Framework for centralized and dynamic pedestrian management in railway stations

The significant growth of pedestrian flows through stations of mass public transport has turned the two issues of passenger comfort and safety into major concerns for railway station operators. Managing these issues is a challenging task due to the complexity of in-station pedestrian facilities, of passenger behaviors and of train and railway operations. Therefore, station management can no longer be limited to the management of train traffic. Several research studies have been developed in recent years that aim to evaluate pedestrian infrastructure within railway facilities by monitoring pedestrian flows and/or modeling them (“crowd dynamics” models). However, the way from these studies to the management of train stations remains to be paved. This paper brings about a framework for station management with special focus on passenger flows. The framework is twofold, including first a general understanding of station as a system with specific transfer function and ad-hoc topology, second the dynamic supervision of system performance. We also address observation requirements and the toolbox available for modeling.