An automatic sliding step that will transform accessibility on the Tyne and Wear Metro’s new trains has been revealed.
The sliding step is a key feature of the new £362m Metro fleet, making life easier for thousands of customers when boarding and alighting by eliminating the gap between the train and the platform edge.
They will be located at every door of the new trains, making boarding easier for Metro’s 50,000 wheelchair customers as well as people with children’s buggies, luggage or bicycles.
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The sliding step will automatically deploy from beneath the door sill every time the new Metro train pulls into a station, closing the gap between the platform.
It then automatically retracts before the doors close and the train pulls away.
Both the sliding step and the doors are being made by a German company called Bode Die Tur, who specialise in the development and production of electronic door and boarding systems.
Metro’s operator, Nexus, and the Swiss train builder, Stadler, have conducted an official inspection of this transformative piece of technology.
When the sliding step and door systems are completed they will be transported to the Stadler assembly line for installation on each of the 46 new trains.
New fleet project manager at Nexus, Sarah McManus, said: "This piece of technology is a key feature of the new Metro train fleet that will transform accessibility for thousands of customers.
“The sliding step works by providing seamless boarding from platform to train. It removes the gap between the train and the edges of the Metro platform when it deploys."
Nexus finalised the design options for the new Metro trains in June 2021 after 23,000 responses from customers, employees and specialist user groups.
Stadler is making 46 new Metro trains for Nexus, with the first new unit set to arrive at the end of this year for testing and driver training, with a view to it entering customer service in the summer of 2023.
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