Automatic doors on Mk3 stock

It would seem from this photo I found on Railway Herald's photo centre just now, that Wabtec has installed automatic doors to Chiltern's Mk3 stock.

They look bigger than the sliding doors on the Mk3's over here - or that might be because the Mk3's never had DDA compliant coloured doors - just the standard IÉ orange/white/black

It certainly makes them look newer. I think the door is more similar to the door design of a voyager, but the windows are a slightly different shape.

I imagine they would have also had to add-in a little body work where the old doors would wrap around the ends of the coaches.

More pics can be found here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/36593372@N04/7205480974/in/photostream

Looks like the Mk3's lifespan just got extended for another 20 years.

This is good to see, perhaps more mk3's could get same treatment? I'm looking at greater anglian franchise, rather than waste money on crappy new DMU'S. Shame this sort of thing wasn't done with mk2s

A video of these doors on test is at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IoyZhufEOuI&feature=g-like (not mine). They look rather nice actually!

viccylinefan

The doors are bigger on the refurbs, they had to take out toilets at one end of each coach to fit them in. Also worth noting the emergency doors in the buffet cars have stayed as manual doors as they are never used and chances are never will be used due to the fact they can only be opened by smashing glass and using the lever

the emergency doors in the buffet cars have stayed as manual doors

Ultimately, in a serious emergency situation, the windows are the emergency exit as they can be smashed to allow escape.
Power doors in a serious collision can end up being unopenable, so the old manual emergency doors satisfy the safety requirements perfectly.

I suppose the coaches have been updated as far as doable to the current TSI safety norms, which would mean safety windows both in doors and windows. In the ICE 3 and T for example it's rubber-cushioned windows in the doors (pull the rubber-cushion and the glass falls to the outside) and specially marked windows in the carriage itself; they have a red spot, and when you hit it with a sharp-edged object, (i.e. the emergency hammer hung next to the window) it splinters while generally being very stable. See this:


(Beginning with 1:00)

graymac wrote:

the emergency doors in the buffet cars have stayed as manual doors

Ultimately, in a serious emergency situation, the windows are the emergency exit as they can be smashed to allow escape.

Not in the UK, a lot of rolling stock is now fitted with laminated glass. It was concluded that in many recent rail accidents, casualties died because they were thrown through train windows on impact, so it would be better to make the window glass stronger. Window hammers won't get you through laminated glass, therefore they are not provided. As far as I'm aware, East Coast Trains are the only British operator with the hammers still in, but will most likely be removed after the windows are replaced.

The laminated windows actually contribute to the structural integrity of the train carriage, this is proven with Pendolinos, in the Grayrigg derailment only the emergency egress windows broke. There is a way to smash through laminated glass, with allot of force and the right technique, but it's reserved to the emergency services and it's only them that get trained in how to do it.

Uh-oh... That sounds... venturesome? On the continent we use laminated glass as well for the side windows, but it's hammer-crackable as well. You can see it in the video. The trick is quite simple; where the red spot is, there is no polymer between the glass layers, instead there is a rubber cushion with small, sharp stones. When you hit the spot, the cushion is pressed together, and the stones crack the glass. Now you can roll (sic!) the window out (relatively) easily.

That's a lesson learned from Eschede. Let's hope the UK won't need another such accident to learn the lesson as well. And that *glance to Graymac and our discussion some days ago* is one of the aspects why I consider international european efforts like the TSI norms very sensible - even where gauge difference prohibits direct exchange.

Deary me, they'll be fitting single panel windows and seat belts soon

I take it as irony^^ But the thing is, well-working safety windows are a really sensible measure, not only for the passengers but also for the emergency services. The emergency services engaded in Eschede also knew, of course, how to open laminated glass - doesn't change the fact it's hard work and needs much time - time which could be invested into saving lives. Look at the Eschede crash, look at the Bruehl crash, look at any street traffic accident; people not only die in the accident itself. They also die long after, centimetres from rescue personnel trying to get the victim out. Any second gained can save lives. Let alone minutes - 20 or 30 minutes for normal laminated glass vs. 30sec for a safety window.

Seat belts on the other hand make no sense at all, you'd have more thrombose deaths in trains per year than there are railway accident deaths - and seat belts would be nowhere near saving all lives, most railway accidents are of a kind where belts won't help.