Gangway doors locked open

[Lozzy0603]

On some Class 350 units, it appears some train crews have chosen to lock the inter-carriage gangway doors open. This seems to be the minority choice however. Most 350s seem to have them in normal push-button-to-open service.

I just wondered what best practice was in this case?

Wouldn't there be a fire safety reason for leaving them in normal push-to-open configuration unless a set of doors is faulty?

Also having all the gangway doors open on hot days diminishes the effectiveness of the air conditioning massively, particularly on these units.

The one guard I asked politely why this had been done, shrugged his shoulders and returned to the isolation of his cab.
Thanks for any input.

 

[Lewlew]

I believe it's do with Covid and having fewer touch points. (Potentially less for the cleaners to do in the short turnaround times? Not saying they don't do a great job as they definitely do).

Same with first class being declassified, to allow more room for social distancing.

 

[Lozzy0603]

That's fine, except I'd estimate less than a third of units are configured like that. Even within some multiple workings. So surely if it's policy it's policy, needs to be done throughout.

 

[Jayden99]

Seems to be personal choice by guards, as it's always the same guards that have had the doors locked open. It was very briefly a thing at my TOC too but I haven't seen it in a good while now

 

[PupCuff]

I can see the logic of keeping them open to reduce touch points, and generally speaking when a gangway door is 'locked open' you can still manually pull them closed so no big issue in case of fire, you'd simply close the door behind you when you left. They can also be secured open where the air conditioning in one coach has encountered a problem and there will be some cooling effect from adjacent vehicles.