Trends concerning crime were found to be highly regionalised both for types of crimes committed (against person, property etc.) and evolution. Over the period from 2012 to 2017, the rate of crimes across CoMET and Nova metros is decreasing for 65%, with the largest decreases occurring primarily at Asian metros that already have very low crime levels.
(Am – American Metro, As – Asian Metro, Eu – European Metro)
Patrols and CCTV are ubiquitous means of surveillance though they have different secondary benefits. Nearly all metros reported that security staff are multifunctional and can respond to customer queries as well as providing crowd control and passenger assistance. This is also typically complemented by station staff notifying security of issues and monitoring CCTV.
Technological advances were identified as key drivers of change within metro security both to inform strategies and to monitor crime. The key areas where advanced technology for security are developing include passenger screening, smart cameras, the use of apps, and the provision of enhanced infrastructure (such as 5G networks).
On average for CoMET and Nova metros, passengers contribute to 17% of all incidents causing delays of five minutes or more. The causes of passenger incidents range from suicide, vandalism, passenger taking ill, etc. The breakdown of passenger related incidents by cause and by delay threshold shows although the frequency of suicides is very low, those incidents take the longest to resolve.
As well as detailed benchmarking of the passenger-related causes and impacts of incidents at metros, the case study outlined metros’ best practices in passenger incident management, including a data-driven approach in analysing passenger incident impacts, effective incident response by a clear chain of command, high levels of coordination with the emergency services, clear and consistent communications and procedures, appropriate staffing models and regular training with a focus on learning from past incidents.
In 2017, the average peak hour train availability was 88% for all CoMET and Nova members. Main causes of train unavailability were planned preventive maintenance, unplanned corrective maintenance, refurbishments and major damages. The biggest constraint to train availability is related to train reliability issues, specifically train failures occurring outside of peak hours which cannot be repaired in time.
The study foucused on the four maintenance and operational approaches that are utilised by metros to optimise train availability: allocation of train maintenance, outsourcing train maintenance, flexibility in operations, and introduction of remote condition monitoring.
Metros’ biggest successes or their future plans in terms of improving train availability are related to optimisation of maintenance work to improve reliability, train refurbishment plans, and introduction of remote condition monitoring on trains.
The three-part scope of this case study covered escalator availability, safety and asset management. Firstly, the study explored definitions and targets for escalator availability and identify causes of, and solutions to, unavailability. Secondly, it identified low-cost practices to improve safety. Finally the study benchmarked escalator asset lives and the nature of maintenance interventions during the lifecycle.
Long-term actions that metros have taken to improve escalator availability are the operational and maintenance practices either to reduce failures from occurring or to restore availability as quickly as possible after escalators go out of service. This involves proactive maintenance work to ensure that escalators are in good condition during passenger service hours, and working with maintainers to optimise their response and supply chain.
Regarding escalator asset management, it is important to adopt a whole-life approach and assess maintenance approaches on this basis, considering the annualised cost of ownership, whole-life unavailability caused by maintenance, the scope and frequency of maintenance interventions throughout the lifecycle, and the customer-facing unavailability caused by maintenance.
The highest risk area to passenger safety within metro systems is upon entering the track area with an average of one track intrusion per million passenger journeys across CoMET/Nova metros. Platform Doors (PD) remove this risk but their cost, complexity of planning and installation, station design and other challenges constrain their wide-spread installation: 70% of CoMET and Nova members have no or low PD coverage. For many metros, PDs come at the expense of other critical infrastructure projects. This case study explored the best practice on managing platform safety risk without the use of PDs.
On average, 65% of track intrusions for respondent metros are intentional customer actions, requiring mitigation measures to instil a behavioural change. Classified as passive prevention measures, these consist of platform announcements and reminders, poster campaigns and platform-edge markings or lighting.
Beyond these, the study identified active detection methods enacted by staff members or detection and response technologies. Combining Smart CCTV, lasers and microwave frequency was successfully piloted as a means to detecting the presence of any person or object on the track. The use of these technologies has proven effective to increase safety in the absence of PDs.
In 2016, fifteen CoMET and Nova metros have experience in planning or operating automated lines. This study identified good practices in operating fully automated metro lines, known as Unattended Train Operation (UTO) lines. The majority of UTO lines are GoA4 and this trend is projected to continue, with a sharp increase in UTO lines planned for the next 10 years. Given this rapid adoption of UTO, this study was selected by CoMET and Nova members to identify how best to prepare for and eventually operate driverless trains.
The study identified a number of metros good and emerging practices for operating UTO lines from preparation stages to operation. Testing periods for UTO lines, for example, are carried out at three different levels: testing of components, of systems and of whole lines. Following this period, metros may assign on-board staff for fast response to potential service instabilities and passenger assistance. Ultimately for GoA4 lines, incidents are dealt with remotely, managed in practice by the OCCs. This requires a shift in practice from frontline to remote problem-solving. Also, the study determined that whilst UTO lines are generally more reliable, incident management can become a bigger challenge than with conventional lines.
