Says IIT study using vibration levels inside trains as measure of comfort Commuters delight: Vibration levels inside Metro trains meet the "most comfortable' tag of ISO standards. NEW DELHI: The Delhi metro railway is one of the most comfortable means of public transport, according a study conducted by the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, using equipment developed in the United Kingdom. The study used vibration levels experienced by passengers in the metro as a measure of the comfort level and compared it with international standard ISO 2631-4-1997. According to the study, the vibration inside the train was less than 0.315 metres per second squared (m/s 2 ), which is the most comfortable level according to ISO standards. The study titled "Real Time Ride Comfort', was conducted by Sham Rane, a post-graduate mechanical engineering student of IIT Delhi. It used a device called potentiometer, developed jointly by Loughborough University, UK, and IIT, Delhi, for the first time in India. A group of ten IIT students travelling on the metro used the potentiometer and by rotation of a knob on the device, they did a continuous judgment of their comfort level. The data regarding vibration and human responses were than recorded by a central computer and the real ride comfort was assessed. The study was conducted on elevated and underground sections of all three operational lines of the Delhi metro and results from all sections were within the most comfortable category. The researcher also carried out a questionnaire-based survey of 75 commuters at three stations covering Lines 1, 2 and 3. Of them, 34 commuters (i.e. 45 per cent) ranked the metro ride as very comfortable, while the rest said it was comfortable. No commuter said the metro ride was uncomfortable. The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation is also collaborating with IIT, Delhi, in other areas and is jointly developing the course content for a post-graduate diploma in metro technology which will help develop a cadre of metro specialists for the large number of metro projects coming up in various cities of India.