Improvements in Urban Rapid Transit Boarding and Alighting Safety during System Modernization

Urban rail transport has advantages that determine its particular usefulness. However, despite decades of technical development, it is still difficult to speak about satisfactory solutions. Safe, independent access to this transport and public infrastructure for passengers with reduced mobility (PRM) is an essential element of civil rights and an interesting subject of scientific research. In relation to that, the interface between rail vehicle and platform, despite multiple efforts aiming at improving this situation, is one of the hardest problems to overcome. This paper presents a summary and analyses of distinctive features of selected transit systems that are interesting from the viewpoint of finding various solutions to improve the safety of passengers on platforms. This analysis led to preparation of a new, improved standard of the vehicle–platform interface, illustrated with an example of the city of Wrocław, as discussed further in this paper. Some of the main conclusions of this paper are that insufficient progress has been made with developing the vehicle–platform interface, there are a multitude of systems and ways of (more or less effectively) ensuring independent access for PRM, and further research and development work is needed to optimize engineering solutions in this domain so they are both sustainable and economical.