Hazards threatening underground transport systems

Abstract

Metro systems perform a significant function for millions of ridership worldwide as urban passengers rely on a secure, reliable, and accessible underground transportation way for their regular conveyance. However, hazards can restrict normal metro service and plans to develop or improve metro systems set aside some way to cope with these hazards. This paper presents a summary of the potential hazards to underground transportation systems worldwide, identifying a knowledge gap on the understanding of water-related impacts on Metro networks. This is due to the frequency and scope of geotechnical and air quality hazards, which exceed in extreme magnitude the extreme precipitation events that can influence underground transportation systems. Thus, we emphasize the importance of studying the water-related hazards in Metro systems to fill the gaps in this topic.

Flood Risk Assessment in an Underground Railway System under the Impact of Climate Change—A Case Study of the Barcelona Metro

“…One of the most used approaches in assessing the vulnerability of underground mass transport systems is the identification of the effects of service disruptions [9], giving a primary role to the ridership flow at Metro stations. Some authors have mainly been interested in questions concerning risk assessment for Metro stations [51,52] in a holistic manner.…”

“…Considering hazards that Metro systems face worldwide, there is a notable lack of research on water-related hazards [5], including those related to flooding events and their impact on Metro systems' resilience [9]. In a context of climate change, flooding events can produce increasing significant socioeconomic risks in urban areas.…”

A review of flood impact assessment approaches for underground infrastructures in urban areas: a focus on transport systems

“…As intangible losses that are impossible to measure with monetary value, the loss of life and injury to users are significantly influenced by the depth and extent of the flood (Dewan 2013), two conditions relevant to underground flooding. Global population growth increasing accelerated urbanization in flood-prone areas, provoking the need for reliable transportation systems as metro and the weak development of sustainable floodcontrol policies, will raise floods impacts on underground infrastructure (Jonkman 2005, Forero-Ortiz andMartínez-Gomariz 2020).…”

Integrated Assessment of Climate Change Impacts and Urban Resilience: From Climate and Hydrological Hazards to Risk Analysis and Measures

“…During the four years that the RESCCUE project has lasted, many outputs have been produced related to urban resilience. Obviously, during the first years of the project, the main results generated were related to climate change scenarios and modelling of climatic variables [8][9][10], hazard assessment for several specific urban services [11,12], impact assessment methodologies and implementations to specific sectors [13][14][15], and the preparation of the resilience assessment framework to be used in the project [16,17].…”