On the subject of Platform Edge Doors; While I agree that the media coverage at times can be overly-simplistic, I disagree on the value of the idea.
If you view the value as one of saving the proverbial innocent victim of a criminal shove, then yes, as tragic as such things are, they are also exceedingly rare, and the investment would be hard to justify.......
But when you extend it to suicides, the numbers are much more substantial.
Source:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toronto_Transit_Commission_incidents#2020–2029
The average appears to be in the low 20s with up to 33 attempts made in any given year.
That's not 'If it saves one life'.........
Granted, if that method of suicide is eliminated, many will find another, though some net reduction is likely.
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But if one were remarkably cold, (not cruel); and set aside the impact of the suicide attempts on the persons involved, witnesses and operators.....
You're talking about ~25 service interruptions of 2+ hours every second week; that's a lot of inconvenience, and hassle and late-fees for parents picking up children from daycares, and people late for work or school or doctor's appts etc.
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Beyond the suicide/homicide/idiot jumping down to get dropped phone on the tracks part of the discussion.........there is another issue......litter.
The leading cause of smoke/fire at track level is litter blowing onto the third rail. Excepting open-air sections of track, the vast majority of any litter is either discarded by people in stations, or blows in from relatively full garbage cans or such.
Full-height PEDs would either completely or mostly eliminate this source of delay for passengers.
I think the case for the investment is rather compelling.
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On lines where ATC is in place, the logic would be to begin the work at stations where there are inordinate suicide attempts. Generally these are stations where trains enter at high speed and/or where the operator has a very poor sightline into the station until they are upon it.
In managing the non-suicide risk, one would presumably look to the most crowded stations.
In looking at Bloor-Yonge, one assumes ATC will be fully in place on both Line 1 and 2 at the conclusion of the project, as should be the case, the total cost of PEDs will be in the ~50-75M range for 5 barriers on 3 platforms.
That stands against a global budget for the project of 1.5B, meaning that even the high-side estimate represents 5% of project cost; that is well within the current contingency allowance.
It would seem wasteful to me not to include this work within the prescribed scope.