Project
By 2014, Companhia Paulista de Trens Metropolitanos (CPTM) accommodated 3 million railway passengers every day in the rapidly growing metro area of São Paulo, Brazil. Operations of that scale were already a challenge before São Paulo was selected to host the opening ceremony and six matches of the 2014 FIFA World Cup. The organization expected that legions of fans from around the world would attend the local games and FIFA Fan Fest, the official watch party throughout the 31-day competition. Specifically, CPTM predicted an additional 68,000 people would enter the transit system each day – many of them unfamiliar with how to move through the stations.
Solution
To overcome this challenge, CPTM used LEGION Simulator to predict passenger movement at the stations, particularly Corinthians-Itaquera. The station became the focus because of its proximity to Arena Corinthians, the main venue for the World Cup. Technicians within various organizational departments collected and validated station data, built a dynamic model of the station, and analyzed passenger movement within the model. The analysis indicated that arrival to the games would not cause any crowding problems, but that game departures would due to the large amount of people leaving the matches at the same time.
Outcome
During iteration within the passenger simulation, CPTM determined that placing 14 L-blocks at the entrance of the station significantly reduced the average population density on the mezzanine and improved flow as fans left matches. CPTM carried out special tests of the L-blocks before the World Cup began and proved that the simulation plans worked in the real world. Of the 68,000 fans attending the opening game, almost 37,000 of them used the Corinthians-Itaquera station. CPTM determined the station would not have accommodated the added passengers without the modifications tested in the passenger simulation software.
Software
LEGION allowed CPTM to model the realistic details of passenger movement in specific spaces as well as consider how passengers would behave when they are unfamiliar with the area. This data determined where bottlenecks would likely occur. Within LEGION, CPTM tested specific changes to public areas—such as the width of staircases, the location of ticket counters, and the placement of temporary barriers—to measure their impact on the flow of foot traffic. With LEGION simulations, CPTM iterated solutions before establishing them in real-life situations.
Project Playbook: LEGION