Platform screen doors (PSDs) and platform edge doors (PEDs) at train or subway stations screen the platform from the train. They are a relatively new addition to many metro systems around the world; some having been retrofitted to established systems. They are widely used in Asian and European metro systems.
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Although the terms are often used interchangeably, platform screen doors are full height, total barriers between the station floor and ceiling, while platform edge doors are full height, but do not reach the ceiling and thus do not create a total barrier.
These doors help to:
Automatic platform gates (or half-height platform screen doors as referred to by some manufacturers) are chest-height sliding doors at the edge of railway platforms to prevent passengers from falling off the platform edge onto the railway tracks. Like full-height platform screen doors, these platform gates slide open or closed simultaneously with the train doors.
Half-height platform gates are cheaper to install than platform screen doors, which require more metallic framework for support. Some railway operators may therefore prefer such an option to improve safety at railway platforms and, at the same time, keep costs low and non-air-conditioned platforms naturally ventilated. However, these gates are less effective than full platform screen doors in preventing people from intentionally jumping onto the tracks.[2]
These gates are firstly in practical use by Hong Kong metro system, MTR on Disneyland Resort Line for their open-air stations design. The later design by other manufacturers, such as Kaba Gilgen AG, have their gates higher than the one installed on Disneyland Resort Line.
The São Paulo Metro currently has five stations with platform screen doors (PSDs): Sacomã station (Line 2 - Green) opened on January 30, 2010 with this feature. On May 25, 2010 Faria Lima and Paulista stations (Line 4 - Yellow) also opened featuring PSDs, on August 21, 2010 Vila Prudente Station was opened with PSDs and on September 21, 2010 Tamanduateí Station was also opened with PSDs. All the future stations of the system will be inaugurated with PSDs, and it is planned to be installed in the old stations as well.[3]
Toronto subway system plans to begin the process of adding screen doors at select subway stations on the Yonge line beginning in 2013 and completion on the Yonge-University-Spadina line by 2015.[4] The remaining Bloor-Danforth and Sheppard lines will not have screen doors until new train sets, dubbed the Toronto Rocket, begin running on these lines and all older cars are retired from the entire system. There are no plans for the Scarborough RT as the system's future is still under debate.
Screen doors are already in use at all three LINK Train stations at Toronto Pearson International Airport in Mississauga, Ontario.
A number of Chinese cities have started installing platform screen doors. Systems such as Shanghai Metro, Beijing Subway, Guangzhou Metro, and Shenzhen Metro have already adapted the platform screen doors.
In 1998, the Tung Chung Line and Airport Express saw the earliest operations of platform screen doors in Hong Kong. In 2000, the MTR Corporation began a six year programme to add 2,960 pairs of platform screen doors at 30 underground MTR stations on the Kwun Tong Line, Tsuen Wan Line, and Island Line. This was the world's first railway to retrofit Platform Screen Doors on a transit system already in operation. The project was completed in October 2005.[5] Platform screen doors are now operated in 51 stations. The world's longest set of platform screen doors are located in East Tsim Sha Tsui Station.
The West Rail Line was built by the Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation (KCRC) before the MTR-KCR merger. During the construction of this railway line, platform screen doors were installed on all the platforms in all the stations along the railway line.
Following the detailed design and manufacturing of automatic platform gates, retrofitting works on the 8 Urban Line above ground stations, namely Heng Fa Chuen, Chai Wan, Kowloon Bay, Ngau Tau Kok, Kwun Tong, Kwai Fong, Kwai Hing and Tsuen Wan, have started in 2010, and have been completed before December 2011.[6]
The Copenhagen Metro uses Westinghouse[7] platform screen doors on all underground stations platforms.
The Paris Métro line 14 was built with platform screen doors. As of november 2011, line 1 has been retrofitted with platform screen doors, in preparation for full driverless automation in 2012.
In addition, all lines of the VAL automated subway system are also equipped with platform screen doors at every station. Those include Toulouse, Rennes and Lille subways, as well as the CDGVAL and Orlyval airport shuttles.
Platform screen doors has been used in all the platforms on Delhi Airport Metro Express, which is a Delhi Metro line which links New Delhi Metro Station to Dwarka Sector 21, linking the Indira Gandhi International Airport at a speed of 135 kmph.[8] There has been plan to install platform screen doors on Line 1 and Line 2 of the Kolkata Metro.[9]
The Tokyo Metro Namboku Line is fitted with platform screen doors, as is the Kyoto Municipal Subway Tōzai Line.
Yongdu Station of Seoul Subway Line 2 was the first station on the Seoul Subway to feature platform screen doors; the station opened in October 2005. Since then many underground stations have since been opened or retrofitted with platform screen doors. By the end of 2009, all 289 stations operated by Seoul Metro, SMRT, and Seoul Metro 9 in Seoul Metropolitan Area are equipped with platform screen doors. However, not all stations operated by Korail in Seoul Metropolitan Area have been installed platform screen doors yet. As of 2010, 24%, 11%, 38%, 50%, and 100% of subway stations are equipped with platform screen doors in Busan, Daegu, Incheon, Gwangju, and Daejeon respectively. The platform screen door installed in Nokdong Station on Gwangju Subway has a rare and distinguishable form, the rope-based platform screen. A set of ropes blocks rail from platform, and when train is arrived, the rope screen ascends to allow passage.
