Resilience of the Railway Infrastructure in an Urban Agglomeration with Regard to the Transport of Specific Material

Abstract

The article is concerned with the vulnerability and resilience of the railway infrastructure in an urban agglomeration in the context of transport of specific (military) materials in crisis or emergency situations. The subject of the presented case study is the modelling and analysis of two crisis scenarios for a specific element of the critical transport infrastructure in an urban agglomeration - specifically the Usti nad Labem railway junction. The assumed construction of a high-speed line across the Ore Mountains (Krusne hory) is also included in the model. In the case study, the capacity and technical limits of the railway junction are discussed, incl. related risks arising from the surrounding urban environment. The results of the case study show a high vulnerability of the railway junction under consideration with relatively great impacts on the urban agglomeration and the entire region as a whole (at least in terms of the availability of railway transportation). In the context of the heavy dependence of the Army of the Czech Republic and part of the emergency supply system on the rail transportation, these capacities, especially in crisis situations, are of crucial importance. The article identifies bottlenecks, synthesizes findings and presents design measures to increase the resilience of the particular railway junction in the context of the urban agglomeration, or of the respective region.