Abstract
Purpose: A large number of the mobility impaired have increasingly used the railway station, so the application of UD(Universal Design) on urban railway station has been interested. However, the current criteria used in domestic areas have concerned about the effective administration of railway station facilities rather than the needs of he mobility impaired. Of diverse facilities in railway station, the platform is considered as an important space due to many transportation users' riding or transfer in railway stations. Therefore, this study aims to explore the detailed criteria in adapting ideas from UD to platform within railway station. Methods: This study explores the criteria by evaluating findings from previous studies. First, all criteria related to platform in domestic and foreign areas are taken together and analyzed, and appropriate criteria first are established. Based on these, the current situation of platform facilities in railway station is evaluated. Then, the detailed criteria applicable to railway station platform are concluded, by reviewing types of the mobility impaired and principles of UD. Result: Findings from this study are as follows. First, the current criteria applied to railway station platforms lack ideas of UD, while the criteria used in foreign countries adequately reflect the ideas of UD on railway station platforms; therefore, the better criteria applicable to platform facilities in domestic railway station are necessary. Second, standard criteria used in domestic areas with newly additional criteria suggest that platform facilities should be established according to those criteria. Taken together, the better platform facilities should be provided to railway users through the application of UD to railway station platforms. Implications: For the future users in railway station platforms, the additional research on criteria of UD as well as diverse types of spaces within railway stations should have been continued.
