Investigation of the psychophysiological response of passengers of fast trains with the different comfort level

Introduction. To create a regulatory framework, including harmonized with European normative documents in terms of assessing passengers’ comfort, the standard of the enterprise STO RZD “Services in railway transport was developed. Rules for assessing the level of comfort of passengers on trains.” The objective of the study is to compare the indices of the comfort level of passengers, determined by the values ​​of the accelerations acting on them, with the psychological sensations and physiological changes in the body arising in this case, depending on the rolling stock and the state of the track.

Material and methods. The experiment using ECG monitoring devices was carried out in four groups of eleven people, six men and five women aged 30-55 years. Additionally, in each group, a psychological survey of 11 more passengers was carried out. All of them were staff members of the Russian Railways divisions.

Results. When traveling on high-speed trains “Lastochka” and “Sapsan,” the respondents more often note drowsiness and an exhausted state’s progression. At the end of the trip, they often emphasize stiffness, discomfort, numbness, and numbness of the leg muscles, probably associated with an extended stay in a forced position in the absence of specific freedom movements. In the “lying” position, a person experiences less fatigue, which, according to the sensations, hardly differs from the conditions of a trip in a “sitting” position during short journeys. Regulatory changes in the cardiovascular system are manifested with the combined influence of uncanceled accelerations (the impact of centrifugal forces) and movement speed changes.

Conclusion. Carrying out a questionnaire survey and physiological measurements of the dynamics of heart rate fluctuations on the investigated sections of the routes in combination with the obtained technical data on the nature of mobile rail vehicles’ movement confirm the absence of critical discomfort for passengers when traveling on passenger and high-speed trains. The calculated values ​​of the average and constant comfort levels are consistent and do not require correction of the corresponding scales’ values.