Objective To better adapt to passenger flow characteristics, reduce operating costs, and improve capacity utilization efficiency, the flexible train composition mode becomes the future development direction of urban rail transit. Since trains need frequent decoupling and coupling under this mode, the evaluation and analysis of station turn-around capacity are required.

Method Based on the operational process of trains at turn-around stations, the turn-around times and headways of normal turn-around trains, decoupled trains, and coupled trains at turn-around stations are analyzed. A calculation method for turn-around capacity under uncoupling/coupling ratios is proposed, and case studies are conducted based on Shanghai Metro Line 16 and the Chongming Line.

Result & Conclusion  During train decoupling operations, the receiving capacity of the turn-around station is always lower than the departure capacity. But during train coupling operations, the departure capacity of the turn-around station is always lower than the receiving capacity. Under the same operation mode, the departure capacity for coupling operations is consistently lower than the receiving capacity for decoupling operations. As the proportion of decoupled or coupled trains increases, both the receiving and departure capacities of the turn-around station decrease simultaneously, with the difference between the two gradually expanding.