Crowd control at stations Introduction The popularity and inherent limitations of Britain's railways almost inevitably lead to crowded conditions at stations. Whether caused by service congestion, construction work, local events or sheer weight of rush hour traffic, crowds can build quickly. The negative effects of crowds may be more than service delays and unhappy passengers. Crowding can also lead to injuries: anything from minor slips and trips to more serious incidents at the platform edge. Appropriate consideration at the design stage can help to reduce risk but new or temporary conditions can introduce new opportunities for problems to arise.

Case study

In August 2004 Robbie Williams held three concerts on successive nights, each of which attended by 125,000 people. Around 20,000 per night were expected to choose to travel to the concert by train via nearby Stevenage station. WAGN Railways, the station operator, put a detailed planning process in place, with the following features:

• Liaison with all stakeholder groups, e.g. British Transport Police • Extensive customer communication • Special ticketing and boarding control • Special staffing arrangements, briefing and de-briefing

The rail operation across all three nights was considered a success both in terms of safety and customer experience.

RIAC Human Factors Working Group 1

Issues In preparing to manage crowds at stations, there are a number of issues that you should consider:

Know your crowd Do you understand the crowd you are attempting to control? Why do individuals behave the way they do? Factors that can affect their behaviour include:

• The station physical layout, for example escalators and pinch-points • The operating environment, for example ticket collection and timetable gaps • The flow of the crowd around them, for example cross-flow areas • Individual characteristics, such as habitual actions • Information provided at the station and availability of staff

Once you understand your crowd better, you will be better equipped to minimise congestion.

Plan ahead Good planning will help you prevent many of the problems caused by station crowding. The inclusion of photographs has been found to be beneficial. Your plans should consider:

• The actual capacity of the station and the train service • The passenger numbers expected through the station • Where to deploy staff • What information you will give passengers and when • Possible measures to regulate the rate at which passengers arrive at the

station • The involvement of other agencies and stakeholders • Emergency plans

Use your staff effectively Effective use of staff is very important in managing crowds. Staff can be used to monitor, control and communicate with the crowd. An effective training programme should consider:

• How to monitor crowd density, using visual cues like the one shown below • How to communicate effectively with passengers, stakeholders and other staff • Understanding the roles of others, e.g. who is in charge to make strategic

decisions? • Using the equipment available to them

RIAC Human Factors Working Group 2

Diagram reproduced with permission from RSSB

Consider how new technology can help The use of technology such as pedestrian flow modelling, CCTV and centralised station control systems can contribute to safe crowd management and to safer design and new station layout. Before selecting and using new technology, you should carry out a review of the options, preferably with the involvement of station management staff. This review should assess how each system will work both individually and together with other systems.

Understand how you can direct the crowd flow Appropriate wayfinding, e.g. signs, can provide people with more confidence and encourage a crowd to move in a more positive manner. In order to judge the likely success of your wayfinding information, consider:

• Why are you giving wayfinding information? • Who uses that information? • What information should you provide and how? • Where should that information be given? • When?

If symbols are used they need to be consistent with standards or those used in other existing transport systems.

RIAC Human Factors Working Group 3

Further information

For more information on how to audit existing alarm systems and plan for new ones, have a look at the following:

• Managing crowds safely - A guide for organisers at events and venues HSE, 2000, HSG 154, HSE Books, ISBN 0-7176-1834-X

• The event safety guide: a guide to health, safety and welfare at music and similar events HSE, 1999, HSG 195, HSE Books, ISBN 0-7176-2453-6

• Event Stewarding and Crowd Safety Services - Code of Practice BS8406: 2003

• GO/RT3471 Incident response planning • GO/RT3472 Incident management and evidence gathering • Crowd Management at Stations: A good practice guide [PDF 1.1MB]

RIAC Human Factors Working Group 4