The south-western trans Iranian railway line connecting Tehran, Iran to Khoramshahr in the southwest crosses the great Zagros range. One of the localities on this line is the Shahbazan railway station. Shahbazan station is located in the Alwar section of the central Zagros belt in the southwest of Iran. Complex geological-geomorphological activities have created an immature and rugged landscape which in turn imposes various natural hazards (landslide, erosion and flash flooding) to both people and the railway infra-strucutre. In order to address these problems on a regional scale, a digital elevation model (DEM) was used in conjunction with selected field visits during which various parameters related to lithology (dip, strike and rock types), structures (joints, fracturres, faults and folds), soil types, landuse and land cover were obsereved and measured. For the creation of a DEM, a digital topographic map prepared by the Iranian Surveying Organization was used. The DEM was computed using x, y, z attrib...