Stopping in the right place
 

I don't get the DART that often but did on 22 August (the sunny day).

I boarded at Sydney Parade southbound, with the 6-car DART pulling in as I descended the stairs. I was slightly surprised that I had to run (I resented this bit, I'm overweight and had just cycled 6km) down the platform as the train stopped as far down as possible.

Returning later, the DART pulled into Dalkey, stopped and then lurched forward a few meters.

On both occassions it appeared as if the approach was made a lot faster than what I'm used to. Is this common?

Drivers seem to be instructed to pull up to the platform end to avoid a situation where they stop on the 6 car marker with a 8 coach train, also the CCTV screens are at the platform ends.

The last 300m of approach from Sandymount to Syndey Parade never exceed 50km/h and once the platform is reached the train automatically slows itself to about 10km/h

this is an old problem, the cravens to arklow used stop well down the paltform in Pearse, even worse on Fridays when it would be a carriage short

In and about Paris, the RER stations have a sign to say if the train will be long or short, and the platforms are marked where the short trains will stop.

On many of the lines out of London, the platforms have signs saying things like "4/6 car stopping point" going up to "10/12 car stopping point". The platform announcements will say things like "This train is made up of 12 carriages. Passengers for A, B and C should board the front 4 carriages. Passengers for X, Y and Z should board the rear 8 carriages." Not that the last part has any relevance, but it would be good to be given advance warning if a short train is about to arrive.

I remember seeing things like "Kurzzug" on timetables and platforms in Germany. I think it means "short train"

you didn't see things like ICE stops right here... and the train actually stopping with the door in the 1m long section marked for the door.....

The fact this works as well as it does means germans will take the train.....

I like the solution used by the metro in Dortmund, Germany: The LED displays that show when the next train is due and where it's headed also indicate how many carriages there will be and what sections of the platform these will be stopping in.

This way of presenting the information has the great benefit of being universally understandable, even for those who don't happen to speak the country's language. Much better than a PA announcement.

On the London Underground, stations with curved platforms have "Mind The Gap" painted along the platform edge. These are quite useful, because they line up with the doors of the trains, so if you stand at one you know you'll be at a set of doors when the train stops. Generally they're accurate to within a few cm.

The trains on the LA Red line metro stop exactly where the kassel kerbing on the platform indicates. There are signs on the platform walls saying " <--- Off peak train boarding", peak trains are always long, off-peak trains are always short.

That seems to make sense, although it seemed like the train was moving at full speed when the driver passed me in Sydney Parade.

With this type of operation, the stairs is pointing in the wrong direction. :) Passengers should also be encouraged to move down the platform.

Is this to allow you get off at the crossing point / exit? Surely the most efficient use is to have people distributed through the train, using all train doors and tehn trickleing to the exit?

I presume it's a train that splits at an intermediate station and goes off in two different directions. Great fun, especially if you forget.

On the Singapore metro the platform is walled off from the track, the doors on the wall only open when the doors for the train are lined up and open.

Paris metro line 14 has the same. It's driverless and the glass walls ensure that passengers are safely separated from the track. Of course, for this to work, the train must always stop in the precisely correct spot.

Imagine trying that here. You'd have DARTs going around empty all over the place. Apart from the passengers trapped onboard.

Yes, it allows a full 12 car train to serve the busy stations near London, but to serve two destinations out in the far-flung countryside where demand is lower.

To-day I was in a 6-carriage DART from Connolly to Sydney Parade (4 Japanese + 2 LHB vehicles). It was driven quite energetically and came to a fairly quick stop just before entering Pearse Station. The same thing happened before Grand Canal Dock and before Sydney Parade. There are no signals at the places where the leading carriage stopped. What was up? Eccentric driver? Train protection system reacting to "energetic" driving? Iv'e heard of overshooting a stop, but this was repeated undershooting by about 200 metres.

Thats the computer, if the driver fails to acknowledge the computers request to slow down by either selecting neutral or brake, (computer always selects full brake regardless of the drivers actions) it stops otherwise if the computer is not happy with the rate of braking it obtains the train is halted, at the three listed locations the train has just crossed into the section just before a signal

17:33 Bray-Mullingar service!
 

I was getting the train in to town on Saturday week ago.It was the 17:33 Bray-Mullingar service. One of the stops it makes is Dalkey,my local station. When I saw the train approach the platform, I noticed that it was going too fast to slow down before reaching the end of the platform. It was a 4 car 29000 CAF Commuter.For a second I thought it was going to skip past Dalkey entirely.Before it came to a complete stop,3 carriages had passed out the platform.This left the last south facing carriage remaining.

I decided to go up to try openning the automatic door.I tried three times and it didn't work. So,with a raised politely toned voice I alerted the train driver up front. After a few seconds, I noticed an the driver coming to the back carriage. He tried openning the automatic doors himself a few times. It didn't work for him either so he resorted to letting me and my fellow passengers in through the door of the drivers cabin.

This happened before in Glenageary with the 8:55 Bray-Balbriggan service. Only on that particular ocassion it was an 8 car 29000 formation and it stopped with two carriages on the platform with the remaining 6 further up track. Given that the driver couldn't see people were trying to open the door to get on,he/she ignored the matter and drove on. It just goes to show that some train drivers drive too fast for their own good and leave it to late to hit the breaks. Either that or they aren't informed of the stops they will have to make for a particular service.

I'd report that, the train has a black box so it can be proven, no excuses for that kind of incident, speed limit out there is 30mph

This sounds like doing everything to avoid making a report of the incident

this morning the Dart stopped just before going into the long tunnel from greystones (a regular spot) and again just after Bray station - presumably both times under automatic braking. So, is this just bad driving? In general the speed and smoothness of braking\acceleration seems to vary a lot from train to train, are the trains to blame for this, or the drivers?