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A gangway connection (or, more loosely, a corridor connection) is a flexible connector fitted to the end of a railway coach, enabling passengers to move from one coach to another without danger of falling from the train.


Origins: Coaches in British and American railways

The
London and North Western Railway The London and North Western Railway (LNWR, L&NWR) was a British railway company between 1846 and 1922. In the late 19th century, the L&NWR was the largest joint stock company in the United Kingdom. In 1923, it became a constituent of the ...
(LNWR) was the first British railway to provide passengers with the means to move from one coach to another while the train was in motion. In 1869 the LNWR built a pair of saloons for the use of
Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 216 days was longer than that of any previ ...
; these had six-wheel underframes (the
bogie A bogie ( ) (in some senses called a truck in North American English) is a chassis or framework that carries a wheelset, attached to a vehicle—a modular subassembly of wheels and axles. Bogies take various forms in various modes of tr ...
coach did not appear in Britain until 1874), and the gangway was fitted to only one end of each coach. The Queen preferred to wait until the train had stopped before using the gangway. In 1887, George M. Pullman introduced his patented vestibule cars. Older railroad cars had open platforms at their ends, which were used both for joining and leaving the train, but could also be used to step from one car to the next. This practice was dangerous, and so Pullman decided to enclose the platform to produce the
vestibule Vestibule or Vestibulum can have the following meanings, each primarily based upon a common origin, from early 17th century French, derived from Latin ''vestibulum, -i n.'' "entrance court". Anatomy In general, vestibule is a small space or cavity ...
. For passing between cars, there was a passageway in the form of a steel-framed rectangular diaphragm mounted on a buffing plate above the centre coupler. The vestibule prevented passengers from falling out, and protected passengers from the weather when passing between cars. In the event of an accident, the design also helped prevent cars from overriding each other, reducing the risk of telescoping. Pullman's vestibule cars were first used in 1887. Among the first to use them was the
Pennsylvania Railroad The Pennsylvania Railroad (reporting mark PRR), legal name The Pennsylvania Railroad Company also known as the "Pennsy", was an American Class I railroad that was established in 1846 and headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was named ...
on the ''Pennsylvania Limited'' service to Chicago. The Great Northern Railway introduced the Gould-design gangway connection to Great Britain in 1889, when E.F. Howlden was Carriage and Wagon Superintendent. In March 1892, the
Great Western Railway The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a British railway company that linked London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 mill ...
(GWR) introduced a set of gangwayed coaches on their to
Birkenhead Birkenhead (; cy, Penbedw) is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside, England; Historic counties of England, historically, it was part of Cheshire until 1974. The town is on the Wirral Peninsula, along the south bank of the R ...
service. Built to the design of
William Dean William, Will, Bill or Billy Dean may refer to: Arts and entertainment * William Dean Howells (1837–1920), American novelist and playwright * Bill Dean (1921–2000), British actor * Billy Dean (born 1962), American country music singer ** '' ...
, it was the first British side-corridor train to have gangway connections between all the coaches, although they were provided not to enable passengers to move around the train, but rather to allow the guard to reach any compartment quickly. Electric bells were provided so that he could be summoned. When the guard was not so required, he kept the communicating doors locked. Passengers could still use the side-corridor within the coach to reach the toilet. The gangway connections of the early GWR corridor coaches were offset to one side. Some coaches intended for use at the ends of trains had the gangway connection fitted at one end only. The GWR introduced restaurant cars in 1896; gangway connections were fitted, but passengers wishing to use the restaurant car were expected to board it at the start of their journey, and remain there: the connections were still not for public use. In May 1923, the GWR introduced some new coaches on their South Wales services; some of these coaches had British Standard gangway connections and screw couplers as used on many other GWR coaches; some had Pullman-type gangway connections and Laycock "buckeye" couplers; and there were some with one type at one end, and the other end having the other type. In 1925 the GWR started to use the "suspended" form of gangway connection instead of the "scissors" pattern. From 1938, GWR coaches which were expected to need coupling to LNER or SR coaches were fitted with gangway adaptors, to allow the dissimilar types to be connected. From the beginning, the
London, Midland and Scottish Railway The London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMSIt has been argued that the initials LMSR should be used to be consistent with LNER, GWR and SR. The London, Midland and Scottish Railway's corporate image used LMS, and this is what is generally ...
used the British Standard type of gangway connector, with its "scissors" pattern as used by the GWR. Some coaches needed for LNER or SR lines were given gangway adaptors, so that they could safely couple to coaches fitted with the Pullman-type gangway. On the formation of British Railways on 1 January 1948, operators decided to produce a new range of standard coaches, instead of perpetuating existing designs—but the new types had to be compatible with the old. Two of the pre-BR companies (the GWR and the
London, Midland and Scottish Railway The London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMSIt has been argued that the initials LMSR should be used to be consistent with LNER, GWR and SR. The London, Midland and Scottish Railway's corporate image used LMS, and this is what is generally ...
) favoured the British Standard gangway, whereas the other two (the
London and North Eastern Railway The London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) was the second largest (after LMS) of the "Big Four" railway companies created by the Railways Act 1921 in Britain. It operated from 1 January 1923 until nationalisation on 1 January 1948. At tha ...
and the Southern Railway) used the Pullman type. In the design of their new Mark 1 coaches, British Railways decided to standardise on the Pullman type in view of its resistance to telescoping. These gangways consisted of a flat steel plate, having a large aperture for the passageway. At the bottom it was riveted to the buffing plate, whilst the top was supported on the coach end by two telescopic spring units. On the coach end was a wooden doorframe; this was connected to the faceplate by a flexible diaphragm made from plasticised asbestos. When two coaches were coupled, a curtain was used to cover the inside surfaces of the diaphragms and faceplates. The doorframe was fitted with a lockable door, of either sliding or hinged type, depending on the interior layout of that end of the coach.


