Simulation study of pedestrian flow in a station hall during the Spring Festival travel rush

The Spring Festival is the most important festival in China. How can passengers go home smoothly and quickly during the Spring Festival travel rush, especially when emergencies of terrible winter weather happen? By modifying the social force model, we simulated the pedestrian flow in a station hall. The simulation revealed casualties happened when passengers escaped from panic induced by crowd turbulence. The results suggest that passenger numbers, ticket checking patterns, baggage volumes, and anxiety can affect the speed of passing through the waiting corridor. Our approach is meaningful in understanding the feature of a crowd moving and can be served to reproduce mass events. Therefore, it not only develops a realistic modeling of pedestrian flow but also is important for a better preparation of emergency management.

► We modified the social force model according to pedestrian behavior features.
► We simulated pedestrian flow during the Spring Festival Travel Rush with Netlogo.
► Baggage volumes and anxiety affect the time to pass through the corridor.
► Passenger numbers and ticket checking patterns also affect the time.
► Casualties happened when passengers escaped, induced by crowd turbulence.