A Comprehensive Assessment Approach for Water-Soil Environmental Risk during Railway Construction in Ecological Fragile Region Based on AHP and MEA

Huihua Chen, Hujun Li, Yige Wang and Baoquan Cheng
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Huihua Chen: Department of Engineering Management, School of Civil Engineering, Central South University, Changsha 410075, China
Hujun Li: Department of Engineering Management, School of Civil Engineering, Central South University, Changsha 410075, China
Yige Wang: Guangdong International Engineering Consulting Co. Ltd., Guangzhou 510095, China
Baoquan Cheng: Department of Engineering Management, School of Civil Engineering, Central South University, Changsha 410075, China

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 19, 1-17

Abstract: With China’s government facilitating railway projects, more railway lines inevitably pass through ecological fragile regions (EFRs). Railway construction activities in EFRs might cause detrimental impacts on the local water-soil environment (WSE), which is the basis of the local ecological system that if destroyed can induce secondary disasters. Studies on the WSE risk (WSER) during railway construction in EFRs are limited. As such, this study aims to offer preliminary insight into the WSER assessment of railway construction in EFRs. WSERs were identified firstly based on the literature review and field surveys, and thus a risk index framework for WSER assessment including 5 categories of WSERs and 16 second-order risks was established. Then a comprehensive quantitative assessment method was developed by integrating analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and matter-element analysis (MEA) to assess the overall WSERs of railway construction in EFRs. A case (i.e., the Mingan subproject of Hefei-Fuzhou railway) was selected to demonstrate and validate the developed approach. Results show that the proposed assessment approach can be applied to evaluate the WSERs during railway construction. In addition, the case study demonstrates that the risk of construction methods should be the key focus. Findings from this study enrich the knowledge body of sustainable railways and guide the project managers to conduct practical WSER assessment of railway construction.

Keywords: water-soil environment risks; risk assessment; railway construction; ecological fragile region; analytic hierarchy process; matter-element analysis (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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