Metro Emergency Stop – stopping a metro when you are not in it!
Recently a blind man was killed at a city metro station after falling from the platform. Despite the best efforts of fellow passengers to rescue him or to warn the metro driver, all efforts failed and the man died when he was hit by the metro.
Whether his blindness was a factor in either the accident or the attempted rescue is unknown. What is known is that nobody present knew there are Metro Emergency Stop buttons that can stop the metro before it reaches the platform. I did not know it either until this week.
If you have ridden any trams in Prague lately you may have noticed by the doors there are red buttons marked “Emergency Stop”. Much like if you pulled the old red chain in a train carriage, it informs the driver to stop at once. But it seems that me along with the other 84% of travelling passengers (according to a straw poll) were unaware that passengers on a metro platform also have access to a Metro Emergency Stop function.
Where Are These Emergency Stop Buttons?
I can’t even count how many times I have waited on platforms and at several stations when I’ve moved after accidentally leaning against what I thought was a fire alarm point. Now where these things are is not exactly standard. My local stop “Chodov” has them at both ends of the platform but nothing in the middle.
Stations like “Hradčanska” and “Jiriho z Poděbrad” have the Metro Emergency Stop buttons just inside the platform entry/exit on the wall so they are not at the ends or in the middle.
“Hlavni Nadrazi” has one platform where it’s in the middle and the other platform where it’s at the ends. “Kačerov” has them on the columns at both ends of the platform but they are not visible if you are in the middle. So you can imagine that even if you are aware that these things exist it’s far from easy to know exactly where they are located and get to them quickly. So it’s a case of making yourself familiar with your own station as you use it.
How Does it Work?
According to DPP (Public transport authority) it requires a firm depression of the thumb onto the Perspex cover. In practice, striking the cover with your knuckle seems to work better. How it actually stops the metro I don’t know. I guess probably it changes the signal light if it’s not reached the platform or possibly sends a signal to the driver if already in the station.
The Permanent Fix
Well that’s a plan to install sliding doors on the platforms which is currently priced at CZK36 Billion and looks like 10 years from now if at all.
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