An approach to a methodology for the analysis and characterization of disused railway lines as a complex system

Abstract

Since the second half of the 20th century and especially in territories where the train had been dependent on industrial development, there are many kilometres of disused railway lines setting a railway heritage of great interest. Nevertheless, the passage of time and the lack of use have led to many heritage elements being in danger of disappearing, if not having already disappeared. Furthermore, most of the actions for their protection, restoration or putting in value carried out until today, have focused on component item/element, instead of understanding the line as a territorial system, formed not only by the nodes but also by the connecting threads. This paper aims to analyze and characterize the disused railway heritage as a complex system, focusing on the methodology and tools. The way to address the issue attempts to avoid the decomposition of the system and favour the maintenance of the structuring nature that railway lines originally had in each territory, which is precisely one of the most important features to put them in value in the new territorial view of the 21th century. The paper develops the application of this methodology on a case study in southwest Europe: disused railway lines in the Basque-Navarre territory.

Heritage and Management: the vanishing of the first rail network of Seville (Spain)

“…It is necessary to know and comprehend the elements which were involved to achieve the interconnection, in order to understand the whole system, since each element becomes meaningless outside the set to which it belongs [3].…”

“…Alguns especialistas, nomeadamente da Universidade del País Vasco (Espanha), Arritokieta Eizaguirre, Layren Etxepare e Hernández-Minguillón [3] e da Universidade Federal de Pernambuco (Brasil) Maria Emília Lopes Freire e Norma Lacerda [4], propuseram metodologias para a preservação do património ferroviário com o objetivo de expressar e evidenciar o seu carácter de "rede", fazendo uso das novas tecnologias. Assim, como ocorreu na criação dos primitivos inventários, ambos os estudos apresentam uma metodologia que parte da recolha de informações e documentos capazes de evidenciar e salvaguardar o valor histórico e cultural do "complexo" ferroviário como um todo.…”

“…O uso das tecnologias digitais procura evitar a sedimentação histórica recorrente neste campo de estudo. Quando aplicadas na área do património ferroviário, tais iniciativas têm o objetivo de gerar uma compreensão sistémica de todas as questões relacionadas com o caminho de ferro, sejam elas culturais, sociais ou tecnológicas [2][3][4]. Iniciativas como a produção de conhecimento através de publicações comemorativas, nomeadamente a 150 años de ferrocarril en Andalucía: un balance [5], também difundem e promovem a salvaguarda da relação e da função de cada parte da rede ferroviária dentro de um sistema de interconexões, através da compilação de diferentes documentações, fontes bibliográficas e especialistas.…”

The analysis of disused railway lines as complex systems: GIS-based inventory and comprehensive analysis method

“…The concept of disused railway system (DRS) has been already defined in literature [10]. As a background, it is necessary to understand that a system is characterized by their elements or parts as well as the interactions between them, each part being based on another [12].…”

“…This paper argues that approaches regarding the protection of disused railway lines could go a step forward by means of an integrated enhancement that is able to take advantage of the potential of the whole system. The literature offers some theoretical approaches, such as the methodology for the analysis of disused railway lines as complex systems [10], in which this paper is based, or the guidelines for putting in value stations and other built railway heritage as a whole [11].…”