Objectives  To investigate the status of air quality in the passenger waiting hall of railway port so as to provide scientific evidence and reasonable suggestion for improving the air quality in railway port.

Methods Two halls were selected and 4 points of each hall were monitored once a month for one year. Monitoring indices were air temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, carbon monoxide (CO), carbon dioxide (CO₂), formaldehyde, inhalable particulate matter (PM₁₀), total count of bacteria colony, noise and illumination intensity.

Results Average air temperature exceeded the national standard limits. The relative humidity, noise and illumination intensity in some monitoring sites exceeded the national standard limits, with an unqualified rate of 38.54%, 15.62% and 11.46% respectively. The concentration of CO in entry halls was higher than that in departure halls, while noise in entry halls was lower than that in departure halls (P < 0.05). The air temperature in the spring was higher than that in other seasons, while the air temperature in the winter was lower than that in the summer and autumn (P < 0.05). The relative humidity in spring was the highest and decreased gradually in summer, autumn and winter. The wind speed in spring and summer was higher than that in autumn and winter. The concentration of formaldehyde was significantly higher in spring than that in summer, autumn and winter. The concentration of PM₁₀ was lower in autumn and winter than that in spring and summer, and it was higher in winter than that in autumn. The noise was found lower in winter than that in other times, and the illumination intensity was lower in spring and summer than that in autumn and winter.

Conclusions Air temperature, relative humidity, noise and illumination intensity should be taken as important indices for assessing the air quality in railway ports.