Evaluation of Tunnel Ventilation System at

Delhi Underground Metro Station

Vaibhav Joshi, Dr. Dilbag Singh
Department of Instrumentation and Control Engineering,
Dr. B R Ambedkar National Institute of Technology,
Jalandhar, Punjab, India
vaibhav.joshi00@gmail.com, singhd@nitj.ac.in

Abstract: This paper inspects underground

stations and evaluates the tunnel safety norms and
practices followed at the Delhi Metro Rail
Corporation Ltd. (DMRC) by taking into
consideration the Subway Simulation System
(SES) and the Tunnel Ventilation System (TVS)
being employed for tunnel operations of the metro
train. The various modes of tunnel operation have
been analyzed on the basis of various National Fire
Protection Association (NFPA) standards. A
comparison with other successful mass rapid
transit systems across the world has also been
undertaken.
Shortcomings
along
with
corresponding improvements of the existing
system have been stated and a Mass Rapid Transit
System (MRTS) has been designed for the city of
Jalandhar which takes into account various
factors and commuting trends of the city dwellers.
Keywords: Tunnel Ventilation System (TVS),
Subway Simulation System (SES), Mass Rapid
Transit System (MRTS), National Fire Protection
Association (NFPA)

I. INTRODUCTION
There have been some numerous fire incidents in
underground train stations internationally in the past.
The October 25, 1995 city subway fire in the capital
city of Baku, Azerbaijan rendered 300 dead and 270
wounded. Another fire incident on November 18,
1987 at the Kings Cross subway station, London
caused by the dropping of a matchstick by a
passenger. The matchstick dropped into the gears of
the escalators and ignited the oils and some
inflammable toxic material. The incident left 31 dead
and 27 wounded. The February 18, 2003 arson fire
[1] at the subway in the Daegu city of South Korea
caused nearly 200 deaths. The heavy casualties of
these incidents were mainly due to the smoke and the
failure of the smoke management systems.
The above data shows that effective smoke
management is of utmost importance. The smoke in a
fire generally lowers the visibility and causes slower
evacuation. Moreover, the toxic gases released due to
incomplete combustion cause fatality in a short
duration of time [2], [3]. In general, fires are very

complex in nature, such as turbulence, combustion

radiation, combustible materials, fire locations, fire
location, space geometry etc., which affect the fire
and smoke propagation. The experiments in a scaled
underground station provide useful information.
However, the practical conditions differ from the
experimental conditions and thus these experiments
are not sufficient to provide completely robust
management systems.
Park et al. [4] conducted a numerical study to
evaluate fire outbreak in an underground station.
They took measurements from an actual underground
station platform for numerical analysis to investigate
the ventilation of the station and smoke in case of a
fire. The velocity measured at various points was
compared with the results obtained by numerical
analysis.
For the smoke management system to work more
effectively, a sound foundation design of the subway
has to be laid down. An important factor in advancing
the design methodology for tunnel ventilation is the
tremendous progress in the computer technology
applicable to tunnel safety. Faster and more
affordable computers encourage a wider use of design
simulation programs, such as Subway Environment
Simulation (SES) and Computational Fluid Dynamics
(CFD) to provide quick and inexpensive answers to
complicated network models of airflows and smoke
control.
This paper explicates the basics of the architecture
of an underground metro station, states the
rudimentary principle and purpose of the Subway
Simulation System (SES) and ascertains the basic
procedure involved in the process. Shortcomings and
suggestions regarding the tunnel safety system at the
Delhi metro rail Corporation Ltd. have been put
forward in comparison with other underground metro
rail systems around the world. An elementary mass
rapid transit system (MRTS) has also been proposed
for the city of Jalandhar, India.
II. BASIC ARCHITECTURE
The basic architecture of an underground DMRC
station has three levels, the ground level, the
concourse and the platform or subway level as shown
in figure 1.

