An infrastructure condition assessment model

Condition assessment of subway stations is a major issue facing public transit authorities worldwide. The Société de Transport de Montreal (STM) requires a rehabilitation budget for its aged stations of 643.6 CAD Million between the year 2006 and 2010. Nevertheless, STM and most of the transit authorities lack a planning strategy reflecting this increase. The principal obstacle to the development of effective planning strategies is the lack of condition assessment models of subway stations. This paper presents a condition assessment model, the 'Subway Station Diagnosis Index (SSDI)'. The model identifies and evaluates the different functional/operational criteria for subway stations, uses the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) in order to determine the criteria weights. It also utilizes the Preference Ranking Organization METHod of Enrichment Evaluation (PROMETHEE) in order to aggregate the multi-criteria, and applies the Multi-Attribute Utility Theory (MAUT) to determine the diagnosis index values. Data are collected from questionnaires and a case study in STM subway stations network. This research is relevant to industry practitioners (management, engineers, and field inspectors) and researchers, since it develops, a multi-criteria condition assessment model and scale for subway stations.