EP0443913A1 - Station platform for semi-continuous transport systems - Google Patents

Abstract

The embarkation area in a vehicle V running slowly into a station S is divided up by means of separating elements (31-34) into corridors (C1, C2, C3) oriented in a direction forming an acute angle alpha with the direction of forward progress of the vehicle. This arrangement favours the ordered embarkation of passengers and results in an increase in the rate of occupation of the vehicles. <IMAGE>

Description

The invention relates to transport systems of the so-called semi-continuous type, the principle of which is based on continuous scrolling of the vehicles in the station. Examples of such systems have been described in particular in patents FR 79 08510 and PCT / EU 26 190.

The current development of such systems, both in urban areas and in winter sports resorts, has revealed certain problems related to passenger boarding.

• 1) un risque de confusion lorsque les quais sont encombrés, ce qui va contre l'image de continuité et de fluidité des systèmes ; de plus, ces perturbations augmentent le temps d'embarquement, donc réduisent l'efficacité du système;
• 2) limitation du taux de remplissage des véhicules, d'où limitation du débit dans les périodes de pointe.

Two types of fault can be observed, in particular if there is no staff on the boarding platform to guide passengers:

• 1) a risk of confusion when the platforms are congested, which goes against the image of continuity and fluidity of the systems; moreover, these disturbances increase the boarding time, therefore reducing the efficiency of the system;
• 2) limitation of the filling rate of vehicles, hence limitation of the flow during peak periods.

The acuity of these two defects increases with the increase in the throughput of semi-continuous systems. However, increasing the flow rate is an important objective because it is likely to offer a promising niche for semi-continuous systems for distances greater than 200 meters, poorly covered by moving walkways.

The present invention aims, in its perspective, to improve the conditions of boarding of passengers.

To this end, it offers an improvement in boarding platforms, consisting essentially of providing, downstream of an approach area, a boarding area divided by dividers into at least two adjacent lanes oriented in a transverse direction relative to to the running direction of the vehicles, said dividers extending near the edge of the platform.

Such an arrangement improves the continuity and the fluidity of the flow of passengers, whose distribution between the corridors is carried out in an orderly and perfectly natural manner even if there are no operating personnel on the quay .

This mode of operation without personnel on the quay is fundamental, because it conditions the profitability of most semi-continuous transport systems in cities.

The arrangement according to the invention also leads to a significant increase in the occupancy rate during peak periods; however, an increase of 20%, for example, in the occupancy rate leads to a corresponding gain on the cost of the system which must be sized for the peak period.

This increase in the occupancy rate is due in particular to the fact that passengers engaged in a downstream corridor do not have the possibility of reaching an empty cabin; they can only join the passengers already in the cabins from the upstream corridor and thus increase the occupancy rate. Indeed, the dividers extending to near the edge of the platform reduce the possibilities of passage from one corridor to another.

According to an advantageous additional arrangement of the invention, there is provided at the end of a separator, between two adjacent corridors, a flap extending this separator substantially to the edge of the quay, this flap being adapted to pivot downstream, but comprising a means of prohibiting its pivoting upstream.

While allowing a passenger engaged in an upstream corridor to pass or escape, if he wishes, in an adjacent downstream corridor, this component prevents passengers already engaged in a downstream corridor from tending to change lanes towards upstream.

The width of the corridors and their number will advantageously be chosen so that the flow of passengers is permanent.

The orientation of the guideways according to the invention with respect to the direction of advance of the vehicles contributes, in addition, to obtaining a natural embarkation because well oriented.

• la figure 1 est une vue schématique d'une station terminale de système de transport semi-continu ;
• la figure 2 est une vue schématique d'une variante de réalisation.

The characteristics and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the description which follows, with reference to the attached drawing, in which:

• Figure 1 is a schematic view of a semi-continuous transport system terminal station;
• Figure 2 is a schematic view of an alternative embodiment.

According to the embodiment chosen and shown in FIG. 1, a station S is served by an arrival channel 1A and a departure channel 1D.

A vehicle arriving at the station first scrolls along a landing quay 2 limited by a device 3 for safety at the end of the quay.

Passengers disembarking on platform 2 leave the station via an exit zone 4. The reference 5 designates a reversal zone at the exit of which there is a loading platform 6 limited by a security device at the end of platform 7. This device, known per se, makes it possible to cause the vehicle to stop in the event of an incident at the end of the platform when boarding a passenger. The station offers, for access to the embarkation platform, an approach zone 8 where the circulation takes place in a general direction parallel to the direction of advance of the vehicles V, indicated by the arrow 9. This zone d The approach is itself divided in the present embodiment from a zone substantially adjacent to the reversal zone 5, into two lanes 11, 12, qualified respectively upstream and downstream. A separator means 10 extends between the two corridors, while the downstream corridor 12 is separated from the rest of the station by a separator means 13, similar to the means 10.

