Abstract
Birmingham New Street railway station in the UK has recently undergone a substantial redevelopment at a cost of more than £600 million. However, the unique underground tunnel geography of the platforms has remained virtually unchanged, which means that diesel exhaust gases are effectively trapped causing a daily build-up of air pollution in the station. A new ventilation system has been installed consisting of 98 bi-directional fans that are meant to disperse any air pollution out of the station. Unfortunately, the fans were triggered by carbon dioxide levels that do not significantly correlate with more serious air pollutants such as nitrogen oxides. In August 2018, new workplace exposure limits (WELs) were introduced for nitrogen monoxide (NO) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2). However, during a recent measurement campaign, one of the new WELs would have been exceeded on most days. Network Rail has undertaken to introduce a number of interventions, including the installation of new nitrogen monoxide/dioxide sensors to drive the ventilation system together with new sonic wind sensors, encouraging train operating companies to switch off idling diesel engines and encouraging more electric/hybrid trains.
Highlights
The impact of air pollution on the health of workers and passengers in enclosed railway stations has been the subject of recent research in the UK where there is still a significant reliance on diesel trains (Thornes et al, 2017)
Having considered a range of occupational and public health limit values for nitrogen monoxide and nitrogen dioxide, it is clear that the air quality at Birmingham New Street station, for both workers and passengers, needs significant improvement through effective interventions
It is hoped that the nitrogen monoxide and nitrogen dioxide measurements presented here can be considered as a benchmark for future improvements to be compared against
Summary
The impact of air pollution on the health of workers and passengers in enclosed railway stations has been the subject of recent research in the UK where there is still a significant reliance on diesel trains (Thornes et al, 2017). WEL values for nitrogen monoxide and nitrogen dioxide were recommended by the Scientific Committee on Occupational Exposure Limits in June 2014 (Scoel, 2014a, 2014b) They were included in the latest Health and Safety Executive (HSE) publication EH40/2005 Workplace Exposure Limits (HSE, 2018) following EU Commission Directive 2017/164 (EU, 2017), which established a fourth list of indicative exposure limit values for the health and safety of workers. The DAQI index gives a moderate threshold exposure level (TWA for 1 h) of 200 μg/m3, which is much lower than the WEL 15 min limit of 1910 μg/m3 This is because workers are considered to be fit and healthy compared with the more vulnerable general public. It is appropriate to compare the observed levels of nitrogen monoxide and nitrogen dioxide air pollution at Birmingham New Street station with existing occupational health and public health guidelines. It is hoped that this will provide a benchmark that future improvements can be measured against
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