Reshaping metro station spaces to improve social distancing during COVID-19 pandemic

Pedestrian flow management and control inside stations are becoming key topics in order to avoid congestion phenomena and to guarantee the required social distancing during the pandemic emergency. In this context, this paper is aimed at developing simulation-based optimization and control strategies able to take into account space discretization and capacity constraints. In particular, a two-stage model is applied. The first stage consists in a network design model for the identification of the station layout, while the second stage consists in a simulation-based model to verify the performance of the identified control strategy. The application of the proposed approach to a metro station of the Italian city of Genoa is described to show its usefulness and applicability to a real-world scenario.