Lights: Station Platforms versus Train Interiors

[bill937ca]

I'm looking at the pitch of lighting here.  Generally, I find stations are brighter than the interior of trains at night. Here are some videos for reference.  Its hard to find views from up above the action.

 

This is Ochanomizu Station where the Chuo Rapid leaves the Chuo-Sobu line.  Down below is the Tokyo Metro Marunouchi Line. As Chuo-Sobu line in the background you can barely see the interior lights.  The headlights and signage lighting are more visible from a distance. When trains come into a station on any track other than the closest track, the windows take on a black tinted shade.  Standing passengers block out much of the interior light.

 

Video by Kiritix Kuri.

 

 

Another JR station, this Otuska  on the Yamanote line.  Again the platforms are very bright and from a distance trains on the far side of the platform appear to have tinted windows. Trams in the background appear darker inside than the trains do.

 

Video by yamizumi24.

 

 

A train up close at Shima-Kitazawa on the Keio Inokashira line.  The interior light is muted by the heavy passenger load

 

Video by 動画を楽しもう！

 

 

These are examples of Kokuden network trains. Lighting levels on intercity or the Sunrise Express sleeper would probably be different.

Edited March 24, 2017 by bill937ca

[katoftw]

You hit the nail on the head when you mentioned tinted windows.  Even just the glass itself (without tint) cause some light refraction will be darker than station lights you see.

[bill937ca]

Remember another video. This one has Yamanote and Keihin Tohoku trains along with 15-car suburban trains, some mainline trains including a Series 185, Sunrise Express with yellow lighting and various Shinkansens.  The platform in the background is a see of light compared to its surroundings. Taken at Tamachi Station.

 

Video by Kiritix Kuri.

 

Edited March 24, 2017 by bill937ca

[kvp]

This tinted glass effect is partly due to the actual tinted glass or foil on the windows, the masking effect of passengers and the directional nature of the ceiling lights. This varies from type to type and even among major rebuilds of the same type and variant.

 

I have a local case to compare on the budapest metro: the oldest ev series cars have incadescent light bulbs in ornate glass lamps and they are very dark compared to everything else. More modern are the 81 series with neon lamps and more light. Even better are the two sets of purchased from surplus type 98 'water spiders' with 8 headlights and double amount of neon lights that have a real sunny day feel. The new alstoms toned it down and are barely brighter than the old incadescent ev-s, despite having leds. And there are the 'newest' rebuilt russian cars with a mini sun in each car as they doubled the length of neons while keeping the number the same as on the spiders. The alstom cars also have tinted glasses, while some older cars have semi see through ads covering the bottom parts of the windows. So you have everything from barely visible to brighter than the platforms.

 

I would suggest before a light install to check the prototype first. Both the brightness and the color of the light is an important prototype info.

[medusa]

I observed similar here with the modern bilevel cars of the local express trains. They have fluorescent lamps, and when you sit inside one, the light looks perfect white for you. However, looking from the outside through the windows (especially from a platform which has older type illumination) the inside looks almost blue.

[bill937ca]

The only lighting that seems to match the intensity of the station lights are the advertising spectacular signs on building facades and on top of buildings.  This is Kanda Station in Tokyo.

 

http://medias.photodeck.com/6f7d642c-a480-11e3-954a-db8bf522c6a5/120512-tokyo-kanda-close-night-timelapse-crop-proreshq-HD_xlarge.jpg

[bill937ca]

Ogikubo Station on the JR East Chuo Main line just west of Nakano. Another example of how bright a JR East station is versus a city street. Its very surprising to see a surface station so close to the heart of Tokyo. Video by cyuosen201.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ogikubo_Station

 

Edited April 4, 2017 by bill937ca