can be extended.

Of course, when the Shrub Hill closes (a long term aspiration of BR/NR, coinciding with "Norton/Worcester Parkway" opening) this will have to happen, possibly requiring a full rebuild to cope with the extra trains.

Of course I am now talking about developments that will happen when I am in my grave!!!!!!