The Vulnerability Assessment Method of Railway Network

Vulnerability in the Railway system is, studied not only from the perspective of network topology characteristic but also as the problem of the level of service relative to structure, nature damage and traffic attribute. Also, emphasis is put on the function of the system rather than the physical network itself, although some of non-serviceability in the railway network is indeed caused by physical failures. The Vulnerability of railway network is thus a decisive factor not only in terms of connectivity, and serviceability, but also in terms of the transport system performance under dynamic process-traffic which should be acknowledged as an integral element within vulnerability assessment. The paper aims at investigating the most typical factors that affect the vulnerability. The vulnerability analysis must consider each factor separately, and, at the same time, as a whole. A method to measure the vulnerability is proposed. Furthermore, this assessment method is used to analyze the Chinese Railway Network (CRN).