In recent years an increasing amount of elevated platforms in railway tunnels has been designed. The platforms are positioned at the same level as the body of the train or above the rail top in purpose to facilitate off-platform evacuation. The purpose of using elevating platforms has been to increase personal safety, but knowledge on their actual impact on the evacuation is based on very limited experience.

The purpose of the performed tests was to study human behavior when evacuating along an elevated platform for different scenarios and the overall project objective was to develop guidelines for fire safety design concerning evacuation along elevated platforms. The tests presented in this report aimed to deliver both quantitative and qualitative results as basis for those guidelines.

The analysis includes flow rate of people, the effect of the width of the elevated walkway, people’s ability to pass others who are walking with lower speed and the possibility for people using wheelchairs to evacuate. The report also includes observations made when processing the video material during the analysis.

Several large scale experiments were carried out at the subway station at Skarpnäck in Stockholm. Since the existing station platform is wider than is normally the case for elevated tunnel walkway platforms, a temporary walkway was built by using screen walls placed next to the platform edge. There were a total of 111 participants, including three wheelchair users.

Five evacuation experiments were conducted. In the 1st, 3rd and 5th experiment all the participants walked from one end of the walkway to the other end. The width of the walkway varied between 1.20 m, 1.05 m and 0.90 m. In the 2nd and 4th run the participants were divided into two groups. One group walked, as in the previous experiments, from one end of the walkway to the other, and the second group started in the train that was parked next to the walkway and joined the flow on the walkway as the first group passed the train doors. The width of the walkway in the experiments was 1.2 m and 1.05 m respectively. Reference tests were carried out prior to the main tests in a corridor, which was also built with screen walls on the platform. After the test was completed a survey was conducted to identify parameters that could have affected the decisions and behaviour during the tests.

The results from the tests show that the flow along the elevated walkway decreased as the walkway was getting narrower. This was true for all the areas where the flow was measured, including the flow out of the train. It is also shown that the entire width of the walkway is used to a larger extent when a train was parked next to the walkway compared to when one side was open to the rail tracks.

In the survey it appears that almost 50 % of the participants felt that it was a problem passing others who were walking slower then themselves. Some of them passed others, but with difficulties and some wanted to pass, but never got the opportunity to do so.

Of the three wheelchair users participating in the test, one user experienced discomfort caused by the height and limited width of the elevated walkway. As a consequence the person only took part in experiments 1 and 2.

With the purpose to increase the knowledge on human behaviour when evacuating along elevated platforms, an experiment was carried out at the subway station of Skarpnäck, Stockholm, in October 2016. The overall project objective was to develop basic data for guidelines regarding fire safety design concerning evacuation along elevated platforms. The experiment was designed as a group experiment divided into five different scenarios. In total, 111 persons of mixed gender and age participated. The results from the experiment show that the flow rate along the elevated platform decreased as the walkway was getting narrower. It could also be seen that along the first half of the walkway, where a train was located on the rail track next to the elevated platform, the flow rate was higher and the width of the walkway was used to a lager extent compared to the second half of the walkway where the platform was open to the track area. One of three wheelchair users who participated in the experiment expressed discomfort caused by the height and the width of the walkway and nearly half of the participants experienced problems with passing others walking slower than themselves.

It’s getting more and more common to

build infrastructures underground, which results in more people using underground facilities in their everyday life. The evacuation routes from this environment often involve long, ascending tunnels. In order to evaluate the evacuation time for these facilities, knowledge about people’s movement in this kind of environment is required. Today the knowledge within this area is limited, why new research within this field is needed.

The current study included two essential parts; 1) initial literature review where the state of the art within the current research field was mapped and 2) an experiment. The purpose of the experiment was to study people

’s walking speed and behaviour during ascending evacuation in inclined tunnels. The aim of the study was to develop data that can be used as basis for guidelines regarding fire safety design in major infrastructure projects and risk and safety assessment of underground facilities.

The experiment was carried out at the Äspö Hard Rock Laboratory in March 2018. In total 32 persons participated and they were asked to individually walk upwards 907 m in a tunnel with an inclination of 14 %. When walking in the tunnel, the participants

’ walking speed, vertical walking speed, pulse and rating of perceived exertion were documented. In addition to the individual tests in the tunnel, the experiment included reference tests and a survey.

When comparing the walking speeds collected in the current experiment with the walking speeds from previous experiments where people were asked to walk upwards long stairs, it can be seen that the walking speeds in the current experiment are higher. When comparing the vertical walking speeds, the result is reversed. A possible explanation for this is that climbing the stairs requires a larger vertical movement compared to moving in the tunnel where the movement is more horizontal.

