The distribution law of passenger flow in rail transit can improve the accuracy and precision of passenger flow forecasting, and provide theoretical support for the operation of passenger flow in rail transit, management and travel. Therefore, the time series data of passenger flow is reshaped; that is, the data of passenger flow are converted into three attributes: day, time interval (week/month) and passenger flow, and the spatial patterns of passenger flow at a fixed time interval are analysed to reveal the periodic fluctuation trend of passenger flow. Different distribution models are established based on the data of passenger flow, comparing the errors and fitting effects of different distribution models to obtain the distribution law of passenger flow; Harbin Metro Line 1 is taken as an example. The results show that the fluctuation trend of passenger flow can be observed more intuitively after adding the attribution of time interval. The variation of passenger flow at different stations with weekly intervals has the same fluctuation law and presents Gaussian distribution; the particularity of sudden changes in passenger flow caused by holidays is taken into account, and the fluctuation trend of passenger flow in different weeks can be more intuitively observed.
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25 May 2026
Research Article|
July 30 2025
Research on spatial pattern of passenger flow in rail transit based on fixed time interval Available to Purchase
Zilong Song;
Zilong Song
School of Transportation Science and Engineering,
Harbin Institute of Technology
, Harbin, PR China
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Shumin Feng;
School of Transportation Science and Engineering,
Harbin Institute of Technology
, Harbin, PR China
; School of Civil and Transportation Engineering, Guangdong Univesity of Technology, Guangzhou, PR ChinaCorresponding author Shumin Feng (fsm@hit.edu.cn)
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Hao Liu
Hao Liu
School of Transportation Science and Engineering,
Harbin Institute of Technology
, Harbin, PR China
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Corresponding author Shumin Feng (fsm@hit.edu.cn)
Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
Publisher: Emerald Publishing
Received:
December 30 2024
Accepted:
June 02 2025
Online ISSN: 1751-7710
Print ISSN: 0965-092X
Funding
Funding Group:
- Award Group:
- Funder(s): National Natural Science Foundation of China
- Award Id(s): 72171061,52308490
- Funder(s):
- Funding Statement(s): The work described in this paper was supported in part by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant nos. 72171061 and 52308490).
© 2025 Emerald Publishing Limited: All rights reserved
2025
Emerald Publishing Limited
Licensed re-use rights only
Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers - Transport (2026) 179 (3): 245–255.
Article history
Received:
December 30 2024
Accepted:
June 02 2025
Citation
Song Z, Feng S, Liu H (2026), "Research on spatial pattern of passenger flow in rail transit based on fixed time interval". Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers - Transport, Vol. 179 No. 3 pp. 245–255, doi: https://doi.org/10.1680/jtran.24.00167
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