From a place located approximately opposite the middle of the embarkation platform, the separating means 10 continues with a part 10A, in an orientation forming, with the direction of advance 9 of the vehicle, an acute angle α for example 45 °.

The separating means 13 comprises, for its part, an extension 13A parallel to the extension 10A and extending to the device 7 for end of platform security.

The separating means 10 and 13 can be produced in various forms and can be reduced, if necessary, to simple guide and / or support bars. In some cases, they could even be reduced to simple marking lines on the ground.

The widths L1, L2, will be chosen for a permanent flow of passengers; they will, for example, be of the order of a meter, so as to allow the passage of two people head-on.

In the embodiment of FIG. 1, the upstream corridor 11 has a narrowing or constriction in its initial part due to the shape of the contour of the turning station 5.

Such an initial constriction may prove advantageous as an incentive for passengers to use the downstream corridor 12.

Corridor 11 located closest to the turning area is said to be upstream because the passengers who are engaged in it are the first to be able to get into vehicle V which leaves the turning area for its scrolling in front of the platform. boarding.

Corridor 12 is said to be downstream because the passengers engaged therein will only be able to access the entrance of vehicle V when it has already passed in front of the upstream corridor 11.

In other words, the passengers in the downstream corridor 12 will only be able to board the vehicle after a certain number of passengers already boarded from the upstream corridor 11. Consequently, any boarding of passengers coming from the downstream corridor 12 will have for effect of increasing the vehicle occupancy rate.

According to an advantageous arrangement of the invention, there is provided, at the end of the 10-10A separator, a movable flap 20 adapted to pivot freely on a joint 21 formed for this purpose at the end of the separator 10A, but in cooperation with a stop means 22 which opposes its pivoting in the downstream-upstream direction.

Thanks to such a flap which extends the separator 10A practically to the edge of the embarkation platform 6, the possibility is offered to a passenger engaged in the upstream corridor 11 to pass, if he wishes, in the downstream corridor 12. But, thanks to the stop 22, the possible tendency of a passenger arriving via the downstream corridor 12 is avoided to change the corridor upstream, which is not desirable.

In the embodiment of FIG. 2, access to the embarkation platform is effected by an approach corridor 30, not divided, of width L, limited between two separating elements 31, 32, whose oriented extensions 31A , 32A, extend respectively to the start and the end of the boarding platform. The approach corridor 30 gives access to a distribution area 30 ′ limited externally by the separator 32-32A, and internally by a boarding area divided into three corridors C1, C2 and C3 determined by two oriented separators 33, 34 advantageously fitted with 33 ′, 34 ′ flaps with one-sided travel.

The passenger flow limited by the width L of the approach corridor thus finds a relaxation zone in the distribution area 30 ′ at the entrance to the fractioned embarkation zone in the upstream C1, intermediate C2 and downstream C3 corridors .

It is thus possible, without the slightest risk of confusion, to make optimum use of the access time in vehicles offered by a door of given width during the scrolling from the entrance to the exit of the embarkation platform.

The invention is, of course, not limited to the features of the embodiments which have just been described by way of examples. Thus, the approach zone could have a transverse orientation relative to the quay; the provisions of the invention are not limited to the terminal stations considered above, remaining equally applicable, on the contrary, to intermediate stations in which the boarding area is downstream of the landing area. The usefulness of orientation according to the invention of embarkation can extend to disembarkation, for example, in the form of a simple marking on the ground of orientation lines favorable for disembarking passengers.

In the event that there is no difference in level between the platform and the vehicle passage zone, the "edge of the platform" is defined by the limit of this passage zone.

Claims (7)

1) Boarding platform for semi-continuous transport systems, of the type comprising vehicles traveling at low speed along the platform, characterized in that it comprises, downstream of an approach zone (8,30) a boarding area divided by dividers into at least two adjacent lanes (11,12, C1, C2, C3) of transverse orientation relative to the direction of travel of the vehicles, said dividers extending near the edge of the quay. 2) boarding platform according to claim 1, characterized in that the direction of orientation of the corridors forms with the direction of advance of the vehicles an acute angle α. 3) boarding platform according to claim 1 or 2, characterized by the provision, at the end of a separator between two adjacent corridors, a flap (20) extending this separator, adapted to pivot downstream and comprising a means (22) for preventing pivoting upstream. 4) Embarkation platform according to claim 1, 2 or 3, characterized in that there is provided a fractionation (11,12) of the terminal part of the approach zone (8). 5) Embarkation platform according to claim 4, characterized by a throttle formed in the upstream corridor (11) in the approach area. 6) boarding platform according to claim 1, 2 or 3, characterized in that the approach zone comprises an unfractionated approach corridor (30) and a distribution area (30 ′) forming access to the corridors (C1 , C2, C3) of the boarding area. 7) boarding platform according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized by the presence of a platform end security (7) downstream of the most downstream corridor (12, C3).

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