Abstract
Increased intensity and frequency of extreme weather conditions caused by climate change can have a negative impact on rail service performance and also increases total ownership costs. Research has shown that adverse weather conditions are responsible for 5 to 10 % of total failures and 60 % of delays on the railway infrastructure in Sweden. The impact of short-term and long-term effects of climate change and extreme weather events depends on the design characteristics of the railway assets, geographical location, operational profile, maturity of the climate adaptation, etc. These extreme events will have major consequences such as traffic disruption, accidents, and higher maintenance costs during the operation and maintenance (O&M) phase. Therefore, a detailed assessment of the effects of climate change on the O&M phase requires a more comprehensive review of the previous studies reported from different parts of the world. The paper provides a state-of-the-art review of the effects of extreme weather events and their impacts on the operation and maintenance of railway infrastructure. This paper also provides a list of vulnerable railway assets that can have an impact due to extreme weather events.
Highlights
The current variability in climate poses a major challenge for the operation and maintenance of transportation infrastructure
The structure of the paper is summarized: Section 2 provides an overview of previous studies from different parts of the world, Section 3 provides a background of various extreme weather events, Section 4 provides a summary of various vulnerable railway assets and potential failure modes on railway infrastructure and Section 5 provides a brief overview of climate adaptation for future operation and maintenance of railway infrastructure
Diaz-Neto [24] has analyzed three different climate change scenarios at 2020, 2050, and 2080 and identified that there would be an increase in flooding risk from rivers and sea-level led to inadequate drainage conditions that could lead to an increase in the deterioration of railway infrastructure
Summary
The current variability in climate poses a major challenge for the operation and maintenance of transportation infrastructure. Several past studies and ongoing research projects are progessing to evaluate the impact of climate change on railway infrastructure [8]-[13], one of the most important transportation infrastructure Most of these studies recommend that due to climate change, the infrastructure owners need to reevaluate the policies and methodologies to be adapted during various life cycle stages of infrastructure such as design, operation, maintenance, and decommissioning. The structure of the paper is summarized: Section 2 provides an overview of previous studies from different parts of the world, Section 3 provides a background of various extreme weather events, Section 4 provides a summary of various vulnerable railway assets and potential failure modes on railway infrastructure and Section 5 provides a brief overview of climate adaptation for future operation and maintenance of railway infrastructure. An overview of climate change impacts on railways from different parts of the world
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