Tram stop infrastructure in Poland in the aspect of safety

Abstract

Travel comfort depends on many criteria, including, to a large extent, the passenger's sense of security while waiting for the vehicle and while driving. For this reason, tram stops play an essential role in the overall assess-ment of the functioning of the tram system in cities. The presented results of the literature review indicate that few publications related to safety in the tram transport system concern aspects of the infrastructure of stops. The arti-cles we distinguished in this area also prove the lack of publications in which the researchers focus on the criteria for assessing the safety of tram stops. The paper aims to present the results of research conducted among experts, which concerned identifying criterions influencing the safety of tram stops and the selection of criteria for their evaluation. In addition, the obtained results are the basis for further analysis of safety at tram stops. The research was conducted among experts representing almost all cities in Poland with a tram service system for residents. The obtained results showed that the critical elements from the safety point of view are those related to technical aspects, i.e., length, width, and height of platforms, which are adapted to both the rolling stock and the size of passenger flows. The second significant group of criteria determining the safety of stops is equipping them with elements supporting their use by people with disabilities, i.e., placing warning fields at the edges of the platform, designating a waiting area for people with reduced mobility, or the use of guiding lanes. It is also crucial to main-tain adequate separation of traffic between its various participants so that other people do not use the waiting and passenger exchange zone. The results obtained as part of the analysis will form the basis for the development of a detailed method of assessing tram stops in Poland in terms of their safety.