Travelling post offices

Coaches built for
travelling post office A Travelling Post Office (TPO) was a type of mail train used in Great Britain and Ireland where the post was sorted en route. The TPO can be traced back to the earlier days of the railway, the first ever postal movement by rail being performe ...
(TPO) services normally had their gangway connections offset to one side. There were two main reasons: there was a perceived security risk should these coaches be coupled to ordinary passenger-carrying coaches, the differing gangway positions minimising the risk of intrusion; and more space was available for sorting tables, the postal workers being able to walk in a straight line between vans without disturbing the sorters. A disadvantage was that when a van was added to a TPO train, it might need to be turned around before it could be used. After the formation of British Railways, most new Mark 1 TPO vans were provided with centre gangways, though a batch intended to work with older vans were given offset gangways. These were altered to the standard arrangement in 1973. Until then, they had been the only BR Mark 1 gangwayed coaches not to have the Pullman gangway.


Locomotives (corridor tenders)

A corridor tender is a locomotive
tender Tender may refer to: Entertainment Film * ''Illegal Tender'' (2007), a film directed by Franc. Reyes * ''Tender'' (2012), a short film by Liz Tomkins * ''Tender'' (2019), a short film by Darryl Jones and Anthony Lucido * ''Tender'' (2019), a sh ...
with a passageway to one side, allowing crew changes on the fly. The
London and North Eastern Railway The London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) was the second largest (after LMS) of the "Big Four" railway companies created by the Railways Act 1921 in Britain. It operated from 1 January 1923 until nationalisation on 1 January 1948. At tha ...
(LNER) decided that from the start of their summer timetable on 1 May 1928, the ''Flying Scotsman'' service would run non-stop over the between and . The locomotives to be used were of that railway's class A1, and the schedule was for the journey to be completed in hours. This was too long to allow a single crew to handle the train without a rest; means were therefore sought by which the crew could be changed at approximately the half-way point. The LNER's locomotive design team, headed by Nigel Gresley, produced a new design of tender that was slightly longer than the old, but built as high and wide as possible without compromising the
loading gauge A loading gauge is a diagram or physical structure that defines the maximum height and width dimensions in railway vehicles and their loads. Their purpose is to ensure that rail vehicles can pass safely through tunnels and under bridges, and ke ...
. A passageway was incorporated along the right-hand side, and at the rear end a Pullman type gangway connection was fitted, together with a buckeye coupler, both of which were compatible with LNER coaches. The gangway was of concertina pattern, and was pressed against the corresponding gangway on the leading coach by means of sprung pistons. Although a normal gangway connection was used, the passageway through the tender was only high and wide, and the floor of the passage was above the bottom of the water tank, requiring two steps at both ends. The passageway was illuminated by a single circular window in the tender rear panel, placed high up and to the right of the corridor connection. Ten of these tenders were placed in service between April and September 1928, of which three were attached to new locomotives of Class A3; two were attached to existing Class A3 locomotives, and five attached to Class A1 locomotives. The design was patented by Gresley in August 1928. In service, the relief crew travelled in the front coach of the train, and as the train approached the half-way point, they left their seats and made their way forward through the corridor tender to the locomotive cab. On their arrival, the previous crew then handed over the controls and went back to the seats in the train vacated by the relief crew. Another corridor tender (Number 5484) was built in 1929 for use with the new Class W1 4-6-4 no. 10000; four more were built in 1935 with the first four locomotives of the new Class A4, and a final seven were built with the 1937 batch of Class A4 locomotives, making a total of 22. The original ten were reconditioned in 1936–1937 and attached to other Class A4 locomotives. In May 1948, the 1929-built corridor tender was transferred to a locomotive of Class A4, after which all 22 remained with this class until withdrawal.


