Abstract Keywords

Meteorological hazards pose a significant Meteorological hazards

risk to the operation and safety of the
Railway system
Chinese railway system. As China
Railway High-speed (CRH) has become a Spatial analysis
vital part of the Chinese transportation
Risk assessment
infrastructure, an improved understanding
of the spatial pattern of multiple hazards China
across the railway network is urgently
needed, especially in the context of 1. Introduction
accelerated climate change. This study
With the rapid construction of China
provides a spatial analysis of the dominant
Railway High-speed (CRH) over the past
meteorological hazards affecting the CRH
20 years, there are currently over
network (i.e., gales, rainfall, and snow), in
38,000 km of high-speed rail tracks
terms of both intensity and frequency, and
spread across diverse geomorphic
identifies hazard zones according to CRH
and climatic regions. Meteorological
operating standards. Given that
hazards, such as strong winds, heavy
meteorological hazards can lead to speed
rainfall, and snow cover, seriously
limitation or disruption of CRH trains, a
threaten the operation and safety of the
risk matrix model is developed based on
high-speed railway network, and have
hazard intensity and designated railway
caused transport disruption, infrastructure
speed to comprehensively assess the risk
damage, and even fatal accidents in recent
level of CRH lines in China. Risk
years (Zhao et al., 2020; Wang et al.,
assessment indicates that CRH lines
2016; Michielsen et al., 2016).
exposed to hazardous levels of gales,
Accelerated climate change is thought to
rainfall, and snow account for 6.0%,
boost the intensity and frequency of
29.3%, and 20.0% of the total line length,
meteorological hazards, implying
respectively, while 7.3% of CRH lines are
increased risks to critical transport
exposed to multiple hazards.
infrastructure in the future (AghaKouchak
Meteorological risk maps for CRH
et al., 2020; IPCC, 2012). To increase the
operation reveal hotspot lines that require
resilience of the CRH network and ensure
special adaptive or preventative measures,
that it remains safe and operational during
and emergency protocols to reduce
and after disastrous weather, there is an
potential losses and disruptions.
urgent need to conduct a comprehensive
• Previous article
• Next article
risk assessment of the meteorological
hazards that affect railways. In so doing,
hazard zones and hotspot rail lines can be
identified, thus providing scientific
reference for the formulation of railway
planning, technical standards, and
emergency protocols.
Gales can directly cause the derailment or
overturning of high-speed trains, or can
indirectly endanger operational safety by
blowing foreign material onto rail tracks
(Zhao et al., 2021). Overhead power
lines can also be damaged by gales,
resulting in power supply failure or
equipment malfunction. Heavy rainfall
not only causes direct damage to overhead
power lines and railway embankments,
but can also trigger floods and geological
hazards that destroy tracks, bridges, and
tunnels, leading to major operational
disruptions (Koks et al., 2019; Li et al.,
2021). Deep snow can block railway
tracks directly, while shallow snow can
alter the friction of tracks and lead to
severe accidents (Xie et al., 2017).
Accumulated snow and ice on overhead
power lines can threaten the safety of
power supply and communication
infrastructure, and can even damage or
lead to the collapse of transmission
towers.
Many attempts have been made to assess
the impacts of natural hazards on railway
systems (e.g., Misnevs et al.,
2015; Forzieri et al., 2018; Wu et al.,
2013; Michaelides et al., 2014).
According to historical statistical data
from 2000 to 2016, railway disruptions
caused by gales, rainfall, and snow
account for 13%, 72%, and 5% of the total
recorded disruptions in China,
respectively (Zhao et al., 2020). Many
disasters due to gales have been observed
over the last decade, with a scattered
distribution across Chinese railways,
while strong and frequent winds are
particularly problematic for rail lines in
Xinjiang due to the amplification effect of
the specific topography of this region.
Rainfall-induced hazards, such as
floods, landslides, and debris flows, are
the most common hazards affecting the
railway system (Liu et al., 2018; Westra et
al., 2013; Coumou and Rahmstorf, 2012).
Under the influence of the
summer monsoon, railways in eastern
China, where there is flat terrain and
numerous river networks, are more likely
to suffer from floods, while railways in
southwest China are susceptible to
geological hazards triggered by heavy
rainfall owing to the mountainous
landscape in this region. Because
extremes in precipitation are projected to
become more frequent in the context of a
warmer climate, rainfall-induced hazard
risks are estimated to increase in future
years (Chen et al., 2014; Allan and Soden,
2008; Scoccimarro et al., 2013). The
frequency and extremity of railway snow
hazards have shown no obvious trend over
the last 20 years, but serious adverse
impacts have been observed during
extreme events. Specifically, while deep
snow blocks the railway network, the
effects of snow combined with freezing
rain or strong winds can lead to the
breakage of power lines and even
transmission towers, resulting in long
disruptions to the railway service, as
happened in China in 2008, 2015, and
2018 (Wang et al., 2019; Ding et al.,
2008; Gao, 2016; Zhou et al., 2017).
Previous studies on the effect of
meteorological hazards on the Chinese
railway system have primarily presented
historical disaster statistics or semi-
quantitative risk assessments of specific
rail lines (Yang et al., 2021; Liu et al.,
2016; Cui et al., 2018; Ren et al., 2006),
while there is a lack of detailed risk-level
indicators designed on the basis of railway
operation standards. In this study, we seek
to address this knowledge gap by
developing a hazard assessment model for
CRH operation, aiming to reveal specific
hazard zones of gales, heavy rainfall, and
snow across the Chinese railway network,
and to estimate the comprehensive risk
levels of CRH lines taking into account
their designated speeds. We have three
specific objectives to (1) understand the
adverse impacts of dominant
meteorological hazards on high-speed
railway operation; (2) evaluate the
intensity and frequency of multiple
hazards across the railway system; and (3)
identify hotspot rail lines that face the
highest meteorological risks within the
CRH network.
2. Materials and methods
2.1. CRH network
China Railway High-speed (CRH) is a
vital part of China's transportation
infrastructure, providing an indispensable
link between major cities. At the end of
2020, the CRH network comprised 111
high speed lines with a combined length
of 38,363 km, including newly built lines
(designed with speed limits exceeding 250
kmph) and updated existing lines. The
CRH network can be divided into four
categories according to operation speeds:
four lines with operation speeds of 350
kmph (total length of 1912 km); twenty-
six lines with operation speeds of 300
kmph (total length of 13,021 km); thirty-
three lines with operation speeds of 250
kmph (total length of 13,623 km); and
forty-eight lines with operation speeds of
200 kmph (total length of 10,086 km).
The spatial distribution of these lines is
shown in Fig. 1.
the advanced IoT, cloud computing,
the mobile Internet, big data, artificial
intelligence, and new materials are
having an enormously transformative
effect on the internal functions and
external forms of the railway system.