07-11-2019, 11:39 PM
(07-11-2019, 09:02 AM)MidTowner Wrote: Sorry, what I meant was that there are plenty of crossings (more than "plenty") which are not gate-controlled.
Why must there be a gate blocking the sidewalk, particularly the small gate blocking only the sidewalk on the east side (I can't think of one of those used elsewhere on the line), and particularly when people are going to be on the track side of the gate disembarking the train? That makes no sense to me.
There are similar situations at several other stops, for example University of Waterloo. People get off the train, then I guess are supposed to wait in the middle between the tracks until the gates go up, even if they are crossing the track that the train is not on and which won’t see a train until the next train comes in the other direction. Of course sometimes it’s almost there and they actually do need to wait in order to be safe, while other times it is 10 minutes away.
Ideally, there should be two totally separate crossings, one for each track. So to cross right over both tracks, the order would be gate - track - gate - platform - gate - track - gate. But that might run into real estate problems; even if we allow the gates on the inside between the tracks to be much closer to the tracks than usual, they take up some space themselves and wouldn’t leave all that much space between them for walking to the platform.
On one level of course the answer to your question is “because it’s part of a gate-controlled intersection” but I’m not a designer of the system so I’m allowed to actually think about the situation and agree that it’s weird. On the other hand I don’t have to design something that is legal to construct so I have to have some sympathy for their position.
Maybe they should have done the LRT at Northfield as “on street” and used gates only for the freight line.