Open gangways in urban transit

File:Skytrain Mk3 interior toward center.jpg, Interior view of the Vancouver SkyTrain Bombardier Innovia Metro 300 (Mark III) File:METRO-AZUR-INTERIEUR.jpg, Interior view of Azur train MPM-10 File:Bombardier Flexity Outlook Gangway.jpg, Open gangway on a Bombardier Flexity Outlook tram File:34th St Hudson Yards td 30 - R211 Open House.jpg , R211 mockup File:SydneyMetro16.jpg, Interior of a Sydney Metro Alstom Metropolis TS set In urban transit, open gangways are most commonly used in light rail and
streetcar A tram (called a streetcar or trolley in North America) is a rail vehicle that travels on tramway tracks on public urban streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way. The tramlines or networks operated as public transport ...
s, where the railcars are divided into two or more sections linked by gangways.
Articulated bus An articulated bus, also referred to as a banana bus, bendy bus, tandem bus, vestibule bus, wiggle wagon, stretch bus, or an accordion bus, (either a motor bus or trolleybus) is an articulated vehicle used in public transportation. It is ...
es similarly have extensions connected with a gangway. Open gangways have also become increasingly used for heavy rail
rapid transit Rapid transit or mass rapid transit (MRT), also known as heavy rail or metro, is a type of high-capacity public transport generally found in urban areas. A rapid transit system that primarily or traditionally runs below the surface may be c ...
rolling stock. It provides a way to seamlessly move between cars at any time, without passing through doors and a dangerous open area that is often against the rules. It also raises the capacity of metro cars by about 10%, a significant improvement for systems such as the New York City Subway where infrastructure and timetables are at capacity. The NYC Subway was the first transit authority in the world to have a subway / metro system with an open gangways, with the BMT Multi-Section Articulated Cars (1925 - 1965), then operated by the
Brooklyn–Manhattan Transit Corporation The Brooklyn–Manhattan Transit Corporation (BMT) was an urban transit holding company, based in Brooklyn, New York City, United States, and incorporated in 1923. The system was sold to the city in 1940. Today, together with the IND subway ...
. Cars like these were not purchased again, as the cars needed constant repair, and crime was increasing in NYC at the time, resulting in locked doors between subway cars. RATP was the first European authority to order open gangway cars for Paris Metro, with Bombardier MF 88 and GEC Alsthom MP 89 (as NS 93 for
Santiago Metro The Santiago Metro ( es, Metro de Santiago) is a rapid transit system serving the city of Santiago, the capital of Chile. It currently consists of seven lines (numbered 1-6 and 4A), 136 stations, and of revenue route. The system is managed by th ...
); it was followed by Metrovalencia FGV 3900,
Madrid Metro The Madrid Metro ( Spanish: ''Metro de Madrid'') is a rapid transit system serving the city of Madrid, capital of Spain. The system is the 14th longest rapid transit system in the world, with a total length of 293 km (182 mi). Its gr ...
AnsaldoBreda Hitachi Rail Italy S.p.A. is a multinational rolling stock manufacturer company based in Pistoia, Italy. Formerly AnsaldoBreda S.p.A., a subsidiary of state-owned Finmeccanica, the company was sold in 2015 to Hitachi Rail of Japan. After the ...
7000 and CAF 8000, and Rome Metro MA-300 (CAF S/300). In North America, the
Toronto Transit Commission The Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) is the public transport agency that operates bus, subway, streetcar, and paratransit services in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, some of which run into the Peel Region and York Region. It is the oldest and largest ...
(TTC) was the second transit authority to use open gangway rolling stock, with its Toronto Rocket railcars (a variant of the
Bombardier Movia The Alstom Movia (introduced as the Adtranz Movia and later sold as the Bombardier Movia) is a family of metro train cars designed by Adtranz and later built by Bombardier Transportation and Alstom. The structure and body shell are fully customi ...
line of open-gangway cars) delivered to the Toronto subway system from 2010. The
Société de Transport de Montréal The Société de transport de Montréal (STM; en, Montreal Transit Corporation) is a public transport agency that operates transit bus and rapid transit services in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Established in 1861 as the "Montreal City Passenger Ra ...
(STM) upgraded its fleet of subway cars with Azur ( MPM-10) trains that included open gangways.
Montreal Metro The Montreal Metro (french: Métro de Montréal) is a rubber-tired underground rapid transit system serving Greater Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The metro, operated by the Société de transport de Montréal (STM), was inaugurated on October 14, ...
took delivery of the Bombardier/Alstom MPM-10 Azur trains in 2016. The
