Citation

Harris N. J. Adv. Transp. 2006; 40(3): 249-263.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2006, Institute for Transportation, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Station stop times are an important determinant of line capacity in metro and high-frequency suburban railroads. This study uses a method developed by London Underground Ltd. (LUL) to estimate the time that trains spend at stations, as a function of the physical characteristics of the situation (e.g. train door width) and the numbers of passengers involved. Analysis was carried out on a number of alternative designs for refurbishment of South West Trains’ Class 455 inner-suburban rolling stock. While there is indeed an interaction between boarding and alighting passengers, this paper demonstrates that the LUL relationship breaks down at the highest passenger loads, overestimating the interaction time between boarding and alighting passengers. This suggests that a revision to that part of the formula would make it better fit observed values. Findings also indicate that passenger flow is not equal between different parts of the same group of boarders or alighters. The fastest boarding rates arise from the passengers in the middle of a platoon, while the fastest alighting rates arise from the earliest passengers within a platoon.