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Making Trains Run on Time (economist.com)
Plamen Angelov of the University of Lancaster, in Britain, has an idea that he hopes will make train delays rarer. From a report: Often, Dr Angelov observes, the problem is not the inefficiency of operators but the behaviour of passengers -- the "platform-train interface", to use railway parlance. When trains arrive, passengers crowd around the doors waiting to board, restricting the flow of those getting off. When they are about to depart, people often hold doors open, delaying that departure. (A recent study by Japan's Railway Bureau found that passengers attempting to board trains after their scheduled departure times accounted for almost 50% of delays.) Passengers also frequently stand too close to the carriages for safety. Waiting for malefactors to move back behind the yellow safety line on a platform might hold a train up for less than a minute. But over the course of a journey those minutes add up. Even a slight delay is compounded if it causes a train to slip out of its running order and be held at a subsequent station, or be required to follow a slower service.
Dr Angelov thinks that applying artificial intelligence to the problem might help. And that is what he and his team are doing. Using images from the cctv cameras already mounted in carriages and on platforms, their system employs algorithms that have been trained to detect objects such as people, luggage, pushchairs and bicycles. It then measures the movements and positions of these objects relative to areas such as the train doors or the yellow safety line and uses this information to predict problems. The cameras in the carriages detect how busy particular doors are getting as passengers leave their seats and gather next to the exits when the train approaches a station. At the same time, the station cameras monitor the numbers waiting for the train to arrive, whereabouts they are standing along the platform, and how encumbered they are. The two sets of data can then be compared, providing warning of likely areas of congestion. This permits passengers -- particularly those on the platform -- to be directed to doors that will be less busy.
Dr Angelov thinks that applying artificial intelligence to the problem might help. And that is what he and his team are doing. Using images from the cctv cameras already mounted in carriages and on platforms, their system employs algorithms that have been trained to detect objects such as people, luggage, pushchairs and bicycles. It then measures the movements and positions of these objects relative to areas such as the train doors or the yellow safety line and uses this information to predict problems. The cameras in the carriages detect how busy particular doors are getting as passengers leave their seats and gather next to the exits when the train approaches a station. At the same time, the station cameras monitor the numbers waiting for the train to arrive, whereabouts they are standing along the platform, and how encumbered they are. The two sets of data can then be compared, providing warning of likely areas of congestion. This permits passengers -- particularly those on the platform -- to be directed to doors that will be less busy.
George, George, George of the jungle boy he likes to cuss!!
Watch out for that buss!
The train should leave on time, regardless of who is on or off the train and whether the doors are being kept open or not. People would learn quickly to not block the doorway and certainly not be in the doorway as the train departs.
A researcher *in the UK* is trying to make trains run on time *in Japan*? You just broke my irony-meter.
The solution to any problem is a buzzword that you know a little bit about and others are afraid they don't.
Some drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.
In the UK we're trying to run a 21st century transport network on 19th century infrastructure. I'm not sure we'll need AI to sort that one out.
so that the internally crowded doors open on the sparsely populated part of the platform. Then you don't have to direct the platform passengers so much.
You are a whining jewish faggot and your life consists of following people around and sputtering like a bitch.
This permits passengers -- particularly those on the platform -- to be directed to doors that will be less busy.
These are people who can't stand aside while people exit, even when it's in their own selfish interest to do so. What in the hell makes you think they can be assed to move to a whole different area of the platform?
Or they could just pay some humans to open and close some gated channels to allow everyone to leave first and then to allow people to enter only until departure time. I think Japan was already doing some version of this in the past, with attendants that stuffed people into the train, and presumably cleared a path to let them out. Either way, you need the humans, because nearly everyone acts badly in their absence.
Strange things are afoot at the Circle-K.
From what I've seen on the trains in Japan, damn near everyone waits patiently behind the yellow line, in 2 lines per door and the people exiting the train are generally not obstructed at all. Then, the waiting passengers board calmly.
I'm thinking these researchers may have never lived in Japan, or only compared the busiest times when there's hardly standing room on the platforms.
Now perhaps if one door was exit only and one was enter only on each car, it would work, but only if loading/unloading an entire car at a time.
"Freedom in the USA is not the ability to do what you want. It is the ability to stop others from doing what THEY want"
couldnt you just make sure to have 2 sets of doors on each car, one set designated for ingress and the other egress?
Fuck nu-/. Sucks.
Japan already figured this out. But I guess mindless multi culti savages can't queue properly.
Make the boarding passengers stand behind gates which only open after the arriving passengers have left the train.
