A case study of an anti-terrorism evacuation model of a magnetic levitation train station in an urban environment

The terrorist attacks of September 11th, 2001 elevated the importance and urgency of transportation security as a constituent of our overall national security efforts. Consequently, transportation systems administrators have implemented new security measures that include an increase in the frequency and intensity of existing activities: conducting vulnerability or risk assessments, tightening access control, intensifying security presence, increasing emergency drills, developing or revising security plans, and providing additional training.; However, one deficiency in federal efforts to combat terrorism remains the lack of an explicit association between the terrorist threat, the development of a national strategy, and agency resources. This research explores one possible plan to deal with a terrorist threat by presenting an evacuation model based on preliminary drawings of a Magnetic Levitation (Maglev) train station. Two hypothetical scenarios are discussed, and both model: (1) Finding the optimal route to evacuate the train station and depopulate the urban environment; (2) Moving people out of the area of threat as expeditiously as possible; (3) Minimizing travel time by capturing the dynamic flow, congestion, and queuing effects that occur in a terrorist scenario; (4) Combining data from the model with decision-making software to better prepare authorities. The goals of train evacuation plans are to provide safe passage from the station to the train and from the train to the station for all people. Thus this study will establish guidelines for monitoring and limiting risks in these areas by establishing feasible, concise, evacuation routes that enable the movement of people from the train station and the urban environment to a location where there is reduced risk. By prioritizing risks through threat, vulnerability and criticality processes, which are tools in identifying evacuation weaknesses of a Maglev station, planners and decision makers are in a better position to manage the risk of a terrorist attack by more effectively targeting resources to eliminate or mitigate weaknesses. In addition, these tools also allow planners to better identify and evaluate various responses relative to various possible crises. This research models the processes by which planners can adequately evaluate their own infrastructure as well as presents possible models to test in their specific environments.