Evacuation in Underground Rail Transportation Systems: A Summary of the Findings of the METRO Project

The paper presents the major findings from the three evacuation experiments being part of the Swedish METRO research project. In the evacuation experiments; the small, medium and full-scale experiments, investigations were carried out with the purpose to study how train passengers safely can be evacuated in case of a fire emergency. In addition to determine flow rates, the walking velocity and walking patterns were determined for in a smokefilled environment and in non-smoke conditions. It was also concluded that the introduction of a loudspeaker above the emergency exit, which broadcasted an alternating alarm signal and pre-recorded voice message, was successful.The reader is referred to the original publications for more details on experimental procedures, research findings and recommendations for projects