Technical Note 20

Passenger Demands for Conceptual Station Design

At the request of UPC for the purposes of preparing a conceptual design for the Capital City main
station, this note sets out suitable passenger demand estimates for the conceptual design of
passenger circulation areas.
Please note that these are preliminary figures based on maximum passenger volumes that might
occur to/from maximum train services at a peak demand period. These passenger demand
estimates should not be taken to represent typical weekday peak periods, nor do they represent
forecasts from the STMP transport demand model.
Assumptions
Passenger Rail and Metro services have been adopted from the report entitled Service Groups and
Infrastructure, Rev A.
Train capacity assumed for high-speed passenger rail to Dubai is 1,090 seated passengers per
train, from TN9. A service with a train every 5 minutes at peak periods is assumed.
Train capacity assumed for suburban rail and metro is 1,320 passengers per train, based on draft
PT Planning Guidelines for metro, assuming a standing density of 4 passengers per square metre;
this is lower than international standards and could be exceeded. A suburban service of trains
every 15 minutes to Al Ain and a stopping service every 15 minutes to Dubai is assumed. For the
metro a peak headway of 2 minutes has been assumed for peak periods on the main metro loop,
and 4 minutes on the MBZ loop
Capacity assumed for trams is 440 passengers per 80m long unit, based on draft PT Planning
Guidelines for trams. A peak headway of an 80m unit every 2 minutes is assumed.
Passenger demand estimates for peak passenger throughputs are also based on the following key
assumptions; these will need to be reviewed as the design of services and infrastructure are
refined and as more realistic travel demand forecasts become available.
For high-speed services to/from Dubai assume 50% passengers board/alight at Capital City, and
50% at CBD station, and that trains will be 80% full in both directions in the peak hour.
For suburban services, including those serving Al Ain, assume 75% passengers board/alight at
Capital City, and 25% at CBD station, and that trains are 100% full in the peak direction, and 50%
full in the reverse direction.
For the metro, assume that all trains will be 100% full in the peak direction, on both lines, and
25% full in the reverse direction. However also assume that, because of the larger number of
metro stations, 20% board/alight at Capital City main station. It has also been assumed that 50%
of all passengers on the MBZ loop interchange between services at this station; this is a crossplatform interchange and these passengers do not need to access the concourse, although of
course a proportion may in fact do so; the remaining 50% are assumed will interchange at the
adjacent metro station serving the federal precinct where cross-platform interchange is provided
for other movements.
For the trams, assume that all services will be 80% full throughout the peak hour, of which 25%
board/alight at Capital City main station.
No information on possible interchange between operations and/or services is yet available. This
would reduce the overall demand estimates as based on the preceding paragraphs they would be
double-counted. However it is also necessary to add an allowance for bus and taxi passengers
and for park-and-ride or car pick-up/drop-off activity. Much of this will be travellers

interchanging between modes, but a suggested allowance of an additional 20% may be

considered reasonable.
Passenger Demand Estimate for Capital City main station
On the basis of these assumptions, a passenger demand estimate for critical evening peak hour
conditions at Capital City main station may be taken as follows:
Boardings
50,000 passengers per hour
Alightings
30,000 passengers per hour
Interchanging 20,000 passengers per hour (additional to boardings/alightings)
For the equivalent morning peak hour these flows could be assumed to be reversed, but it is likely
that passengers boarding will be more critical in terms of circulation space, and waiting areas,
than alighting passengers who may be expected to leave the interchange promptly.
Note that no allowance has been made for activity related to associated development around or
above the station by people not directly using these public transport services. This could include
users of any retail establishments provided within the concourse.

CPKS/243011/5 November 2008