Commuters Rail Sations and Pedestrians Flows: The “Hardbrücke” Station in Zurich, Switzerland

In the dense European cities it is almost impossible to find new spaces for the private traffic. On the other hand the centripetal force of the most metropolitan areas is still raising, increasing more and more the pressure on the mobility infrastructures. Metropolitan trains allow high capacities with moderate space consumption. The success of these systems and the huge generated pedestrians flows can lead to new and sometime unexpected capacity problems. A micro simulation approach has been used to check and improve the functionality of the booming station Hardbrücke in the former industrial district of Zurich.