Make slavery legal again so we can get some great stuff done (like making trains run on time) without having to worry about bullshit SJW liberals and fatcat union assholes making everything take longer and be most expensive.
People suck, and that's why we can't have nice things.
pimps?
In Finland we have 5 million people in total. As you might guess, there is no crowd so the reason for delays is elsewhere. Luckily someone keeps track of issues that causes train to be late. And the issues are:
1. Technical problems in railway safety monitoring systems
2. Technical problems in Electric railway
3. Technical problems in the train or train employees getting late or sick
4. Technical problems caused by snow or ice
5. Objects on tracks, e.g. bicycles. Or people trying to kill themselves (about 50 cases every year)
6. Technical problems in the track itself (e.g. maintenance work, issues caused by heat etc.)
If the train arrives less than 20 minutes late, I'm quite happy. About 80% of trains leave at time.
Same in Finnish if you don't trust my translation:
https://www.kaleva.fi/uutiset/kotimaa/miksi-juna-on-myohassa-tassa-yleisimmat-syyt/733431/
"fucking Nazis" is the first thing I thought when I read about the trains running on time. Too bad they're shitty people.
The solution has existed for 32 years. Automate the trains.
It works perfectly in Vancouver, not a single accident due to the computer. No, everything is certainly a suicide/accident when someone falls into the track as the train comes into the station. Computers have better reaction time than humans, which is why the track sensors work best when people aren't creating a crowding situation.
What can put an end to all delays, even in the automated system is PED's, or Platform Edge Doors. However most rail systems are a mish-mash of different rail cars of different door positions, so for Vancouver, this doesn't work because the 6-car mk 1 train, 2x2 car Mark 2/2.5 and 4-car Mk 3 train's all have different door spacing. Platform Edge doors would have to be over engineered to work like venetian blinds. eg, by being pulled down when the train is about to open the doors.
Computer AI here simply is a technical solution to a problem that has already been solved. The Skytrain runs "on time" because it has no schedule, there's a train every 75 seconds at absolute perfect conditions, and every 6 minutes during slow off-peak times. How this can be applied in other places requires a signalling upgrade, removing the driver from the calculation, and then running the trains by forcing the doors to close a-la elevators, where they stay open for a minimum dwell time, and then attempt to close a second time, where the alarm will sound. If they hit an obstruction they re-open completely only once. Any attempt to hold the door open will alert station attendants or transit police that someone is holding up the train and they can be ticketed if they hold the doors while the alarm sounds. Issue enough tickets and people will quit being stupid.
The safety problem can only be solved by not cutting costs in the first place. Build PED's from the begining, build platforms big enough for an entire train to load and unload (use the Spanish solution if that's what's efficient, open the exit doors first, and then the entrance doors, setup turnstiles to only allow entry or exit.
Divide each door to 2 side-by-side doors: 1 for IN, 1 for OUT, only!?
How about actual intelligence? I'm not smart enough to go to university, but even I can see that taking human behavior into account while compiling the timetables would go a long way to solving their problems.
Total bastard, but hey, at least he got the trains to run on time...
"platform-train interface" sounds like the train version of this ðY
A train is only late because if you're early they make you stop.
Since all the AI can do is possibly activate indicator lamps or play messages to people to ask them to do things, then it isn't going to help. Considering that the problem is obvious at the outset, it doesn't take an AI to make it any more obvious.
This is equivalent to just making one door 'in' and the other door 'out' in a variable rather than fixed manner. It can't solve the primary clearly known issues that were indicated: people standing too close to the yellow lines, holding doors, crowding doors, etc.
You don't need cameras and AI if you can force people to evenly distribute themselves, stop crowding doorways, stop trying to enter through closing doors, and stand away from the edge of the platform. Even better, have a lit sign that directs the flow of people inside the carriage to one of the doors when the train is more than half full, and make sure the carriages line up properly on the platforms that also has lights so people know which is the 'entry' and which is the 'exit' door.
It also helps when there are signs/announcements around the place that reminds people to 'stand away from the doors until passengers have finished exiting', 'stand to the left(or right) on the escalator if you're not walking', 'stand up and move towards to the carriage doors before the train arrives at the platform', 'stand back from the yellow line - or the train will be delayed', etc.
One time we're sitting on the train waiting at the platform and the PA comes alive with: "please stand back from the doors". Followed about 20 seconds later with: "would the guy in the blue shirt and baseball cap in the third carriage stop holding the door as you are delaying the train from leaving the platform". Another 20 seconds: "to the guy holding the door, the security staff are on their way down to remove you and the friend you're waiting for from the train".
