Metropolitan rail is an important contributor to the movement of people in Melbourne. Its higher capacity compared to buses, freedom from encumbrance from road users, ability to make frequent stops, and relatively long life of vehicular infrastructure makes rail an attractive proposition over other forms of transport. However, rail networks can struggle to be punctual, especially during peak times, and crowding can contribute to poor passenger perceptions and experiences of the mode.
This project seeks to investigate and develop design responses to mitigate metropolitan and suburban rail problems. The research program will include design studies evaluating modular and compartmentalised carriage features, optimising pertinent human factors, consider the provision of information, passenger boarding alighting and dispersal, materiality and respond to the emerging issues around population demographics, such as an ageing population etc. It is important that the outcomes of the investigation and design study have realisable benefits and impact.
This project is part of the Sustainable and Effective Public Transport – Graduate Research Industry Partnership (SEPT-GRIP) and was supervised by Dr Selby Coxon. The project was undertaken by Lisa Fu and sponsored by Metro Trains Melbourne and Monash University.
The thesis is available online here.