Modeling of subway stations circulation facilities as state-dependent queuing network based on phase-type distribution

Abstract

The codes for analysis and design of subway station circulation facilities neglect the important factors such as passenger flow randomness, state-dependent service time of circulation facilities, and passengers blocking when demand exceeds capacity. This paper proposes a new Discrete-Event Simulation (DES) method using Phase-Type distribution to analyze the performance of circulation facilities of subway station as a queuing network. The proposed method is compared to the existing methods and it is observed that existing methods underestimate the performance measures values by neglecting the important factors. The new DES method will allow the planners and designers of subway station to make intelligent decision regarding circulation facilities design as well as when and how to upgrade the circulation facilities.