WASHINGTON — The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority is considering a redesign of its planned 8000-series cars for DC Metrorail service to include an open-gangway design that would allow passengers to walk from car to car, the Washington Post reports.
General Manager Randy Clarke told a WMATA board meeting that the open-gangway design has “significant advantages … That’s why it’s kind of a world-class model, specifically around safety and accessibility in providing a little bit more space inside of the vehicle.”
The design — as illustrated with examples shown on the WMATA Twitter feed — allows easier movement for those with accessibility issues; lets passengers to move more easily in case of dangerous situations such as fires; and makes it easier for passengers to move with luggage or bikes, for example.
Construction of the 8000-series cars is scheduled to begin next year at a new Hitachi Rail factory near Hagerstown, Md. The Metrorail proposal comes shortly after New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority showed off the first of its open-gangway cars, part of a small pilot program in its current order for new subway equipment [see “MTA provides first look at open-gangway subway cars,” Trains News Wire, Feb. 6, 2023].
This design is wildly unsafe for Metro Washington, DC passengers unless the cars are individually secured with armed Metro Security Police in each car segment. I said EACH CAR SEGMENT!
Gangs of teenage criminals would roam the conjoined cars robbing and assaulting passengers during rush-hour commuting. They would be an injury hazard to passengers who would be knocked down and/or trampled to death when the gangs of criminals would flee thru the cars.
Presently, during rush hours and after school dismissals. The Platforms are flooded with uniformed armed Metro Police officers. Who deter and/or prevent these kinds of mass assaults and robberies. The confined car interiors are not a place to flee to.
But that is precisely what this proposed design change would achieve. Again, UNLESS EQUAL LEVELS OF ARMED POLICE ARE PLACED INSIDE THE NEW TRAIN DESIGN.
“Gangs of teenage criminals”. Hmm, yes, the moment I turned 13, I robbed a donut store (it wasn’t about the money, it was about the donuts, they were delicious), trespassed on hundreds of acres of private property all while taking multiple dumps, and threw a molotov into a closed Toys-R-Us that shut down the day before. The police never found me as the arsonist for that last one and the case is cold.
Very vivid imagination there. You might want to cut back on those “special” brownies you’ve been buying from the boys down on the corner
Looks good!!!!
Well then do include the design or do not! Though, I would like it if they did include the design, it could really help.