OPTIMISING THE INTERIOR LAYOUT OF ROLLING STOCK IN ORDER TO ACHIEVE DWELL TIME

The Thameslink Programme will deliver new and improved stations, new track and longer, more frequent trains on an enhanced route through central London. Efficient passenger boarding and alighting is essential for Thameslink... [ view full abstract ]

The Thameslink Programme will deliver new and improved stations, new track and longer, more frequent trains on an enhanced route through central London. Efficient passenger boarding and alighting is essential for Thameslink in order to achieve the short dwell times required for 24 trains per hour. This is a particular challenge given the constraints: a high throughput of trains (serving multiple, different locations), high numbers of passengers and existing platforms that were not specifically built for dwell time. Therefore, the design of the new rolling stock must be able to demonstrate that boarding and alighting can be achieved within the required dwell time in order to provide confidence in the total system performance.

An experiment with a full size mock-up of half a train carriage of the preferred bidder’s design was set up at the University College London (UCL) Pedestrian Accessibility Movement and Environment Laboratory (PAMELA). Participants were recruited by UCL to board the mock-up of the train carriage and alight onto the station platform provided at PAMELA in various experimental scenarios. The purpose of the experiment was to test the impact of different passenger numbers at three different stations on boarding and alighting times. The impact of different layout options, such as, varying aisle widths, the removal of perch seats and luggage racks was also assessed, as was the impact of passengers carrying luggage.

The results showed that passenger numbers in baseline conditions could board and alight within the target dwell times at stations A, B and C, although significant increases in passenger numbers were more difficult to accommodate at one station. However, it was concluded that, assuming an even distribution of passengers and no luggage, passengers could board and alight with the preferred bidder’s train design within the target dwell time.

The results also demonstrated that boarding and alighting times improved with a decrease in aisle width and with the removal of perch seats. Hence, it is recommended that an optimal aisle width of 746mm is adopted and perch seats are removed, particularly near the train door. Finally, the results indicated that the removal of the luggage rack is likely to increase boarding and alighting time when people are carrying luggage. When no luggage is present, removing the luggage rack is likely to improve the flow of passengers. It is recommended that luggage racks are retained as they improve boarding and alighting time when passengers are carrying luggage.

This paper has an industrial application. Please could this paper be considered for inclusion in a special edition of the Journal of Rapid Rail and Transit.