BEHAVIOURAL PROBLEMS: Institute of Railway Engineering at the Vienna University of Technology, details a fundamental aspect of efficient railway interiors

摘要

HE 'EFFICIENCY' of long-distance public transportation usually means increasing the number of passengers at no extra expense to the railway operator, in an attempt to minimise the costs per traveller. This concept of efficiency is also evident when constructing rail carriages, whereby providing a large number of seats per wagon increases the capacity of the carriage. Such an approach minimises the effective costs per seat. In theory, this idea seems to be correct but cannot - and does not - take into account the practical considerations. This scenario is perfectly demonstrated by an extensive investigation of Austrian long-distance trains that was carried out by the Institute for Railway Engineering at the Vienna University of Technology. There are many methods of employing the available space in rolling stock - and most of them seem to disregard the actual behaviour of passengers. As soon as the passenger behaves differently from the assumptions made by the manufacturer, the theoretical utilisation of the car will not be fully achieved. In today's commonly used passenger cars, the actual utilisation rate is about 20% lower than intended due to the tendency towards ignoring passengers' typical behaviour. In fact, even at a utilisation rate of 80%, there may often be no more free seats to be found on board.