Gilbert B Norman wrote:Amtrak evidently has a policy that passengers will board and alight only through vestibules attended by a crew member. Possibly, there are exceptions at high level platforms along the Corridor, but that 'gap' seems wide to me and I think it was further enlarged to accomodate Acelas.
On the Pacific Surfliner trainsets, all doors open automatically. There are only 2-3 attendants on board a train.
However, the automatic doors are greatly aided by the fact that the Surfliners are built close to the ground, eliminating the need for stairs between the train and platform.
With the Horizons or Amfleets, this would be much harder to retrofit because you would have to rig up some device that folds up the stairs.