J213 – Squeeze!

Many Singaporeans are complaining that the MRT trains are getting more and more packed. This is the result of increasing population without any increase in train dispatch. During peak hours, the trains can get really packed, especially near the doors. However more often than not, this is due to passengers not moving towards the centre of the cabin. The squeeze will occur only in certain parts of the train, thus resulting the scenario “train capacity not fully utilized” despite passengers getting plastered on the doors.

To ease the squeeze, seats are removed to free up some space for standing. Generally, seats are not space-efficient and often take up more space than needed, particularly leg-space which leads to huge gaps between the seated person and the standing person. Utilizing space efficiently in the train interior is a huge challenge both the operators and passengers. The problem for passengers mainly lies in how much they are willing to move close to one another.

For a dense city like Singapore, the ‘sardine’ situation is actually not that bad, compared to other countries, if you look at this:





India is probably infamous for such conditions. Even train doors are not needed. Those who are unable to squeeze into the cabin would have to grab onto something and hang outside the train. Perhaps for this purpose, poles are installed at the exterior. The better climbers can even make their way to occupy the roof, as long as they do not slide off under acceleration, or get struck by low-hanging signs, tunnel entrance or overhead cables (fatality!). Safety-wise, this is horrendous but the capacity of the train can really increase a lot by such methods. Intruders who can simply hook onto the train during its journey and hitch a free ride, is another story…

I wonder if the train can support the immerse weight, or torque… I guess trains are actually more sturdy than they look.

We know that Singapore will not adopt such preposterous measures, so let’s look at a more practical example. A more feasible way that is suitable for crowded urban cities:



Ever ride a train in Tokyo during peak hours? You will be surprised (and intimidated) by how packed the trains can be. Japan is well-known for its super-packed trains, and the ‘pushers’ – train attendants specially employed to stuff and compress people into the trains. In Singapore, at least the passengers still have space to move and compact themselves. In Japan however, the train is so packed that they need someone outside to apply an external force to compress everyone in. I sympathize with passengers who have to undergo such ‘treatment’, but that is the price to pay for getting to your destination fast and on time.

Let’s observe how the pushers do their job.





Passengers are rather obedient, as they seem to not mind being pushed. Maybe they are so used to being pushed. Passengers at the back help to push the front too, while they themselves are pushed by the pushers. Notice how the queue is still maintained throughout the pushing…amazing. Singaporeans would probably cut to the front and try to squeeze in from the sides.

The aim of the pushers is to close the door safely. As for what is happening inside we don’t know…

Here is a table which shows the degree of congestion, expressed in percentage capacity, with its corresponding interior situation.



Degree 1 (35%) : Seats fully occupied
Degree 2 (68%) : Seats fully occupied; straps half filled
Degree 3 (100%) : Seats fully occupied; straps 90% filled
Degree 4 (130%) : Straps fully filled, with approx. 10 pax near door
Degree 5 (150%) : Straps fully filled, with some gaps in the centre
Degree 6 (180%) : Almost no gap in the centre
Degree 7 (200%) : Shoulder-to-shoulder contact; almost full capacity but newspaper reading still possible
Degree 8 (230%) : Full capacity; newspaper reading not possible
Degree 9 (250%) : Passengers grabbing on straps and poles still able to withstand pressure from the entrance
Degree 10 (280%) : Passengers cannot enter the train without the help of train pushers.
Degree 11 (300%) : Over-congested; door might not be able to open; standing passengers right in front seats have to press against the glass for support; glass windows might crack.

In the case of Singapore’s MRT, the worse is probably around 150%. This is merely half of how much the train can handle. Looking at the table, the current situation of Singapore trains is not really that bad right? Of course let’s hope it will not exceed this degree in the near future.

*This will be the last Servbot's Library entry. Thank you everyone for reading for the past 9 months.*