Selective Door Operation (Door-Cutting)

[Kabutoni]

I've been wondering about some time about putting longer trains on my layout. The maximum seems to be just one Enoden trainlength (25m) or two combined 12m (24m) EMU for my platform. However, I've found out that there exists such a thing as 'selective door operation', in Japanese known as ドアカット [Door Cut]. On the Japanese wikipedia the animations make everything clear how it works in general: http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/ドアカット. It's a technique to open just a select number of doors of the train at platforms that are just too short to contain the whole train.

 

So, now you can actually have trains that are longer than the longest platform on your layout! I'm thinking about investing in some 2-car EMU. Probably no longer then 18m cars.

 

Picture 1: Demonstration on Umeyashi-sta. on the Keikyu-line.

Picture 2. Yes! This is possible! (Though a 3-car Hankyu 6300 Series is less likely)

[disturbman]

I think this has been used on London Tube too.

[bill937ca]

In the heart of Tokyo you will find selective door operation at Togoshi-kōen Station on the Tokyu Oimachi line.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Togoshi-k%C5%8Den_Station

 

Station layout

 

Two ground-level side platforms which are three cars long, not enough for Oimachi Line local trains which have five cars; thus, there is no getting on or off from the first two cars of the trains at the side for Oimachi.

 

http://zh.wikipedia.org/zh/File:Tokyu-Togoshikoen002.jpg

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPwaOtw98BY&feature=channel

 

There's another station on the Oimachi line where there are two platforms with a grade rossing in the middle.

This is Kuhonbutsu Station.  The second platform is mainly used by the guard.

 

 

Isn't Koshigoe station on the Enoden line shorter than the trains?  It appears that way on a cab ride video, YES!

 

The effective length is only home for about 40m, four-car train at Kamakura both cut a door closer.   Effective length of the previous home had only 25m in the four-car train doors did not open at all toward the two both Kamakura.  Door cut operation, in addition to the switch operation by the conductor before the train station on departure, to determine a child by the child and the ground station stop on the car Koshigoe the vehicle to allow a clear-cut introduction of automatic doors, double safety measures are applied.

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/26/EnodenLine.png

 

http://ko.wikipedia.org/wiki/%EA%B3%A0%EC%8B%9C%EA%B3%A0%EC%97%90_%EC%97%AD

[KenS]

I think this is reasonable as long as you can justify, if only to yourself, why the station platform wasn't larger.  Dense residential neighboorhoods, where expansion would mean demolishing someone's house are an obvious reason. Existing streets (as in Togoshi-kōen which has platforms sandwiched between two streets) are another good excuse. And I suppose you could do it with a rural station and just assume it had too little traffic to justify expansion.

 

But I think it's going to work better for a small layout (or a T-trak module) where it can be assumed that this is an exception, and where trains aren't much longer than the shortest platform.  If every one of several stations is one or two cars long, and the train is longer, of if the train is much longer, then I think it's going to look odd.

 

I think what I'm trying to say is that it's a good idea used in moderation, but overuse would break the illusion.

 

Which doesn't mean you can't do it, as all model railroads are greater or lesser approximations of reality, and only you can say how close an approximation you feel is acceptable, and you could assume your layout is a section of a longer line where for one reason or another all the stations are short.

[marknewton]

I think this has been used on London Tube too.

 

I suspect this is common on many railways - we do it at a number of stations around Sydney. Our new EMU trains will also have an "overshoot" button so that if we don't manage to stop with all doors on the platform, the guard can immediately isolate those doors to prevent the passengers from falling out of the train.

 

Cheers,

 

Mark.

[westfalen]

Here on the Brisbane suburban network we have several short platforms. Between Ipswich and Rosewood all the platforms are only three cars long because of upgrading for electrification being done on the cheap (a couple of perfectly good full length platforms were actually shortened to match the new short ones!), six car trains regularly use the line in peak hours and the solution is to herd all the passengers into the rear three cars before departing Ipswich. Tennyson station on the short, peak hour only cross country Yeerongpilly-Corinda line is also only three cars due to lack of space, the solution QR recently came up with here after decades of not worrying about it is for the guard to walk through the train at the previous station and physically lock the doors in the cars not will not be at the platform. The North Coast line abounds with short platforms although some have been lengthened including one where only the first door of the first car of a six car train was at the platform. Long distance trains like the Sunlander often made two or more stops at short country platforms for coach and sleeping car passengers before the quest for economy decided it was better to make the passengers walk through the train to the cars at the platform or just close the smaller stations.

[Mudkip Orange]

NYC IRT subway also does this in a couple of different places.

 

I still think it looks kinda poo and am more in favor of disruptive civil engineering works to extend platform length.