A Discrete-Event Simulation System for Estimating Passenger Flow in Urban Rail Transit

Authors

  • Suxiao CHEN Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, School of Electronic and Information Engineering
  • Guangjie LIU Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, School of Electronic and Information Engineering
  • Shen GAO Nanjing Panda Information Industry Group Co., Ltd.
  • Jiming LI Nanjing Metro Operation Company Limited
  • Juan WU Nanjing Metro Construction Co., Ltd.

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.7307/ptt.v37i2.768

Keywords:

urban rail transit, event-driven simulation, travel time, passenger flow

Abstract

Establishing simulation models is a widely used and effective approach for analysing passenger flow distribution in urban rail transit systems. Recently, multi-agent and discrete event-based simulation models have shown exceptional performance in studying passenger flow information within urban rail transit systems. While simulations of passengers and trains often yield satisfactory results, few models capture the overall operational status of urban rail transit systems. The complex interactions among stations, trains and passengers make it challenging to integrate these elements into a unified system framework. In this paper, we introduce a triple simulation framework that integrates stations, trains and passengers as foundational elements to comprehensively simulate the entire urban rail transit system and observe overall passenger flow distribution. Experimental results demonstrate that our system surpasses existing advanced simulation models, achieving an accuracy rate of 88.44% with a tolerance for a 30% deviation. To further illustrate the effectiveness of our framework in analysing passenger flows, we conducted experiments using the Nanjing Metro AFC dataset, analysing passenger flow distributions at stations and on trains.

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Published

13-03-2025

How to Cite

CHEN, S., LIU, G., GAO, S., LI, J., & WU, J. (2025). A Discrete-Event Simulation System for Estimating Passenger Flow in Urban Rail Transit. Promet - Traffic&Transportation, 37(2), 440–455. https://doi.org/10.7307/ptt.v37i2.768

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Articles