Boston South Station

[deathtopumpkins]

It's even worse at Providence, R.I., according to posts made here a few years ago. The exits from the below ground platforms are only through the station, which is locked promptly at Midnight. When a Holiday Extra train is scheduled to arrive around 12:30 a.m., it has been necessary for the local Police to smash the glass doors to let arriving passengers escape.

That would genuinely surprise me, considering there are TWO MBTA trains that arrive at PVD after midnight every weekday - at 12:11 and 1:10 am. I can't imagine the station doors getting smashed every night.
Also there's Amtrak 166 on Sundays, which arrives at PVD at 12:20.

[Dick H]

If passengers are indeed locked in the station, that would be a violation of the life safety code.
There should be so-called panic hardware bars on the doors. The Providence Fire Department
should investigate the matter and take appropriate measures, including legal sanctions, if the
situation reoccurs.

[Gilbert B Norman]

Mr. Dick H, I would think that outward opening safety doors with alarms are order of the day. If there were legitimate reason for opening them, such as a late arriving train, have them disabled by law enforcement for the time reasonably needed to get the arriving passengers on their way.

Alarm equipped safety doors are a thorn to me as a few years back, I was boarding a Cape Air flight at Logan to Nantucket from the tarmac when I'd swear I heard the agent say the flight is boarding. So I went down the stairs - no agent guarding them, opened the door......AND....Klaxons, cops...and me!!!

Well the klaxons were shut off and the cops went away; Cape Air's agent said "not the first time, Sir".

But all told, that flight was "a trip": there was a very apprehensive "thirtysomething" gal about the Cessna 402 (2 engines, 8 PAX), I said to her, "Ma'am, I flown on De Haviland Twin Otters in this life (in 'Nam) and I'm here to tell about it". The pilot I don't think helped the cause too much when he turned around and said "hey, that's a big plane".

[Dick H]

One issue with high use outside doors is that the "strikers" become worn to
the point that a strong tug from the outside can actually open the door from
the outside, even though it is locked. Building owners and tenants, then loop
a chain with a padlock through the panic bar handles on the older doors. The
new panic bars are designed so that there is no way to chain them together.
Of course, chaining the panic bars defeats the purpose of the panic hardware.

[JimBoylan]

I wasn't clear about the platforms at Lancaster, Pa., and Providence, R.I. They are outdoors, but the authorized access is to go in one door of the lockable station building and out another door.
The Providence problem was back when commuter trains from Boston did not serve Rhode Island very often. The station did stay open early Monday mornings when what is now #166 arrived on its "Sunday only" schedule. But, 2 years in a row, that train ran on the Independence Day holiday instead on the Sunday the day before. I think this was Monday, July 5, 2004 and Monday July 4, 2005 when the passengers were trapped early Tuesday mornings. The local station management had not given their permission for this change.

The situation in Winter Haven, Fla. was different. On Sep. 1, 2007, the agent told me that he had to keep the station open for late trains past the posted closing time, because the train crews would not load and unload the baggage on the low level platform, and also, they had no keys to the baggage room.

[gokeefe]

The FRA announced the following today:

Massachusetts – South Station Expansion Tower 1 Early Action Project
Up to $41,183,845
Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT)

The proposed project will replace and upgrade signals, switches, track, power systems, and related infrastructure at Tower 1 interlocking, a major rail network junction at the entrance to the Boston South Station terminal area. The current interlocking is a major source of delay at a location used by almost 60,000 daily rail passengers. The project provides resiliency benefits to protect Tower 1 from the risk of flooding and providing redundant power systems in the event of power loss. Operability through the interlocking will be enhanced via upgrading the interlocking signal and communication systems to more technologically advanced systems.

[Ridgefielder]

Am I right in thinking the current interlocking plant at Tower 1 dates from the mid-late 1980's reconstruction of South Station?

[jonnhrr]

Hopefully this work will be future-proofed so that if and when the South Station expansion into the area currently occupied by the Postal Service happens it will not have to be redone.

[BandA]

Am I right in thinking the current interlocking plant at Tower 1 dates from the mid-late 1980's reconstruction of South Station?

Yes, unlike the mechanical systems it replaced, the current system relies on brittle ??Programmable Logic Controllers?? that are obsolete, hard to test and are completely dependent on Amtrak to maintain at high cost. Remember how it failed a couple of years ago?

Replacing this system opens up options for the MBTA/Keolis to manage their own signals in the Terminal area and perhaps all lines except the NEC.