Susceptibility of existing and planned Chinese railway system subjected to rainfall-induced multi-hazards

Kai Liu, Ming Wang, Yinxue Cao, Weihua Zhu and Guiling Yang

Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, 2018, vol. 117, issue C, 214-226

Abstract: Rainfall-induced flooding, landslides, and debris flows have been the main natural hazards that impact on the safety and operation of the Chinese railway system. With the rapid increase of railway length and passengers over the past 20 years, a better understanding of susceptibility of railway infrastructures to rainfall-induced hazards is urgently needed, in particular because extreme precipitation has increased in many parts of China. This paper provides a quantitative approach for susceptibility assessment of transportation system subjected to natural hazards at a relatively large scale. The susceptibility of both existing and planned Chinese railway system subjected to rainfall-induced multi-hazards is quantitatively analyzed using a machine learning method (Random Forest) and historical disaster events triggered between 1980 and 1998. The main environmental and climatic factors that influence the safety of the railway system are identified and ranked. Susceptibility maps illustrate the hotspot zones of both existing and planned railways in China that need significant attention and preventative action to reduce potential losses and disruption of operation.

Keywords: Railway system; Rainfall; Multi-hazard; Random forest; Susceptibility assessment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0965856416301719
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:transa:v:117:y:2018:i:c:p:214-226

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/supportfaq.cws_home/regional
https://shop.elsevie ... _01_ooc_1&version=01

DOI: 10.1016/j.tra.2018.08.030

Access Statistics for this article

Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice is currently edited by John (J.M.) Rose

More articles in Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().