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.
Satoru MATSUURA Hokkaido Railway CompanyThe purpose of this study is to investigate visual-searching behaviors that are effective for recognizing the extraordinary events based on the eye movements of railway drivers. Track subsidence ahead of drivers was set as an extraordinary event. Two driving scenarios were associated with this extraordinary event, namely high velocity (approximately 90 km/h) and low velocity (approximately 15 km/h). In the high velocity driving scenario, drivers that maintained a longer gaze during each visual search recognized the subsidence easily. In the low velocity driving scenario, drivers that had a wider gazing angle in the horizontal direction during each visual search recognized the subsidence easily.
Keywords: train information provision, train choice, passengers' behavioral mode, travel delaytrains, their reasons for choosing them, the level of difficulty in choosing trains, and also passenger reactions to being given information about arrival sequences, which turned out to be incorrect.
Providing detailed information about individual trains
Attitude to train traffic information in the case of disruptionsPrevious research [1, 2] has already examined and highlighted the specific types of information that passengers need when train operations are disrupted. In order to understand passengers' attitudes to traffic information and choosing trains, and to help decide how best to provide that information, the following survey was conducted: Passengers were asked to consider two ways of thinking, A and B. They were then asked to indicate which best reflected their own way of thinking, on a scale of 1 to 7 (1: very similar to A; 2: similar to A; 3: somewhat similar to A; 4: neutral; 5: somewhat similar to B; 6: similar to B; 7: very similar to B).A: Rather than reading detailed information about the trains, I want to be told exactly which train I should ride. (For example, to arrive quickly at my destination I should take this train; to avoid congestion I should ride that train, etc.) B: I will choose which train to take myself, so I want to be provided with detailed traffic information to enable me to make my own decision.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.