The study explored the development process and current state of metro station guidelines, with a focus on vertical circulation, i.e. escalators, elevators, and stairways. The key factors in station design are current and expected passenger volumes, emergency and evacuation targets, accessibility requirements and space constraints. Within stations, platforms are identified as the most critical zone, and vertical circulation is the most critical element. Poorly designed vertical circulation leads to queuing customers and delayed journeys, and elements should be designed to maintain equal passenger flow.
Beyond mitigating localised bottlenecks, total station capacity must also be assessed and this is approached through station planning and operationally-oriented design. The latter requires the capacity to collect and analyse data to inform decisions in real-time. The data includes information on passenger movements within stations and loading patterns on trains. Technological advances have the potential to enable the abundance of data required.
Combining a data-driven understanding of passenger flow information with planning-oriented guidelines will better ensure that sufficient capacity is provided and avoid legacy problems with passenger flow management.
During the CoMET 2018 Management Meeting in early March 2018, the Railway and Transport Strategy Centre (RTSC) at Imperial College London, Community of Metros and the World Bank hosted an Open Session focused on the findings from “The Operator’s Story” research project. This Open Session was kindly hosted by Delhi Metro Rail Corporation and the Government of India. The day’s programme included sessions centred on the research into the government and operational requirements for metro success.
President of the Community of Metros, Philippe Martin (Deputy General Manager, RATP), introduces the session
“The Operator’s Story” research project included valuable contributions from Transports Metropolitans de Barcelona, Rapid Rail (Kuala Lumpur), Bangkok Expressway and Metro Public Company, Hong Kong Mass Transit Railway (MTR), Toronto Transit Commission, Guangzhou Metro, Metro São Paulo, Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA), London Underground, Metro de Santiago (Santiago de Chile). Interviews and fieldwork were carried out with each of these operators to form individual case studies supporting the research. These studies illuminate how new and developing metros can be successful and avoid mistakes of the past by highlighting upstream decisions that have facilitated, constrained or affected their operations.
“The Operator’s Story” report is distributed to Mukund Kumar Sinha (Joint Secretary & Officer on Special Duty, Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs) and Durga Shankar Mishra (Secretary, Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs)
The Open Session included presentations on key areas of the research findings, including government and operator actions for metro success, and a focus on Public Private Partnerships (PPP, 3P) for delivering metros. Two panel discussions were also held. The first saw senior managers from London Underground, Singapore SMRT and Metro São Paulo discuss their operational history, success factors and challenges. The second panel discussion comprised key figures from Indian metros to offer insight on the lessons learned through developing India’s current metros, and the plans for future systems.
Alex Barron, Head of Metro Benchmarking, presenting at the Open Session
“The Operator’s Story” emerging findings can be found here. Many thanks to Delhi Metro Rail Corporation for hosting this valuable Open Session and to Community of Metros members for their kind participation.
Ongoing developments in information technologies, specifically the ability to capture, store, and analyse large datasets, are creating significant opportunities to improve maintenance. The study explored the move towards predictive and data-driven maintenance within CoMET and Nova metros.
There is a clear trend in metros to move toward one asset information system. Integration of systems can bring benefits such as increased efficiency in management and data consistency. It is found that metros are adopting advanced technology (e.g. mobile devices, automatic monitoring systems) to collect data more efficiently. Collection of more detailed maintenance data and use dedicated staff to manage data are also used at the same time to improve data quality.
In order to acquire sufficient data for analysis, metros have initiated various pilot projects adding sensors to monitor asset condition. The study collected the good practices within metros in terms of data collection, analysis and applications, as well as the tangible benefits of data analysis. With the development of auto-monitoring systems and evolution of ‘big data’ analysis, there is a significant opportunity to unlock new understanding about asset performance and lifecycles.
This case study focused on the methods that metros use to measure customer satisfaction as well as the initiatives deployed to improve customer satisfaction. The study also discussed how to identify the right added amenities for metros that go over and above delivering the basic expectations of a metro service.
CoMET and Nova KPI data shows the average satisfaction rate for American Metros has seen significant fluctuations, while the average satisfaction rates for metros in other continents have generally increased more steadily year-on-year.
CoMET and Nova, customer satisfaction trends, from KPI data, split by continent (1999-2016)
Metros mainly measure customer satisfaction via customer satisfaction surveys and/or more innovative measurement techniques (e.g. focus groups interview, mystery shoppers). To increase customer satisfaction, improvements were classified into three categories: those which result in improved data collection resulting in an improved understanding of customers’ needs (such as more frequent data collection or better methods); those which improve basic services, respond to customer expectations and increase overall “performance” (such as increased train frequency or modified cleaning procedures); and those which result in added customer amenities (such as Wi-Fi on trains).
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