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Observing GCOR Rule 6.30 At The El Monte Metrolink Station
Author: Eugene Salinsky
Date: 05-08-2012 - 16:22
6.30 Receiving or Discharging Passengers
When a passenger train is receiving or discharging traffic, a train, engine, or piece of equipment must not pass between it and the station platform being used unless safeguards are provided.
This scenario presents itself several times per day at Metrolink's El Monte station when a westbound train is waiting on the # 1 track for an eastbound train to clear the mainline and come in to the station on the siding (or # 2 track -- the one closest to the station parking lot). The safeguard being provided are the doors being closed on the westbound train sitting on the # 1 track until the eastbound train enters the station and stops.
Is this an adequate safeguard?
Isn't it conceivable that a late-running passenger could be sprinting from the parking lot in an attempt to catch the westbound train and get whacked by the eastbound train? Would the train's closed doors be enough to prevent something like this from happening?
It just seems like a poorly designed station. If there was ever a station that cries for an underground pedestrian tunnel or overhead walkway to deliver people to / from the center platform between the two active tracks, this is that station.
When a passenger train is receiving or discharging traffic, a train, engine, or piece of equipment must not pass between it and the station platform being used unless safeguards are provided.
This scenario presents itself several times per day at Metrolink's El Monte station when a westbound train is waiting on the # 1 track for an eastbound train to clear the mainline and come in to the station on the siding (or # 2 track -- the one closest to the station parking lot). The safeguard being provided are the doors being closed on the westbound train sitting on the # 1 track until the eastbound train enters the station and stops.
Is this an adequate safeguard?
Isn't it conceivable that a late-running passenger could be sprinting from the parking lot in an attempt to catch the westbound train and get whacked by the eastbound train? Would the train's closed doors be enough to prevent something like this from happening?
It just seems like a poorly designed station. If there was ever a station that cries for an underground pedestrian tunnel or overhead walkway to deliver people to / from the center platform between the two active tracks, this is that station.
Observing GCOR Rule 6.30 At The El Monte Metrolink Station