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This is an unbelievable debate for me as a citizen of a smaller city with a much less developed system. Our system is so far away from being able to accurately
by Naga 4y ago
This is an unbelievable debate for me as a citizen of a smaller city with a much less developed system. Our system is so far away from being able to accurately time trains like this that asking whether it should be door close or train moving is like debating how many angels can dance on the head of a pin. I travelled to London a few weeks ago and was shocked that the trains would come when the schedule said it would. I'm used to +/-5 minutes on a good day, but with the max delay much worse than that.
- bluGill 4y agoTrains should run down to the second in the majority of cases. There should be enough padding in the system that they can finish any segment in 10 seconds less than scheduled time if someone holds a door open. Computers are very good at driving a train at exactly the planned speed, and will also stop with the doors at exactly the same place on the platform. Computers can open doors at exactly the right time. In some old stations you might need a human to verify the doors are safe to close (some stations have curved platforms which means there is a bit of a gap and someone can get stuck in an unsafe place), and hit the ready to go button. You might have a human up front to hit the emergency stop (ie someone on track), but there is no other use for a human driver these days. The above is about trains. Buses and trams are more complex and cannot run this way.