Optimization of Evacuation Strategy for High-Speed Maglev Train Carriages in a Fire

High-speed maglev train carriages feature an enclosed and narrow space with high passenger density. In the event of a fire, toxic smoke and low visibility prolong the required safe egress time. To dynamically assess fire development and evacuation conditions, this study conducted evacuation experiments in the train carriage under a smoke environment, established a coupled simulation model integrating smoke spread and pedestrian evacuation, revealed evacuee behavioral characteristics under spatiotemporal smoke dynamics, and proposed an optimal strategy considering smoke spread. The findings indicate that the evacuation speed of pedestrians under a smoke environment tends to initially increase, then decrease, and ultimately stabilize. When a fire occurs at the end of the carriage, the evacuation process can be divided into three stages, with an evacuation time of 142 s for pedestrians in the burning carriage. The implementation of evacuation strategies can effectively mitigate the severity and duration of localized congestion inside the carriage. The optimal evacuation strategy considering smoke spread reduces congestion duration in the aisle area by 35.2%, significantly improving evacuation safety. The conclusions drawn from this study provide important references and methodological support for developing efficient emergency evacuation strategies for high-speed maglev trains.