I remember the doors on the peoplemover at Atlanta Airport in the early 80s. From what I recall, they wouldn't crush you or allow the train to depart unless the doors were completely closed... but they weren't particularly GENTLE about closing, or proactive about re-opening if you DID get caught in them. The synthesized voice would sternly shout, "Stop boarding!" three times and slam the doors shut. If you got caught in them, a flashing light would go off, you'd be loudly scolded by the same robotic voice in front of the entire train (and possibly an employee) while you were still stuck in the door, THEN the doors would momentarily slide open again (leaving you with a bruise to motivate you to move more quickly next time). I'm sure they've toned down the aggressiveness quite a bit since then, but it definitely worked... you could see the literal FEAR in people's eyes if they were anywhere NEAR the doors when the "Stop boarding!" began.
If the schedule says the bus will arrive at 9:05, then 9:05 is when the bus arrives.
Others have pointed out that having a separate IN and OUT door on opposite sides of the train helps, but you're dealing with the possibility of cascading delays from humans -- the most failible of God's creatures.
Here's another idea: Trains are composed of cars; each car is a discrete unit, much like a container. Freight trains often consist basically of containers attached to wheels nowadays, so why not eject and inject entire cars at busy stations? This could be done with detachable connectors (like a trolley), shifting tracks (like a roller coaster), cranes, or any other sort of tech.
This definitely wouldn't work everywhere, but I suspect no solution to this will work everywhere. If your times are important enough that it needs to be down to the minute, get the critically variable thing (people walking in and out of small doors in cars) isolated so that embarking and disembarking becomes a mechanical process.
"in Britain"
First idea- Pick a destination station before you board (some systems already make you do this), or have a default set of station pairs, and let the system tell you which train/door to go to, with the system optimizing to reduce conflicts. Offer some reward for cooperation , i.e. "Good Commuter points" or some small discount. Downside: requires tracking.
Second idea- Skip the directions, just have the reward- if the train leaves on time, everyone getting on or off gets a star. Let the commuters figure out how to do it. Downside: requires tracking (but not as much), and might increase confrontations with non-cooperative riders.
Other factors- I sometimes see people standing in the doorway, not getting on/off, just blocking access to those who are. These people need to be "incentivized" to move elsewhere.
Possibly just having a sign indicating get off/on times, i.e. first 10 seconds after doors open are only for getting off (or until everyone is off), then let people on, would solve the entire problem.
My understanding, from friends that have been to Japan, and watching japanophile shows like Japanology+, was that the trains in Japan were almost disgustingly punctual. Is that not the case?
My friends may have been amazed due to comparison to U.S rail systems.
Those pesky passengers having heart attacks and other medical problems on train, causing trains to be halted and lines to be blocked. When will they learn!?
How about an external light system by which a car is marked as red, yellow or green based on occupancy ?
errr....umm...*whooosh* *whoosh* Is this thing on ?
You're a dull Sacramento nazi shut-in that can't spell. Get a life outside of slashdot, I dare you faggot.
That isn't how people work.
They want to be by the door closest to where there are more free seats - which is more likely to be the one where there are most people alighting.
insert one news story (Check) /. story
insert chunk about technology (Check)
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It's a classic case of thinking more automation === better performance
Hire a few more conductors and platform workers at the train station.
What can put an end to all delays, even in the automated system is PED's, or Platform Edge Doors.
PEDs are just something else to go wrong and does nothing about the problem of people getting on blocking people getting off. Have you never been on a train delayed by a sliding door sticking or someone putting their foot in the way to make it wait for their friend? However many occasions that was, multiply it by two.
They purpose of PEDs is to stop people falling onto the track, and although that very occasionally (in the UK) does happen, the delays from that cause are a tiny blip in the lateness statistics.
Just vast numbers of people pushing as hard as they can, and then the trains take off, always on time, with some people hanging out the door. It is a real sport.
Killed 6,989 passengers apparently.
https://indianexpress.com/arti...
Ah, but you're conveniently forgetting that even though utopianism has never worked, it could if we just threw enough technology at the problem.
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Yes it does use two sided entry on left exit on right. Disney does it moves more per time even with HC needs. Airports across the country use it for remote terminals. Door on exit side open first to allow passengers to leave. They start to close and entrance open on the other. No one is blocked. Platform boarding doors close first followed by trains door. So that last passenger that just squeaking by can get all the on the train.