Metropolitan Transportation Authority The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) is a public benefit corporation responsible for public transportation in the New York City metropolitan area of the U.S. state of New York. The MTA is the largest public transit authority in t ...
(MTA) is considering the design for the New York City Subway's R211 order under construction. Initially the order will consist of 545 cars, of which 20 will be in experimental open gangway formations. The order includes an option to purchase up to 640 additional open gangway cars, the decision of which will be based on the success of the prototype sets. While not technically an open gangway because of the use of doors,
BART Bart is a masculine given name, usually a diminutive of Bartholomew, sometimes of Barton, Bartolomeo, etc. Bart is a Dutch and Ashkenazi Jewish surname, and derives from the name ''Bartholomäus'', a German form of the biblical name ''Barth ...
permits passengers to walk between cars via a more traditional gangway connection. This has been a feature since its opening in 1972. The open gangway design has been incorporated into
Alstom Metropolis The Alstom Metropolis is a family of electric multiple units designed and produced by the French rolling stock manufacturer Alstom. It is designed for high capacity rapid transit or metro rail infrastructure systems. Trains can be run in various ...
,
Bombardier Movia The Alstom Movia (introduced as the Adtranz Movia and later sold as the Bombardier Movia) is a family of metro train cars designed by Adtranz and later built by Bombardier Transportation and Alstom. The structure and body shell are fully customi ...
and Innovia Metro, Siemens Inspiro, and 81-760 Oka/81-765 Moskva trains which operate on a variety of subway systems around the world, such as Riyadh Metro (Inspiro, Innnovia, Metropolis); Singapore MRT (Metropolis, Movia);
Barcelona Metro The Barcelona Metro (Catalan and Spanish: ) is an extensive network of rapid transit electrified railway lines that run mostly underground in central Barcelona and into the city's suburbs. It is part of the larger public transport s ...
,
Amsterdam Metro The Amsterdam Metro ( nl, Amsterdamse metro) is a rapid transit system serving Amsterdam, Netherlands, and extending to the surrounding municipalities of Diemen and Ouder-Amstel. Until 2019 it also served the municipality of Amstelveen but t ...
, Budapest Metro,
Buenos Aires Underground The Buenos Aires Underground ( es, Subterráneo de Buenos Aires, links=no), locally known as Subte (), is a rapid transit system that serves the area of the city of Buenos Aires, Argentina. The first section of this network (Plaza de Mayo–Pl ...
,
Sydney Metro The Sydney Metro is a Automatic train operation, fully automated rapid transit system serving the city of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Currently consisting of Metro North West Line, one line that opened on 26 May 2019, it runs from Tall ...
(Metropolis); Vancouver SkyTrain (Innovia);
London Underground The London Underground (also known simply as the Underground or by its nickname the Tube) is a rapid transit system serving Greater London and some parts of the adjacent counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and Hertfordshire in England. The U ...
(Inspiro
New Tube for London The New Tube for London (NTfL) is a type of London Underground train to be built by Siemens as part of its Inspiro family at Siemens's factories in Goole (East Yorkshire) and Vienna, Austria. An initial batch of 94 nine-car trains has been o ...
, S Stock);
Baku Metro Baku Metro ( az, Bakı metropoliteni) is a rapid transit system serving Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan. First opened on 6 November 1967 during the time of the Soviet Union, it has features typical of ex-Soviet systems, including very deep centr ...
(Oka, Moskva); and
Tashkent Metro The Tashkent Metro ( uz, Toshkent metropoliteni, Тошкент метрополитени) is the rapid transit system serving the city of Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan. It was the seventh metro to be built in the former USSR, opening in 1 ...
(Moskva). Some trains, like
U-Bahn Rapid transit in Germany consists of four U-Bahn systems and fourteen S-Bahn systems. The U-Bahn commonly understood to stand for Untergrundbahn (''underground railway'') are conventional rapid transit systems that run mostly underground, while ...
BVG Class HK The BVG Class HK is a type of electric multiple unit in service on the Berlin U-Bahn. It is operated by ''Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe The (German: 'Berlin Transport Company') is the main public transport company of Berlin, the capital city o ...
,
S-Bahn The S-Bahn is the name of hybrid urban-suburban rail systems serving a metropolitan region in German-speaking countries. Some of the larger S-Bahn systems provide service similar to rapid transit systems, while smaller ones often resemble c ...
DBAG Class 481, 81-740 Rusich etc. use open gangways only between car pairs or 3-car sets; recent versions of these trains, Class IK, Class 483 and 81-760 Oka/81-765 Moskva, employ full walkthrough gangway along entire train.


