Abstract
Nowadays, suicides inside the installations of subway platforms are considered a public health problem in Mexico City. One solution to prevent them is the installation of physical barriers, but their high cost is unattractive for governmental authorities. Traditional approaches of research on the effectiveness of physical barriers for preventing suicides have been limited to analyzing statistically the effects of installing platform screen doors and blue lights on subway platforms. Although considerable progress has been made in this field, many important issues remain unexplored. This study investigates the effectiveness of physical barriers installation for prevention of incidents in Mexico City subway system by means of an agent-based simulation model. Firstly, the design of physical barriers for prevention of incidents in Mexico City subway system is described. Secondly, a conceptual model of the Zócalo station subway platform is presented. Thirdly, an agent-based simulation model of Zócalo station subway platform is implemented using AnyLogic™ software considering normal operations of the subway station. This study shows that physical barriers installation on the Zócalo subway platform can effectively prevent 76% of passenger’s suicides.
Highlights
Mexico City subway system (MCSS) started operating in 1961 and currently 12 lines serve the metropolitan area of Mexico City, including some municipalities in Mexico State
As is well-known, countries around the globe such as England, France, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, and Taiwan have managed to install platform screen doors (PSDs) and blue lights on subway platforms as effective ways for accidents and suicide prevention [2, 5]. In this direction, [9] pointed out that the calming effect of blue lights installed at the ends of railway platforms in Japan reduced suicides by 84%
We proposed the development of an agent-based simulation model to quantify the effectiveness of the installation of physical barriers to reduce the rate of suicides committed on the subway platform stations of Mexico City subway system
Summary
Mexico City subway system (MCSS) started operating in 1961 and currently 12 lines serve the metropolitan area of Mexico City, including some municipalities in Mexico State. As is well-known, countries around the globe such as England, France, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, and Taiwan have managed to install platform screen doors (PSDs) and blue lights on subway platforms as effective ways for accidents and suicide prevention [2, 5]. The weaving area may be a critical risk place in the subway transfer station as is shown in the study presented in [11] In this case, the high density weaving pedestrian was studied based on statistical results, for instance, the passenger velocity, the walking distance, and the journey time. Our intention is to investigate the effectiveness of physical barriers installation for prevention of incidents in MCSS by means of an agent-based simulation model. The discussion of the effectiveness of physical barriers installation on Zocalo station subway platform is carried out
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