Analysis of Prayer Halls Capacity at Iranian Railway Stations

Respecting religious beliefs and ritual of citizens is one of their fundamental rights. Among 57 Islamic countries, Iran is the only country in which train schedules are designed with regard to Islam daily schedule of prayer. On the one hand, construction, maintenance, and operation of prayer halls and the related facilities are very costly; and on the other hand, trains stop time for praying is limited. Therefore, the capacity of prayer rooms and related facilities should be designed to increase the satisfaction of passengers with the station services by providing the opportunity to perform prayer in a quiet and peaceful environment and at the same time, avoid unwanted delays in train schedule. Minimizing the abovementioned costs and maximizing the efficiency of constructed spaces are of other objectives. The study was done with the support of General Administration of Buildings and Installations of the Islamic Republic of Iran Railways in cooperation with Tose e Etemad-e Karafarin (TEKCO) Consulting Engineering in 2013 and 2014. Totally, 4706 passengers’ behavior about praying in Tehran-Mashhad route was analyzed based on three daily prayer times (Shia Muslim daily prayer times) and gender of passengers. Based on national and foreign standards, analysis of the results of field surveys, and assessment of passenger satisfaction based on the questionnaire, a formula was proposed to calculate the optimal effective area of prayer hall in a train station. This article offers a summary of the calculation method and the results.

Keywords:

Railway , Station , Area of prayer hall , Salat , Optimization , Architecture