Training railway operating staff to understand and manage passenger and crowd behaviour

For anyone involved in moving large numbers of people, indeed in any aspect of crowd management, the biggest threats are ignorance of crowd behavioural dynamics and complacency. When the Mass Transit Railway Corporation (MTRC) in Hong Kong was faced with excessive passenger growth, serious safety problems and concerns arose. As part of a study into “Passenger and Crowd Behaviour Safety”, the author recommended that staff be put through a comprehensive programme of passenger management and behaviour training. As a result of this he was asked to design and deliver such a programme, consisting of two‐day modules for all those directly concerned and one‐day modules for all other managers throughout the organisation. These have now been followed up with update training, and a redesigned course has been implemented for the new Airport Express railway.