Author(s)

R. Tsuchiya, Y. Sugiyama, K. Yamauchi, K. Fujinami, R. Arisawa & T. Nakagawa

Abstract

When train operation is disturbed due to an accident or natural disaster, passengers have to decide what they should do to get to their destination as early as possible. Unfortunately, however, this is not an easy task for passengers since sufficient information for decision-making is rarely provided to them. Therefore, we have developed a passenger support system which informs passengers of information on the optimal routes to their destinations by taking into consideration the predicted resumption time from the disturbance and the expected required time to each destination. More concretely, the system helps passengers decide whether to take the detour routes to their destinations or wait for the resumption of disturbed operation and continue their journey on the originally scheduled route. The system consists of an optimal route calculation engine and diversified man-machine interfaces, each of which is designed for a specific guidance application. Resumption time and required time to each destination are predicted based upon \“resumption process model” whose parameters are determined by the statistical analysis of past data of train operation disturbances. The evaluation test of the prototype system is now being carried out by having a number of subjects in order to prove its effectiveness. Keywords: route-choice support system, disturbance, passenger guidance. 1 Introduction In order to increase customer satisfaction, it is very important for railway companies to provide appropriate guidance information to passengers when train

Keywords

route-choice support system, disturbance, passenger guidance.