Figure 1: Basic architecture

The ground level consists of the entry/exit arena

connected to the surface roads. The concourse
comprises of the main public hub, ticket counter,
plant rooms and the Station Control Room (SCR).
The platform is the location for boarding on or off the
train.
The concourse is air conditioned using the
Environmental Control System (ECS) but the
platform and the tunnel region experience the most
extreme conditions of heat and humidity and are most
vulnerable to fire outbreaks.
III. SUBWAY ENVIRONMENT SIMULATION
The Subway Environment Simulation (SES) system is
a computer designer- oriented tool which provides
estimates of airflows, temperatures and humidity
levels as well as air conditioning requirements for
both operating and multiple track subway systems.
This simulation tool was developed by Parsons
Brinckerhoff [5] in 1975 and has been employed ay
DMRC for various applications. It approximates the
ventilation system capacity to control the spread of
smoke, thus enabling the designer to design the TVS
system accordingly.
It provides the most effective size, configuration,
spacing and location for ventilation and fan shafts. A
forecast of the impact vehicle air conditioning on
overall heat rejection, temperature and humidity in
the system is furnished. It takes into account
operating schedules headways, vehicle speeds and
train sizes and provides inputs on power demand, air
velocities and pressure transients crucial to a subway
designer. Other factors are also taken into
consideration for e.g. effect of track vertical
alignment and variations due to heat sink.
The procedure for carrying out SES may be divided
into several steps:
1) Collection and Study of Data: It includes
architectural plans, alignment sections, weather data,
geo technical data, passenger forecast data for the
station and the rolling stock data and train operation
plan. This data is procured from different surveys and
forecasts using statistical measures.
2) Inputting the Data: SES is based on the FPS
system all the available data has to be converted in

FPS system for e.g. aerodynamic model of the

corridor, node diagrams and node sections. After this
the derived parameters from the data collected are
determined. These include train route modeling,
ventilation plan arrangements.
3) SES Inputs: The various data required for
designing are procured form surveys and forecasts
using statistical measures. These include weather
data, track-way ventilation system, fan data, route
data. Besides this train schedule and train data is
obtained from the O&M department.
4) SES Outputs: The output parameters of the SES
act as the governing principles for the design of the
underground station. These parameters include
airflow rate, temperature, humidity, pressure,
cooling/heating requirements, air velocity and energy
consumption. An updated train status informing about
the location and speed is also paramount to subway
designing.

IV. TUNNEL VENTILATION SYSTEM

At DMRC, the Tunnel Ventilation System (TVS) is
designed according to the output of the Subway
Environment Simulation (SES). The design weather
data from the ASHRAE handbooks [6] has been used
to arrive at the design criteria. The TVS is used for
maintaining a workable environment in the tunnels
during the expected range of operating conditions. It
provides ventilation and air movement control over
the tunnel area and track-way adjacent to each station
meant for train locomotion.
TVS has been designed to fulfill two prime
purposes:
1. An effective means of controlling smoke flows
during emergency conditions (such that both patrons
and employees can evacuate safely and also, the fire
fighting personnel can reach an incident location
without traversing a smoke filled path).
2. An acceptable environment in the tunnel and
station track-way conducive to the operation of Delhi
Metro trains.
3. A safe environment for the passengers as well as
the employees to operate at the platform and trackway.
A. System Architecture
The TVS consists of two reversible Tunnel
Ventilation Fans (TVF) located at each of the north
and south end tunnel ventilation plant rooms. These
fans operate to provide forced ventilation in the
tunnels during the congestion and emergency modes.
For each of the tunnel ventilation fans, corresponding
Tunnel Ventilation Dampers (TVD) are installed for
controlling the air flow as required. Fixed eversible
Tunnel booster Fans (TBF) and supply nozzles
maintain the required thrust in the tunnel. All the
Reversible fans are capable of accepting a direction
reversal command without any time delay.

B. Modes of Operation
There are four modes of operation that were
manually created to suite different conditions [7].
Each mode has a corresponding manner in which the
components operate.
The four modes of operation are:
1) Normal: the operation of station and tunnel is
going as expected and the TVS is not engaged.
2) Congestion: Meant for situations like natural
disaster in which people tend to seek shelter in the
station and there is an uncertain situation.

operate in operate only in supply mode up-line and

down-line.
In the emergency mode, an area of the tunnel is
under fire or contains smoke. Emergency conditions
are the TVS operational modes for any variety of
occurrences including transit vehicle malfunctions,
derailment or fire that may result in smoke conditions
in the tunnel. The TVS of one of the station acts in a
supply mode and that of the other station acts in an
extract mode depending upon the location of the fire
and the direction of safe passage for the passengers as
shown in figure 3.

