Metro to start re-enabling automatic train doors speeding up your trip

A Metro project quietly shelved last year is about to make an attempted comeback in 2021. The agency has a new plan to make its train doors open automatically at stations again, beginning on the Red Line in January, and coming to the rest of the system later in the year.

Metro documents obtained by Greater Greater Washington say the Red Line will be the first line to have ADO re-enabled on Jan. 3. The system ended up being re-enabled on Jan.10. “New software” by then will have been installed on all 7000-series trains on the line which fixes the issues uncovered in 2019.

When it returns, riders should notice the doors opening nearly right away when trains stop at stations, rather than the usual wait that ensues while the train operator pushes the buttons needed to open the train’s doors.

If all goes well on the Red Line, Metro is targeting an early April launch of ADO system-wide on its other five rail lines. A safety certification process needs to be completed for all those additional lines before this launches, and all operators that don’t have current certifications for using ADO need to be trained as well.

https://ggwash.org/view/80108/your-metr ... -at-a-time

Any update on this?

daybeers
Any update on this?

The reason why nothing has changed is because the suits that are required to sign off on restoring automatic door opening and for that matter automatic train operation don't want to get thrown under the bus if something fails because somebody blow them screwed up.

The delays are the result of the suits engaging in covering their asses.

Sand Box John wrote: ↑Thu Jun 10, 2021 8:47 pm daybeers
Any update on this?

The reason why nothing has changed is because the suits that are required to sign off on restoring automatic door opening and for that matter automatic train operation don't want to get thrown under the bus if something fails because somebody blow them screwed up.

The delays are the result of the suits engaging in covering their asses.

Given how the Silver Line extension is going, this is probably something Wiedefeld is requiring. WMATA's been burned too much and they brought in Wiedefeld to clean house.

Still doesn't make it okay to keep over-promising and under-delivering. The dwell times are SO SLOW.

Autodoors are currently operational on the red line. Honestly I don't see a major improvement in the amount of time it takes for the doors to open after the train comes to a complete stop.

I'm in DC right now and have ridden the 7000 series cars plenty of times on this trip and in previous years. I am rather annoyed with the amount of time it is taking to open the doors after the train comes to a complete stop. In many cases, it's been taking five or even six seconds. While safety comes first, it should probably only be a second or two to open the doors after the train comes to a complete stop. Everytime the doors take longer than they should to open after the train comes to a complete stop, at the end of the day, that amounts to longer dwells at stations and trains running tardy.

njtmnrrbuff
I'm in DC right now and have ridden the 7000 series cars plenty of times on this trip and in previous years. I am rather annoyed with the amount of time it is taking to open the doors after the train comes to a complete stop. In many cases, it's been taking five or even six seconds. While safety comes first, it should probably only be a second or two to open the doors after the train comes to a complete stop. Everytime the doors take longer than they should to open after the train comes to a complete stop, at the end of the day, that amounts to longer dwells at stations and trains running tardy.

Add those five or six seconds to the seconds after the doors have closed and before the train begins moving out of the station along with the excessive amount of time a train sitting at the the platform with its doors open.

Every 8 second of reduced dwell time increases the number of trains per hour by 1.

They need to trim down or speed up the in-station announcements.

danib62
They need to trim down or speed up the in-station announcements.

They need quit operating on the principle that people are stupid and only ring a chime to indicate doors are closing.

I believe the practice began with BART, and I heard at the time that the system was designed by born-and-bred Californians who had not ridden any form of public transit since the tenth grade and assumed that passengers would need time to reach their seats before the train started and would remain seated until the train came to a stop at their station, never having observed rapid transit in New York or Chicago.

Sand Box John wrote: ↑Tue Jun 15, 2021 7:53 pm danib62
They need to trim down or speed up the in-station announcements.

They need quit operating on the principle that people are stupid and only ring a chime to indicate doors are closing.

Unfortunately, people are stupid, because they'll rush the doors and get caught. The doors DO NOT have sensors on them like elevators do to re-open the doors. The operator of the train has to look down the line, hit the button to close the door, hope nobody gets trapped, seen someone rush it, reopen the door mid-close, wait again, close, lather, rinse, repeat... oh, fully closed and nobody's rushing it. Now to close the window, go across to the controls if the platform was on the opposite side, sit down, and start accelerating (because we're not using ATO).

"Stand back, doors closing" wastes time, yes. But stupid people waste even more.