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London Underground researching composites-made doors

21 Aug '14

3 min read

The London Underground train network is mulling alternatives like aerospace composite materials to develop light-weight train doors, which is expected to deliver savings in passenger hours saved and energy consumed by trains and also reduce wear and tear of rolling stock.

This prototype door is currently undergoing final rigorous structural testing, to ensure that the design meets the strictest regulations, ensuring safety for tube customers, the National Composites Centre (NCC) reported.

The London Underground Innovation Team is leading a group of industry experts to explore using materials previously only used in aerospace composite materials to construct a commercially viable, lightweight train door.

The benefits of these innovative lighter doors are far-reaching for passengers. These doors are expected to reduce journey times and reduced waiting times on platforms, translating in to saving of 530,000 passenger hours a year.

Moreover, reduction in mechanical stress in other parts of the door system would reduce the frequency of door-related failures leading to fewer delays.

The total weight saving of using the lighter composite material for doors across a Central line train would be 1.25 tons, translating into huge benefits on train energy consumption and track wear.

David Waboso, London Underground’s Capital Programmes Director, said: “Using this aerospace technology, we have the potential to reduce delays and crowding for customers at a time when more and more people are using the Tube. At the same time we can also save millions of pounds to be re-invested in our services and also reduce our impact on the environment.”

Jeff Ive, Engineering Capability Lead at NCC said, “Using materials often used in an aerospace application and processing them in a novel manner, we have been able to deliver an end product that has the potential to improve a public service for generations to come.”

For the London Underground, the application of these innovative new doors on the Central line alone would mean savings of over £5 million a year.

In the long term, this research will be a push towards lighter trains in the future, which will reduce operating and maintenance costs. The research also offers the potential to see longer doors installed on existing Tube trains, which would reduce boarding and alighting times.

The project has already won a Rail Industry Innovation Award in the ‘Environment’ category and has been shortlisted for the prestigious Stephenson Innovation Award with the winner to be announced later this year.

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