Effect of stairway width on pedestrian flow characteristics at railway stations

Abstract

The overall efficiency of transit operation depends on effective operation of various facilities like transit units, transfer stations and access infrastructure. Stairways at transit stations are vital links between different interconnected elements like platforms and foot over bridges. Transfer rate of pedestrians through stairway primarily depends on its geometric design. Many previous studies have reported that the stairway dimensions such as stair gradient, height of riser and length of stairway influence walking speed significantly. The walking speed is also governed by the space available to the individual pedestrian. The movement will be restricted with reduction in space and hence, in principal it depends on the width of the facility. In order to understand the effect of available space on the pedestrian flow characteristics, present study has been carried out at six stairways with different dimensions at two railway stations; one suburban rail transit and the other intercity railway station in India. Total 32 310 pedestrian data points are collected using video-graphic technique and has been used to develop the fundamental relationships of pedestrian flow using single-regime and two-regime models particularly for speed-flow relationship. The results also show that flowrate and walking speed increase with increase in width of stairway. Further, walking speed variation pattern is analyzed in three density regimes. Speed reduces gradually with increase in density and reduction in space. At both the stations, compared with the smaller stairway, maximum flow and walking speed are observed for wider stairway. The study establishes that the average walking speed, flow and density are more influenced by width of stairway than other dimensions. The results of this study will be useful in planning, design and management of facility of stairways at railway stations and can also be used in finding safe evacuation time.

Pedestrian flow characteristics and level of service on dissimilar facilities: A critical review

“…Similar studies over stairways were conducted in India by [72,75,76,78] at inter modal transfer terminals and train stations. All basic flow parameters were measured, and the Figure 9 Speed-density relationships for ascending and descending stairways reported in different studies different regime approaches were defined.…”

“…Earlier studies by [68,69,71] over stairways showed that only the age and gender factors were observed to affect the pedestrian speed, but in later studies by [77][78][79][80] the dimension of the stairway (i.e. riser dimension and stairway inclination) and direction of the movement (ascending and descending) were also found to play significant role in determining the movement characteristics of pedestrian over the stairways.…”

“…Similarly the descending speed ranged between 30 − 32 m/min during the afternoon to 20 − 29 m/min during the evening. Again, [78] found that stairway width and direction of movement were important factors which affected pedestrian movement over stairways at railways stations in India. The studies in India were mainly focussed on the influence of directional distribution, width of the stairway and purpose of the trip on pedestrian flow characteristics.…”

“…2 indicated that other than very early studies by [68,69,71] which considered both uni-as well as bi-directional movement; most of the recent studies by [73,76,78,79,81,82] were done on the bi-directional movement of pedestrians over the stairways. Speed and flow were the preliminary parameters which were measured in all the studies.…”

“…It could also be seen that most of the studies were conducted either in China, UK or USA, where factors such as the free flow speed, space required and gradient were found to be most suitable in describing pedestrian movements. In India, [76,78] stated that width of stairway, trip purpose and direction of movement were important factors which contributed to the pedestrian walking characteristics.…”