Effect of Train Draft on Platforms and in Station Houses

Train draft is the wind generated around trains when they pass a station at high speed. Train draft sometimes generates high wind speeds on the platform, particularly on platforms of stations without passing tracks. In station houses where the platform level is covered with a roof and walls (fully covered shed), train draft also sometimes causes rapid pressure variation, and such pressure variation may cause gusts in the station house. Such a situation poses concerns that train draft might cause defects such as cracks and peeling of the finishing of the station house walls and that passengers may lose their balance and fall down at such a train draft. The authors therefore took measures to check the effect of the draft by trains running at high speed. The authors have developed an evaluation method based on the results for the pressure variation in station houses from train speed, rolling stock shape and ratio and shape of aperture, and also verified the method's effectiveness.