3) Emergency: Meant for the extreme situations

like fire and flooding etc.
4) Maintenance: This mode is activated mostly at
night but may be used if maintenance is required
even during the day time in some urgent
circumstances.
In the congestion mode, the train has stopped in the
tunnel beyond a predetermined time period and this
causes the tunnel temperature to rise [8].
Consequently, it prevents the train air conditioning
from working properly. To assist the operator, the
tunnel temperatures in each section are monitored by
a temperature sensor (one located on each track in a
tunnel) and sent to the relevant Station Control Room
(SCR) and the operational Control Center (OCC). The
TVS system then follows the command from the
control center.

Figure 3: Tunnel ventilation Fans (TVF) in emergency mode

V. DESIGN PRACTISES AND EXAMPLES

ABROAD
A. London Underground Rail System

Figure 2: Track-way Exhaust Fan system

In the event of Congestion, to prevent the

accumulation of warm tunnel air around idling train
leads to activation of TVF push pull mode as shown
in figure 2. The nearest station acts in supply mode
and farthest station acts in extract mode. The TVS
can operate in various modes as listed below:
1) Open mode: The track-way exhaust fans can
operate in both the directions i.e. to supply or to
extract air. The supply or extraction process can be
executed both up-line and down-line. The tunnel
ventilation fans in extract direction can operate only
in open mode i.e. discharge to atmosphere.
2) Close mode: The track-way exhaust fans can

Colloquially referred to as The Tube, it is the

worlds oldest underground rail system consisting of
270 stations and around 400 kilometers of track,
making it the second longest metro system in the
world by route length after the Shanghai Metro. Lines
on the Underground can be classified into two types:
subsurface lines and deep-level lines [9]. The
subsurface lines, which were dug by the cut-andcover method while the deep-level or tube lines,
which were bored using a tunneling shield.
The Tube has no provision of air conditioning;
however the new S-stock trains however will have air
conditioning system for providing a comfortable
environment
for
commuting.
In
summer,
temperatures on parts of the Underground can
become very uncomfortable due to its deep and
poorly ventilated tube tunnels. Posters may be
observed on the Underground network advising
passengers to carry a bottle of water to help keep cool
without the air conditioning. Each line is being
upgraded to improve capacity and reliability, with
new computerized signaling, automatic train
operation (ATO), track replacement and station
refurbishment, and, wherever needed, new rolling
stock.

B. Taipei Railway Underground Project

The Taipei Railway underground project
undertaken in the capital city of Taiwan consists of a
tunnel with length of 22.5 kilometers, including five
underground stations and three emergency stops. The
emergency procedure design concept, in adapting the
NFPA 130 [10] as a design guide, is to provide a
smoke-free escape route should a fire occur in the
tunnel or on the underground platform. The ceiling
plenum has been adopted as smoke reservoir to
alleviate the smoke descending rate, and thus
facilitate more time for evacuation [11]. The
evacuation system lacks a stairwell pressurization
system for handicapped patrons. The tunnel
ventilation fans, when operated on an emergency
mode, introduce an upwind along the stairwell so that
evacuees can run upstairs under tenable conditions.
The emergency operation mode has been developed
innovatively to improve ventilation system
performances. The design concept is to operate the
system on an Exhaust Only mode for the first six
minutes to comply with the NFPA 130 [10], for a safe
evacuation of the passengers. It is then followed by an
unbalanced push-pull mode to provide a smoke- free
entry point for the firefighters through the primary
and tertiary staircases. For the evacuation process, the
system considers factors like bottlenecks, pushing and
taking over while calculating the total evacuation
time needed for reaching from the farthest exit point
or for passing through the exit points [12]. The smoke
diction, humane confirmation and announcement of
fire, each step takes time to complete, which add up
to around four minutes for all the passengers to leave
the platform and six minutes to leave the station, thus
complying with the NFPA 130 criteria [10]. The
Taipei Railway under ground project has been in
operation since 1999 and has a satisfactory safety
record.
C. Sydney Metro Project
The project had been undertaken to design a new
underground line through Sydneys central business
district consisting of seven underground stations via
seven kilometers of tunnels. The stations have been
designed following the guidelines of NFPA 130, 2010
[10] and Building Control of Australia (BCA) so that
evacuation off the platform would be possible in four
minutes. The evacuation modeling has been carried
out using SIMULEX modeling software which takes
into account the variations in human size, mobility
and movement speeds apart from other factors.
According to the concept design for the smoke
control systems throughout tunnels to separate the
two areas with platform edge doors and provide
separate smoke control systems in both areas. The
tunnels have a longitudinal ventilation system
controlled from fans located at either end of the
station which also provides an Over Track-way
Exhaust (OTE) system above the tracks. In case of a

