Purpose: Safe and timely evacuation of metro station Rokin, Amsterdam--is that possible using the escalators in case of a power loss? Commissioned by the municipality of Amsterdam, service Infrastructure Traffic and Transportation, TNO measured the actual evacuation capacity of a stationary escalator in relation to the evacuation capacity of the normal stairwell. A background question was whether escalators 1-m wide at foot height (as foreseen at Rokin) will have a capacity comparable to the capacity of a normal stairwell 1.1-m wide--the minimum required by the Dutch Building Decree (2003). Methods: Wanting actual data with regard to the specific question, we did a large-scale behavioural test. We let a group of 120 test participants climb over a stationary escalator 12 m high in an existing metro station twice in succession; thereafter, they climbed, again two times 12 m, normal stairwells of comparable dimension. For pureness of comparison, a second group of 120 test participants climbed normal stairwells first; then the stationary escalator. Cameras recorded the finish for subsequent scoring of the moment the individual test participant came upstairs. Evacuation capacity was determined as the number of people divided by the interval between the last and the first person coming upstairs. Other behavioural observations regarded overtaking, stumbling, and body posture. Results: We observed higher evacuation capacity for the stationary escalator "Rokin type" relative to normal stairwells; that overtaking was easier on the escalator but that the stationary escalator "invited" stumbling at the gradual transition between horizontal and rising part; and that test participants moving tightly abreast held their outside arm above the banister while climbing over the escalator as well as the normal stairwells. Conclusions: With high confidence it was shown that the escalators as foreseen at metro station Rokin, under stationary conditions, will have an evacuation capacity of at least 95% of the capacity of normal stairwells, type B, with 1-m clear width between the handrails. Relative to such normal stairwells there is a 83% probability that the stationary escalator with a clear width at foot height of 1007 mm (as in Rokin station) has greater capacity. It is therefore very sound to calculate the capacity of the stationary escalator with the simple rules of the Building Decree 2003, assuming the required minimum width of a B-type of stair.
Zijn de roltrappen op het toekomstige station Rokin voldoende om snel te ontruimen, ook als ze stilstaan? We constateerden, na een proef met 240 personen, dat de capaciteit van de stilstaande roltrap waarschijnlijk nog groter is dan die van een vergelijkbare vaste trap.