> You could make the test station one of the L train stations that's going to be closed for two years and install them at a super leisurely pace. (The L is basically completely isolated from the rest of the system, and already requires special rolling stock for CBTC. And it's going to be closed for two years for other repairs.)
This actually was a proposal. It was recently killed in favor of bringing elevators to Union Square, a major subway complex that is not ADA accessible. Which is really why they haven't caught on as a serious engineering proposal; the list of things that would be much better value for money is long, such as systemwide ADA accessibility, CBTC signalling, replacement of rolling stock, refurbishment of dilapidated, water-damaged stations, etc. You could easily come up with $50B worth of upgrades, extensions, etc. before platform doors became a priority. And they're not even that feasible.
> There are just a lot more doors in the station than on each train.
Got a source for this? This is intriguing because I've never heard of something like this. But this also introduces the complexity that the right doors have to open at the right time, lest a blind person walk into a gap between trains and die. Which is a lot to ask from an agency that can barely maintain something as mundane as elevators and escalators.
Without any doors, nothing stops people from walking into a gap between trains and dying. So adding doors (even too many doors) isn't going to make the situation any worse. It'll make it better because there will be fewer gaps, even with too many doors all opening at once.
Do they not? The R62 and R142 cars are both the same number of doors and of the same length [1] [2], and the moving platforms at some stations would, I think, require the doors be in approximately the same spot, no?
> The Eastern Division still uses old rolling stock like R42s from time to time.
Yes, but the R42 and R143/R160 have the same overall length and door count (and the spacing appears to be the same as well) [3] [4]
As an aside: it’s quite frustrating that the measurements given on the datasheets are of varying frequency.
[1] https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/caption.pl?/img/cars/sheet-r6...
[2] https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/caption.pl?/img/cars/sheet-r1...
[3] https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/caption.pl?/img/cars/sheet-r4...
[4] https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/caption.pl?/img/cars/sheet-r1...
In R62s, doors are parallel to each other on each side of the car. [1]
However, it was found that because passengers like to crowd at doors, passengers wishing to exit from either side would just crowd in the same place.
To ease crowding, the NTTs have wider, offset doors, so that not everybody is standing in the same place [2]
The gap fillers at Union Square are very long, which is why they can line up with multiple door positions. [3]
[1] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R62_(New_York_City_Subway_car)...
#/media/File:R62_interior.jpg){kind=link}
[2] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R142A_(New_York_City_Subway_ca...
#/media/File:Empty_subway_in_NYC.jpg){kind=link}
I read this as “IRT Eastern Division and BMT Eastern Division”, and was very confused what the IRT Eastern Division was, but I think you mean all of the IRT? Indeed, the IRT (except R188) would require similar door locations already because of the moving platforms at some stations.
> I've never even heard it seriously proposed.
There were apparently budgeted funds in the 2014 Capital Plan [1], but it was just designs.
[1] http://web.mta.info/capitaldashboard/allframenew_head.html?P...
Even if varying door locations were the problem... Tokyo has many lines that share rolling stock among 3 or even 4 separate rail companies, and they still have platform doors. There are just a lot more doors in the station than on each train.
There simply is no interest or money for platform doors in NYC. Even though people fall onto the tracks and are killed, even though many stations suffer from capacity problems because there aren't enough safe places to stand, even though people holding train doors delays every train multiple minutes a day... we're simply allergic to the concept. I've never even heard it seriously proposed.