fire the OTE would clear the smoke from the tunnel
space, although smoke would inevitably enter the
platform areas through the open train and the platform
edge doors. To ensure tenable conditions, the
mechanical smoke exhaust system located on the
platform would start operating. For designing of the
smoke control system, Computational Fluid
Dynamics (CFD) [13] smoke modeling has been
carried out using Fire Dynamics Simulator software.
The station design includes twin-bore tunnels
throughout the line with crossovers between the two
bores at three locations along the tunnel. At these
locations the TVS is designed to reduce smoke spread
between the two bores for all fire scenarios near the
crossover. The CFD analysis demonstrated that in all
fire scenarios near the crossover sections, smoke
spread would be reduced in the non-incident tunnel.
VI. SUGGESTIONS AND IMPROVEMENTS
The practice of halting trains in the tunnel during
congestion at DMRC places a lot of burden on the
TVF
system and
also
causes
passenger
inconvenience. Trains halted in the tunnel run the risk
of having their air-conditioning units unload as
dwelling trains cause the temperatures in the tunnel to
rise. Also, for the purpose of conceptual design, the
fan sizing is based on the logical course of only one
train being permitted in the ventilation zone. If more
than one train is to be allowed, added heat and
increased ventilation equipment are to be considered.
During an incident of vehicular congestion, the Train
Service Regulator should halt as many subsequent
DMR trains as possible at the station itself. This
would place lesser burden on the TVF and allow the
passengers to alight to subsequent trains into the
station.
Currently the DMR Tunnel Ventilation System is
using the closed system concept and the open system
concept. The open system requires the sirconditioning to use 100% outside whereas in the
closed system the station air is re-circulated to the
station air-conditioning system. The Platform Screen
Doors (PSD) concept which is not being employed
may also be incorporated in the designing of future
underground metro systems. Platform screen doors
are actually solid, transparent barriers that are aligned
with the vehicle doors such that the passenger
entry/exit to the DMR trains is automated. The PSD
system has the inherent ability to isolate the airconditioning from the hot & humid air in the tunnels
and also partially prevent the smoke and toxic gases
from entering the platform in emergency and
congested conditions. They also provide the least
operating cost for the environment control systems.
On the site, another improvement may be to set up
the tunnel at the top of exhaust pipe while the
ventilation system and smoke extraction system be set
up separately using vertical exhaust to replace the
horizontal direction of the smoke method.

VI. PROPOSED MASS TRANSIT SYSTEM FOR

JALANDHAR
Owing to the success of the Delhi mass rapid transit
system, a system similar in structure is proposed for
the city of Jalandhar with the exception of the whole
system being underground. The Jalandhar metro
system would provide an efficient and effective land
transport network that is integrated, efficient, costeffective and sustainable to meet the needs of the
growing urban population. This paper proposes only
two initial routes and a single central station which
may be extended during further stages of planning.
The basic design has been inspired by the Delhi metro
system while the inspiration for the fire safety
systems and parameters comes from the Beijing Mass
Rapid Transport System (MRTS).
A. Basic Route Planning
Since the layout of the city is longitudinal, two
main corridors, North-South and East-West would be
the institutional routes. Jyoti Chowk near the central
town would be the atrium of the corridors. The northsouth corridor would be collateral to the railway line,
running beneath the Grand Trunk (G.T.) road, thus
connecting the northern outskirts to the centre of the
city and up to the Inter State Bus Stand (I.S.B.T)
providing service along with the existing bus and auto
service. The east-west corridor would connect the
western regions of Model town with the railway
station and terminating at the IOCL colony as shown
in figure 4. The Jalandhar metro would provide
service in neighborhoods where only the auto service
exists as well as complementing the bus service on
other, more popular routes. Feeder auto service may
also be provided for connecting the nearby areas to a
metro station.