Multiple units (walk-through heads)

File:Jr 285 undocking Okayama 20130331.jpg, JR
285 series The is an electric multiple unit (EMU) train type operated jointly by Central Japan Railway Company (JR Central) and West Japan Railway Company (JR-West) on the overnight ''Sunrise Izumo'' and ''Sunrise Seto'' limited express services in Japan ...
File:Doorloopkop.jpg, Dutch ICM File:AM96 - Gentbrugge.JPG, Belgian MS96 File:DSB IC3 Fred.JPG, Danish DSB IC3 File:N’EX ;The Narita Express.JPG, JR E259 series File:JREast-E351-Coupling.JPG, JR E351 series File:Series-E353 S110.jpg, JR E353 series File:Northern Rail Class 150, 150268, Wigan Wallgate railway station (geograph 4531374).jpg,
British Rail Class 150 The British Rail Class 150 ''Sprinter'' is a class of diesel multiple unit passenger trains; they were developed and constructed by BREL York between 1984 and 1987 for use on regional services across the UK. The type is a second-generation de ...
File:Class 350 350240.jpg, British Rail Class 350 File:Burnham - GWR 387135+387148 Maidenhead service.JPG, British Rail Class 387
A walk-through head is a type of gangway connection that is installed in a train set that is intended to enable the passage from one train to the next when they are interconnected. With most matched multiple-units, it is possible, as with locomotive towed carriages, to walk from one unit to another, but a passage between adjacent cabbed ends of coupled trains is less common.


See also

* Anticlimber * Buffers and chain coupler *
Janney coupler Janney couplers are a semi-automatic form of railway coupling that allow rail cars and locomotives to be securely linked together without rail workers having to get between the vehicles. They are also known as American, AAR, APT, ARA, MCB, knuck ...
*
Railway coupling A coupling (or a coupler) is a mechanism typically placed at each end of a railway vehicle that connects them together to form a train. A variety of coupler types have been developed over the course of railway history. Key issues in their desi ...
* SA3 coupler * Tightlock coupler *
Vestibule Vestibule or Vestibulum can have the following meanings, each primarily based upon a common origin, from early 17th century French, derived from Latin ''vestibulum, -i n.'' "entrance court". Anatomy In general, vestibule is a small space or cavity ...
* Vestibuled train


Notes


References

* * * * * * * * * * * * * {{refend Rail technologies Passenger rail rolling stock