Train post‑derailment behaviours and containment methods:a review

Railway accidents,particularly serious derailments,can lead to catastrophic consequences.Therefore,it is essential to prevent derailment escalation to reduce the likelihood of severe derailments.Train post-derailment behaviours and containment methods play a critical role in preventing derailment escalation and providing passive safety protection and accident prevention in the event of a derailment.However,despite the increasing attention on this field from academia and industry in recent years,there is a lack of systematic exploration and summarization of emerging applications and containment methods in train post-derailment research.For this reason,this paper presents a comprehensive review of existing studies on train post-derailment behaviours,encompassing various topics such as post-derailment contact-impact models,dynamic modelling and simulation techniques,and the primary factors influencing post-derailment behaviours.Significantly,this review introduces and elucidates substitute guidance mechanisms(SGMs),which serve as railway-specific passive safety protection and accident prevention measures.The various types of SGMs are depicted,and their ongoing developments and applications are explored in depth.The review additionally points out several unresolved challenges including the adverse effects of SGMs,and proposes future research directions to advance the theoretical understanding and practical application of train post-derailment behaviours and containment methods.This review seeks to be a valuable reference for railway industry professionals in preventing catastrophic derailment consequences through post-derailment containment methods.

Analyzing the causation of a railway accident based on a complex network

In this paper, a new model is constructed for the causation analysis of railway accident based on the complex network theory. In the model, the nodes are defined as various manifest or latent accident causal factors. By employing the complex network theory, especially its statistical indicators, the railway accident as well as its key causations can be analyzed from the overall perspective. As a case, the ＂7.23＂ China-Yongwen railway accident is illustrated based on this model. The results show that the inspection of signals and the checking of line conditions before trains run played an important role in this railway accident. In conclusion, the constructed model gives a theoretical clue for railway accident prediction and, hence, greatly reduces the occurrence of railway accidents.

Ensure Rights and Interests of Passengers——On new rules of railway accident investigation and reporting

China has issued new regu- lations on the rescue and investigation of railway acci- dents, which came into forcein September 2007.

Sparse rail network robustness analysis:Functional vulnerability levels of accidents resulting from human errors

Transportation network vulnerability analysis has developed increasingly in the last decade with the goal to identify the most critical locations against incidences.In this domain,many of the previous researches have focused on congested urban networks;however,there is still a need to consider regional and interurban sparse rail networks,specifically those networks in developing countries.In such sparse rail networks,there are limited possibilities to redirect trains if a link is disrupted,there might be less possibility of finding redundant alternative routes,and network failures are usually accompanied by a phenomenon called‘unsatisfied demand.’The study reported in this paper stemmed from research aimed to design precautionary actions for a developing country’s sparse railway system.Our study framework deemed to find the most vulnerable part of an inter-urban sparse rail network using a network scan approach,which found the consequences of network disruptions.A number of criteria were defined to determine the total cost including unsatisfied demand and additional transportation costs due to disruptions.The results showed that how well the process of the vulnerability analysis,considering the features of both supply and demand sides,can be a guide for railway authorities in applying system safety measures.