platform at the second basement. The central portion

of the concourse would serve as the ticketing hall
where ticket machines, automatic machine gates,
station control room are located. Equipment rooms
serving the operations of the station would be located
on both ends of the station. Where possible, small
shops, Automatic Teller Machines (ATM), public
telephones etc. would be provided. The platform
would approximately be the length of the rolling
stock used in the system and separated from the
tracks by the platform screen doors (PSD) thus
adopting the PSD concept. The platform beneath the
concourse would basically be an open area for the
waiting/boarding passengers. The platform and
concourse levels are linked by open staircases and
escalators at the public areas. Enclosed staircases at
both ends would be provided to cater quick egress
from the station in the event of an emergency.
C. Fire Safety and Egress
Conforming to the requirements of the NFPA 130
[10], the underground station would be of noncombustible construction built to a fire resistance
period of four hours. In addition to the open staircases
and escalators, enclosed staircases would be provided
at each end of the station as a secondary means of
egress. The fair gates installed would be fully open in
the event of an emergency. Escalators would be
stopped in an emergency. The passengers would be
able to leave the station within 4 minutes, a time
frame set by the NFPA 130 [10]. Exit signs and exit
direction lights would also be provided to identify the
exit routes.
D. Fire Detection and Protection
The Jalandhar MRT system would comply with the
standards set by the NFPA 130 [10]. Each station
would be provided with automatic fire sprinkler,
automatic fire alarm system, total flooding gas fire
suppression system, fire hose reel system and portable
fire extinguisher. Voice communication systems
would also be provided for necessary communication
during an emergency.
D. Smoke Control System

Fig 4: Proposed Jalandhar metro route map. Blue line indicates the
route of the train. Red dot is the central atrium.

B. Basic Station Layout

The NFPA 130 [10] is to be adopted as the base
design guide. A typical underground station would
consist of concourse level at the first basement and a

The smoke control system designed for the trackway (outside the platform screen doors) would consist
of tunnel ventilation fans (TVF) at both ends of the
station and under platform exhausts (UPE) and over
track-way exhausts (OTE) as shown in figure 5. The
combined exhaust capacities would exceed the smoke
generation rate to provide effective smoke extraction
while make-up air is being induced through the
staircase. The tunnel would be set up at the top of
exhaust pipe while the ventilation system and smoke
extraction system would be set up separately using
vertical exhaust to replace the horizontal direction of
the smoke method. This would provide improved
smoke control. Operation of the emergency tunnel

ventilation system would be initiated from the

Operational Control Centre (OCC). Local controls
would be permitted to override the OCC in all modes
if the OCC becomes inoperative at any point of time.

[6]
[7]

[8]

[9]
[10]

[11]

Fig 5: The system would consist of four ducts above the tracks and
a false ceiling above the platform.

[12]

[13]

CONCLUSION
This paper started with a critique about the
overwhelming research efforts put into establishing a
tunnel ventilation system at the Delhi Metro Rail
Corporation Ltd., discussing the subway environment
simulation system which acts as an analysis system,
briefly addressing the shortcomings of the existing
arrangement and suggesting some improvements
therein. The existing tunnel safety system currently
being employed at the Delhi Metro Rail underground
stations was found to be efficient, effective and robust
enough to be able to adapt to extreme conditions thus
maintaining a clean satisfactory record so far without
any accidents so far.
Some designs and approaches adopted by
successful underground rail systems across the globe
have been analyzed on the basis of which an
elementary mass rapid transit system was designed
for the city of Jalandhar, India. This underground
metro system would cover parts of the city currently
untouched by the bus service while assisting the bus
service in other heavily populated areas thus helping
to cope up with the growing population of the city.

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B. Beijing Mass Rapid Transit System

Beijing has eight operational subway lines. Smoke
exhaust and emergency ventilation systems are
provided for underground stations and tunnel. Due to
the space limitations, the normal ventilation and airconditioning systems are integrated with the smoke
control system. However, normal ventilation mode
can be shifted to emergency mode immediately once
a fire is detected.

COLLECTION
AND STUDY OF
DATA

INPUTTING
THE DATA

SES OUTPUTS

SES INPUTS

Figure 2: Procedure for carrying out SES