If you got caught in them, a flashing light would go off, you'd be loudly scolded by the same robotic voice in front of the entire train (and possibly an employee) while you were still stuck in the door, THEN the doors would momentarily slide open again (leaving you with a bruise to motivate you to move more quickly next time). I'm sure they've toned down the aggressiveness quite a bit since then
Yeah, but you should have seen the beta version. Instead of a stern public shaming, the doors would rapidly open and close on you over and over until you either moved or fell unconscious!
If people on the platforms aren't exiting/boarding "on time" then your not allowing enough platform time in the schedule. I would think the schedule should reflect reality, not somone's "under ideal circumstances" estimate.
Lived in Japan. Odakyu line at Shinjuku busiest station exits one side , enter opposite. Practical for peak capacity times and more timely departures larger implications. Low traffic times during the day allow for more time unloading and loading. Other lines try to alternate right and left every few stations. Many non hub stations only have space for one platform. When they back up the stations are slow to react but they do try to warn passengers to go another route with online notices , displays at stations etc... As Olympics approaches more stations installing platform guard doors that offer a buffer before the train doors. Helps prevent crowds from overflowing on to tracks but also late boarders trying to zip in and getting stuck holding up trains. These are very costly additions but over time save time and money increasing safety. Light traffic stations do not warrant the cost benefit but heavy stations do.
This is a design problem and the result of inferior design.
The best (and most expensive) way to solve this problem is to design the stations so that passengers enter on one side of the train and leave on the other. This is the way rides are designed at amusement parks to facilitate the movement of crowds.
Barring that, a system which direct passengers to debark at certain doors (such as at the front) and enter at other doors (At the back) will also work. This has been used on buses, where passengers exit at the back and enter at the front (where they pay.)
The use of AI in this case may indeed result in fewer accidents resulting from moving trains hitting passengers in exclusion zones, but it will do nothing for keeping trains on time.
Make the offenders pay.
Photograph them. Catch and sentence them to a flogging. Works in Singapore.
GB is a problem, because stout Englishmen believe forcing doors is OK. A pracitcal solution would be a squirt of very cheap perfume on limbs caught in doors.
Skunk spray would maybe work on Canadian lumberjack sorts.
I was talking with a friend the other night, and he opined that compromise should die, that technology can solve so many of the world's problems and we need to sweep people out of the way to get it done. Basically he wants technology to control and run things, to run people; in this instance there's just no way to get people to always go to another door. We might be able to measure it, but can we (do we want to?) MAKE people be optimized? DOesn't that kind of just make them machines?
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Simply make the doors close all the way and on time, without regard to obstructions.
Trains will run on time guaranteed. Problem solved. NEXT
... Shinkansen trains you what system just works. If only all trains be boarded like that delays would only be a technicality.
Bach says it all.
I lived in NYC for decades and used the subway daily. Every time the train pulled into the station you could watch the crowd shift to cover the door, literally. One had to push through to get out.
One day, just as the train stopped, I could see the glimmer of daylight right in the middle of the crowd, lined up with the door opening. With a grin, I knew I could squeeze out and hop on my next train. Just then, some asshole ran, and hustled like his life depended on it. He stopped and stood smack in the middle of my daylight
When the door opened, I shoved him by the shoulders, expecting to push him out of my way, but no, he went straight onto his ass, fell over backward. Hopefully, that's one clown in NYC that'll think twice about barging in
Dang. We've used stuff like solar, wind, hydro.... and now.... Time!
Now the actual delays encountered generally fall into specific categories
1. non-station line blockage (aka suicides)
2. station line blockages (unsafe platform passenger density, someone fell on the tracks, suicide)
2 can be generally solved by having platform walls and platform doors, where the trains have common door positions. JR resisted this for decades because they are cheap bastards, and only now are implementing them in Tokyo due to the feeding trough of money being outlaid for the 2020 olympics. Platform doors keep track fall accidents to almost zero, barring some motivated suicides. By blocking falls onto the tracks, this allows people to mob the platform, so the train companies can avoid paying the costs of widening platforms and people feel safer walking right at the edge of the platform. As for people crowding around an open door, that's a human trait, and short of doors opening on both sides with preferential exit/entrance, you ain't fixing that.
Outside the Northeast Corridor, the vast amount of passenger delays for Amtrak are related to having to use freight train routes where preference is given to their own trains over the passenger service. Stations on the corridor could benefit from boarding on one end of the car and exiting the other, or having red lights over the doors while people are exiting and switching to green when you can start boarding, or even just painting the platform with green and red paths to show where to line up to enter and where to leave clear for those exiting. As mentioned above, you could also use gates that open like on rides, but this might be hard with ADA concerns. None of this is rocket science but does require some upfront thought and investment.