In the current experiment, 59 % of the participants used an identifiable strategy when moving upwards in the tunnel. The strategies have been categorized as follows:

1) Adjust the walking speed to a pace the participant believe he/she can keep for a longer distance.

2) Focus on breathing.

3) Keep a lower walking speed in the beginning.

4) Concentrate on the surroundings to avoid thinking about how tired he/she is.

5) Focus on the goal.

In general, when walking up the tunnel the walking speed was more or less the same during the whole climb, but the participants experienced a considerable increased perceived exertion. This can be the result of Strategy 1 presented above.

The results of the current experiment show a tendency for walking speed to decrease with increased fatigue. A comparison between the rating of perceived exertion and the normalized walking speed indicates that the walking speed and fatigue stabilized during the movement in the tunnel.

An evacuation experiment in smoke-filled environment and with different evacuation route marker lights was performed in the Masthamn tunnel in Stockholm in 2019. In this report, detailed information about the experiment procedures is given and the results are presented. This includes the participants’ movement speeds, evacuation strategies and the influence of the three types of evacuation route marker lights that were tested in the experiment.

Fire and rescue operations in buildings require systems that secure access to water for firefighting. The working environment for the firefighters and the risks they are exposed to differ substantially between enclosure fires and fires in tunnels. Traditionally, fire and rescue operations in tunnels in Sweden have included build-up of the hose system parallel with advancement towards the fire. Both real life fires and full-scale firefighting tests have shown the challenges with slow moving speeds when the hose system is built up. In cases when water is not required for extinguishment or self-protection, the simultaneous hose build-up leads to a less effective rescue operation. This report compiles previous research and knowledge regarding fire and rescue operations in underground constructions and suggests a risk-based approach where the required safety level is adapted to the fire-related conditions in rail tunnels. Indicators related to the firefighters’ safety are presented and the need of future research is identified.

The paper analyses the breathing air consumption among participating firefighters during full-scale tests performed in the Tistbrottet mine in Sweden 2013. The availability of breathing air during firefighting has in earlier work been identified as a critical tactical factor in underground firefighting. Results from the tests show that there are differences in the breathing air consumption and that this depends on the methods used, equipment and the workload. The use of BA-teams, i.e. firefighters equipped with breathing apparatuses, is a complex group activity where the largest breathing air consumer will set the limits for the whole team. Light equipment and a structured command and control during the activities will enhance the endurance and the firefighting performance. Equipment and methods affect both firefighting performance and the durability of the firefighting activities. Examples of tested methods and equipment during the test series are: different variations of conventional hose lay-out; CAFS; cutting extinguisher; and trolley for equipment and complementary air. The aid of additional air supply and the use of trolleys will support the activities but is dependent on a large degree of preparation and training to function properly. Based on the tests, it is concluded that the larger model of air bottles should be considered for distances longer than 75 m. © 2022 The Authors

An evacuation experiment was carried out at the Äspö Hard Rock Laboratory in March 2018 to investigate human behaviour during evacuation in underground facilities via escape routes with long ascending tunnels. The objective of the experiment was to collect data that could be used as a basis for evacuation risk and safety assessments in underground tunnels and other large infrastructure projects related to e.g., mining. In total, 32 participants individually ascended the 907 m long tunnel with an inclination of 14%. During the evacuation, each participant's walking speed, vertical walking speed, heart rate and estimated physical exertion was documented. The measured walking speeds were found to be higher than the walking speeds obtained in previous experiments, but the vertical walking speeds were lower. The strategy of 44% of the participants was to adjust their walking speed to a pace they thought could be maintained over a longer distance. The results of this experiment show that the walking speed decreased as the level of perceived exertion increased. Moreover, the results indicate that the walking speed and the level of perceived exertion stabilized during the movement along the tunnel. © 2022 The Author(s)

This report describes the experiments that were carried out in Citybanan at the end of 2022. The aim of the project was to study the searching speed and the moving speed of firefighters without simultaneous hose build-up in a modern rail tunnel. The moving speed was also measured during transport of injured on an ambulance stretcher and with a rail rescue trolley. The results showed considerably higher searching and moving speeds both with and without the use of the trolley. The findings support continued development of fire and rescue methods without simultaneous build-up of a hose system, in smoke-filled tunnel environments further away from the fire. The use of thermal image cameras in combination with continuous handrail emergency lighting proved to be a necessity for firefighters’ perception of safety.