Park Pobedy (Russian: Парк Побе́ды) is a station of the Saint Petersburg Metro that was the first station in the world with screen doors. The station was opened in 1961. Later the other nine stations of this type were built in Saint Petersburg (Leningrad): Petrogradskaya (Russian: Петроградская), Vasileostrovskaya (Russian: Василеостровская), Gostiny Dvor (Russian: Гостиный двор), Mayakovskaya (Russian: Маяковская), Ploshchad Alexandra Nevskogo I (Russian: Площадь Александра Невского-1), Moskovskaya (Russian: Московская), Yelizarovskaya (Russian: Елизаровская), Lomonosovskaya (Russian: Ломоносовская), Zvyozdnaya (Russian: Звёздная). There was an electronic device to ensure that the train stopped with its doors adjacent to the platform doors; they were installed so that driverless trains could eventually be used on the line.[10] Unlike other platform screen doors, which are lightweight units with extensive glazing installed a normal platform edge, the St Petersburg units give the appearance of a solid wall with heavyweight doorways and solid steel sliding doors, like exist for a bank of elevators in a large building, and the train cannot be seen entering from the platform; passengers become familiar with the sound alone to indicate a train arrival.
The Singapore Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) was the first rapid transit system in Asia to incorporate platform screen doors in its stations in 1987.[11] Full height platform screen doors are installed at all existing underground MRT stations in Singapore and all future underground MRT stations. Half height platform screen doors will be retrofitted into all existing elevated MRT stations by 2012 (starting with three elevated MRT stations by 2009), as well as all future elevated MRT stations. The LRT Station at Sengkang also has platform screen panels installed.
There are two series of the full height platform screen doors in use. The first series was installed at all underground stations along the North South Line and the East West Line from 1987 to the completion of the initial system in 1990. The second series of platform screen doors sporting a sleeker design, producing less sound when the doors were opened and closed, and incorporating more glass were installed in the Changi Airport MRT Station which opened in 2002. All stations in the fully underground North East Line, which opened in 2003, also sport these new doors. The Circle Line also features second-generation platform screen doors on all of its stations. These doors were also installed on the North South Line platform in the Bishan MRT Station in 2009 after the opening of the Circle line platforms there.
Considered a novelty at the time of its installation, it was introduced primarily to minimise hefty air-conditioning costs, especially since elevated stations are not air-conditioned, and hence are much more economical to run in comparison. Since then the safety aspects of these doors have become more important, as highlighted by a series of high profile incidents where individuals were injured or killed by oncoming trains since the year 2002, all occurring on elevated stations where no screen doors exist. The Land Transport Authority reports that there have been more than 220 cases of commuters trespassing on the tracks between 1991 and 15 September 2004, of which 87 percent were deliberate acts of trespass. Nine fatalities were recorded during this period, of which only one was an accident. Since September 2004 there have been six fatalities occurring on elevated MRT and LRT stations.
The announcement "Please mind the platform gap" or "Please mind the gap" was used in underground stations. However, elevated stations does not warn this announcement.
Half platform screens were installed first in FGC Provenza (Barcelona) station around 1995. Later doors were tested on Barcelona Metro line 11 before fitting them on all stations for the new lines 9 and 10, which operate driverless.
Zurich International Airport's Skymetro shuttle between the main building (hosting terminals A and B) and the detached terminal E has glass screen doors separating the tracks from the passenger hall platforms at both ends.
Platform screen doors were installed from the beginning with the opening of the Wenshan Line (first metro line on Taiwan and in the Republic of China) on the Taipei Metro in 1996. Since then, the Neihu Line, Xinzhuang Line, Luzhou Line and Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center Station Nangang Line Platform are all equipped with them. Future extensions and lines will also be equipped with them.
All underground stations on the Kaohsiung MRT system have platform screen doors installed.
The Jubilee Line extension project saw platform edge doors installed on its new stations. They were designed primarily to reduce the movement of air caused by emergency ventilation fans which activate in event of a fire, or under test conditions. They were also built as a barrier to prevent people falling or jumping onto the tracks.
The Jubilee Line PEDS were produced by Westinghouse.[12]
PEDs will also be used widely across the Crossrail project now under construction in London due to open in 2018.
In Chicago, the Airport Transport System (ATS) operates 24 hours a day at O'Hare International Airport. ATS is a 2.5 mile long (4 km) line that operates between the four current terminals at the airport and parking areas. Each station is fully enclosed with platform screen doors allowing access to the fully automated trains.
In New York City, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey utilizes full height platform screen doors at all of its Airtrain JFK and Airtrain Newark stations.
Automated people movers, systems that ferry passengers across large distances they would otherwise walk, make use of platform screen doors. These systems are common at airports.
The Las Vegas Monorail system has these doors as well.
On 15 July 2007 in Shanghai, platform-edge doors led to a fatal accident. A man tried to force his way onto a crowded train at the station for the Shanghai Indoor Stadium, but failed. When the doors closed, he was sandwiched between closed doors and pulled under the train, leading to his death.[13]