The closest to air-conditioning possible in trains like LNER's is more similar to individual window units (except mounted in the ceiling) than the integrated systems in larger homes or offices.
LNER operates two types of multiple-unit from the same family (a conventional EMU and then a bi-modal hack of that concept because the Tories don't want to spend money electrifying more of the railway), and then an older loco-hauled passenger service where a type 91 is pulling and there's a train of mostly passive passenger stock behind it.
In both these designs there is electricity available, to run the air conditioning units, but it's not practical to pump air around the train so they don't. The air in your part of the train will get recirculated by the fans that make the air conditioning unit work, so I'd expect that if you spent an hour on a train four seats from an infectious person there's a decent chance you'll be infected. But air from other carriages isn't recirculated into yours at more than negligible level.
Because these are mostly doing intercity journeys (thus fewer stops, and perhaps dwelling for longer at each) even the newer EMUs were not designed as a single huge tube like the modern Tube stuck or some local EMUs. So there's a "double airlock" partition between one carriage and the next which reduces noise and discomfort but makes getting on and off take a little longer. In this particular case it probably makes the train slightly safer to use.
" Our onboard ventilation systems are providing a continuing supply of fresh air which is cycled every 6 minutes limiting droplet transmission between passengers." With the graphics implying that ventilation is spatially limited.
I wonder if these trains have air conditioning. Berlin might not need it, but if you had a subway train without air conditioning in NYC for example, the passengers would boil. So that might explain it.
Western and Indian trains without air conditioning aren't the same -- in the Indian ones (at least 2nd AC and below) the windows can be opened, and often are. The wind blows away everything but the faintest aroma of cooking food.
It's impossible to have actual AC on the trains, there's simply no space, and there's no real way to make space. Furthermore, you have the issue of venting the hot air 20m underground.
It's more often one section with broken ac and not the complete train; I assume the drivers have AC even when passengers dont. You can try to move to an adjacent car (which are then correspondingly that much more packed). I've experienced it in both NYC and Boston in the last few years.
> There's also this weird thing where, while the train is sitting there waiting to return the opposite way back to Brooklyn, they close all the subway doors except one in each carriage. It doesn't prevent people from getting on.
My understanding is that it's to keep the subway cars relatively climate-controlled. Especially in the summer, it's better not to let all the cool air from the AC leak out the open doors.
I wish. I occasionally have to take the tube, and it’s awful. The temperatures and humidity can get super high, turning everybody on the train into a sweaty mess.
I can almost guarantee that if you're traveling in a non-AC compartment in India, the windows stay open. People only close them before sleeping at night, because when trains invariably stop at its scheduled stations, the passengers don't want to run the risk of thieves grabbing valuables through windows.
There are some smells of certain cuisines that I absolutely detest (fish curry, garlic, etc.) but I can't recall ever being bothered by the smell of food in these compartments. I can recall being bothered by the smell of diesel fumes if the car happened to be close to the front. What drove me quite mad was this, "all culminating in a boisterous game of cards or round of antakshari". Ear plugs don't help much.
That's not an accurate representation of the service at all. I'd say it's a lot closer to, say, New York City's subway service: something people love to hate, but that is, despite some flaws, quite successful, especially in comparison. The trains being full, literally, littoraly (to the coasts), or figuratively also calls to mind Woody Allen: "Nobody goes there anymore–it's too crowded".
All trains, even regional ones, also have heating and cooling. And while Acs tends to be underpowered and is broken more often than it should be, I don't remember heating, which is much simpler anyway, to have similar problems.
It's a bit early to tell if it's a resurgence, so far everything is in the planning phase. Travelling by train in extra comfort sounds nice, but that is only if you don't have frequent stops and you don't have to switch trains in the middle of the night. Solutions like this one look like they'll be very expensive. It would be interesting to put the whole cabin on movable parts and use control theory to keep the cabin steady at all times. To remove the repetitive train track sounds for extra luxury. I hope they succeed.
Here in the UK the pendolino class trains, at least while operated by Virgin, were notorious for entering into an oscillating open/close loop. So much so that several times the staff would announce which cars had working toilets after each pickup station. Often times, apologising for the smell in the other cars.
The train i catch in SE London is travelling from tier 3 (Kent) to tier 2 (tiers as of the last few weeks). Despite travel out of a tier 3 are being 'advised against', the train is busy, 1/3 of people not wearing a mask, 1/3 not wearing it correctly, all the windows closed because it's 'cold'.
There are long distance trains like the RE (or ICE, which is not covered by this ticket) which are designed around everyone being seated, and there are commuter trains like the S-Bahn which are designed to have enough seating space for normal hours and lots of standing space for rush hour. The former are very uncomfortable when overfilled, the latter are designed around it in terms of ventilation, number of doors etc.
I've been in a couple of people-shoving-level crowded commuter trains when traveling to popular consumer trade fairs, and it was ok. Most people took it as part of the experience.
The biggest issue will be people trying to cross the country, packing 40 year old REs beyond their limit in the hottest time of year.
LNER operates two types of multiple-unit from the same family (a conventional EMU and then a bi-modal hack of that concept because the Tories don't want to spend money electrifying more of the railway), and then an older loco-hauled passenger service where a type 91 is pulling and there's a train of mostly passive passenger stock behind it.
In both these designs there is electricity available, to run the air conditioning units, but it's not practical to pump air around the train so they don't. The air in your part of the train will get recirculated by the fans that make the air conditioning unit work, so I'd expect that if you spent an hour on a train four seats from an infectious person there's a decent chance you'll be infected. But air from other carriages isn't recirculated into yours at more than negligible level.
Because these are mostly doing intercity journeys (thus fewer stops, and perhaps dwelling for longer at each) even the newer EMUs were not designed as a single huge tube like the modern Tube stuck or some local EMUs. So there's a "double airlock" partition between one carriage and the next which reduces noise and discomfort but makes getting on and off take a little longer. In this particular case it probably makes the train slightly safer to use.
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