Simulating Passenger Evacuation in Railway Station under Fire Emergency using Safe Zone Approach

• Published in: Transportation research record 2020-11, Vol.2674 (11), p.806-812
• Main Authors: Salarian, Amir Hossein, Mashhadizadeh, Aida, Bagheri, Morteza
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 0361-1981; 2169-4052
• DOI: 10.1177/0361198120950316

Railway stations are usually considered to be one of the main gathering centers of the city; thus, in the event of any incident, there will be significant casualties. The purpose of this study is to simulate strategies for reducing the evacuation time of the railway station in the event of fire using a safe zone approach with simulation software. To reduce the evacuation time, 18 scenarios were introduced and simulated according to (1) number of gates and exit doors, (2) width of the gates, (3) obstacles, (4) priority of the exit doors, and (5) safe zone. The results show that the best evacuation time occurs by increasing the number of exit doors from two to four and considering a safe zone simultaneously; the evacuation time is reduced by 7 min and 19 s. Using safe zones for emergency evacuation has a significant role in reducing evacuation time and improving service levels. Interestingly, the removal of gates and obstacles would increase the evacuation time of passengers. The proposed model could be used for renovating existing railway stations to decrease the consequences of accidents such as fire.