Delayed Emergency Release Unit

An emergency manual door lock release mechanism for releasing a door lock on a transit vehicle door comprising:

• a base plate for being secured to the transit vehicle, a sliding plate abutting and slidable relative to the base plate, said sliding plate having at least one elongate slot, at least one pin fixed to the base plate extending into the at least one elongate slot constraining the relative movement between the base plate and sliding plate in a lateral direction, an electromagnet support bracket for being secured to the transit vehicle, an electromagnet supported by the electromagnet support bracket, a manual release cable, a first end bracket fixed at or near one lateral end of the base plate having an aperture therein for receiving the manual release cable, a magnetizable steel plate, a second end bracket fixed at or near the opposite lateral end of the sliding plate from the first end bracket and supporting the magnetizable steel plate to be captured by the electromagnet, a coil spring that stores energy when stretched and which is anchored directly or indirectly at one end to the second end bracket and connected at the other end directly or indirectly to the manual release cable, the motion transfer means connected to the second end bracket such that when the sliding plate moves away from the electromagnet the door lock will be manually released only when the manual release cable is pulled to store energy in the coil spring and the electromagnet is de-energized to release the magnetizable steel plate.