METRO is a Swedish research project about infrastructure protection. The focus of the project is on the protection of underground rail mass transport systems, such as tunnels and subway stations. Both fire and explosion hazards are studied, and such aspects as evacuation, rescue operations and smoke control are important parts of the project.
METRO is an multidisciplinary project where researchers from different disciplines cooperate with practitioners with the common goal to make underground rail mass transport systems safer in the future. Because the project involves everything from human behaviour during evacuation to fire and explosion tests and simulations, it can provide exhaustive knowledge about fire and explosion hazards.
Rescue operations are also included in METRO, which means that both the safety of the public and rescue personnel is considered in the project. Because the project is closely linked to practitioners, such as Stockholm Public Transport (SL), the research results will be directly applied and tested in real underground rail mass transport systems, namely the Stockholm Metro.