Abstract
Space weather is a phenomenon in which radioactivity and atomic particles is caused by emission from the Sun and stars. It is one of the extreme climate events that could potentially has short-term and long-term impacts on infrastructure. The effects of this phenomenon are a multi-fold process that include electronic system, equipment and component failures, short-term and long-term hazards and consequences to astronauts and aircraft crews, electrostatic charge variation of satellites, disruptions in telecommunications systems, navigational systems, power transmission failures and disturbances to the rail traffic and power grids. The critical infrastructures are becoming interdependent to each other and these infrastructures are vulnerable if one of them is affected due to space weather. Railway infrastructure could be affected by the extreme space weather events and long-term evolution due to direct and indirect effects on system components, such as track circuits, electronic components in-built in signalling systems or indirectly via interdependencies on power, communications, etc. While several space weather-related studies focus on power grids, Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) and aviation sectors, a little attention has focused towards probability of railway infrastructure disruptions. Nevertheless, disruptions due to space weather on signalling and train control systems has documented but other systems that railway infrastructure dependent upon are not very well studied. Due to the advancements in digitalization, cloud storage, Internet of Things (IoT), etc., that are embedded with electronic equipment are also possible to prone to these effects and it is even become more susceptible to the extreme space weather events. This paper gives a review of space weather effects on railways and other transportation systems and provide some of the mitigation measures to the infrastructure and societal point of view.
Highlights
From the historical record of the environment, the ecosystem of earth like living beings, infrastructure and nature are prone to the extremities of weather related to earthquakes, droughts and floods, ice storms, hurricanes, cyclones, tsunamis, and tornados
Railway infrastructure could be affected by the extreme space weather events and long-term evolution due to direct and indirect effects on system components, such as track circuits, electronic components in-built in signalling systems or indirectly via interdependencies on power, communications, etc
While several space weatherrelated studies focus on power grids, Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) and aviation sectors, a little attention has focused towards probability of railway infrastructure disruptions
Summary
From the historical record of the environment, the ecosystem of earth like living beings, infrastructure and nature are prone to the extremities of weather related to earthquakes, droughts and floods, ice storms, hurricanes, cyclones, tsunamis, and tornados. There is significant deviation across a range of wavelengths (e.g. Extreme Ultraviolet Radiation (EUV), X-Ray, and radio) because of the release of solar energetic particles These particles from the Sun during space weather events affect currents of fluctuating intensity in the ionosphere and magnetosphere. The currents in the ionosphere and the energetic particles that cause them into the ionosphere add energy in the form of heat that can rise the density and distribution in the earth orbit These variations of the Earth’s ionosphere will influence radio transmissions in the high-frequency band (HF) since they use the ionosphere to reflect the radio wave back to Earth. Due to the stochastic behaviour of these events, it is hard to predict and when they will happen and prevent them but, it is probable to see a common trend (Grant et al 2012)
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