ARISCC - Adapt Rail Infra to Climatic Change
Overview
Background & policy context:
Because it is widely accepted that the consequences of climate change are inevitable, there is an already present need to develop and implement adaptation strategies and measures for transport systems and railways. Also, the importance for railways is not only to withstand extreme weather conditions, but also to recover from them in a short time and to be able to run in what are more extreme circumstances today.
In recent years, Climate change has received increasing global attention and has appeared on global and national political agendas. There is a growing pressure on society as a whole, and especially on governments and companies, to learn more about the cause and the effects of global warming and how to cope with it.
The challenge for railways is not only to survive extreme weather conditions, but also to recover quickly from them and to be able to run in what are abnormal circumstances today.
Objectives:
Objectives and main outputs of the project
- To give an overview of ongoing and planned activities regarding the adaptation of railways to extreme weather situations and climate change
- To identify and classify the main effects of climate change on railway infrastructure and rank the main impacts according to their damaging potential
- To identify the areas of highest priority in this field and provide a systematic inventory of adaptation measures, strategies and policies in each of the high priority areas
- An assessment of risks and associated costs, potential damage, performance and economic costs.
- The impact on standards and the options of adopting standards for new and existing infrastructure to the effects of climate change.
- A practical easy-to-use guidance document on how to identify vulnerable assets and locations for a concrete line, how to choose the appropriate adaptation measures and how to assess related costs and benefits (toolbox).
- A good practice collection of adaptation measures.
Methodology:
Following steps were done during the project:
- Case studies for investigation and assessing of the effects of different early and late adaptation measures in comparison to zero adaptation on a real network and infrastructure.
- Mapping activities using regional climate models and provides the basis for identifying possible mid- and long term hot spots.
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