Evaluating Rail Vehicle Interior and Door Configurations to Increase Capacity

摘要

Rail vehicles are some of the most expensive assetsrnfor a transit agency. Therefore, maximizing their carryingrncapacity is important to gain service efficiency andrnminimize capital investment. A poorly designed interiorrnconfiguration can result in "undesirable" spaces thatrnpassengers avoid and, thus, result in inefficient use ofrncapacity. Lack of careful analysis on interior and doorrnconfiguration combinations can also potentially reduce linerncapacity by exacerbating station dwell times. As manyrnU.S. metropolitan areas continue to expect unprecedentedrngrowth in population and travel in the next 20 to 30 years,rnrail transit agencies are faced with the challenge ofrnreplacing their aging fleets and procuring new vehicles tornkeep up with increasing ridership. As funds becomernincreasingly scarce, many agencies are exploring ways ofrnincreasing car capacity. To date, few studies address therndesign and evaluation of interior and door configurationsrnas a system. Typically, seating configurations are designedrnseparately from door configurations. Furthermore, interiorrnconfiguration evaluations or maximum vehicle loadingrnquoted by car manufacturers assume a uniform loadingrndensity applied throughout the car. Loading on transitrnvehicles, however, varies greatly within a car. This greatlyrnaffects practical vehicle capacity and its impact controllingrndwell time at the busiest door. The San Francisco BayrnArea Rapid Transit District (BART), a heavy rail rapidrntransit system, recently conducted an evaluation of interiorrnand door configurations based on a methodology that usesrnvariable loading densities and its resulting impact on doorrnloads for dwell time estimation. CCTV footage was usedrnto assess passenger loading density at different sections ofrnthe vehicle. Variable loading density is more realistic inrnsimulating actual passenger loading experience. This workrnshows that, depending on the interior and doorrnconfiguration combination, applying uniform loadingrndensity may misrepresent actual car capacity and doorrnloads, either wasting valuable resources or underestimatingrnactual needs.