Railway collision risk analysis due to obstacles

Abstract

In the following article, the risk of a train suffering an accident by collision is analysed in conjunction with an unexpected obstacle on the track. This study is applied to high velocity railways, although this could be reflected towards any other lines. Various measures associated with the risk of accident, can be defined accordingly: the probability of being engaged in an accident, the time on risk and the critical velocity. Subsequently, the elements which alter the previous measures are analysed. These elements are related to rolling stock, to the railway infrastructure and the density of the traffic. A model is proposed to obtain the appropriate risk measures of a configuration of these elements, and to compare and evaluate the impact of different configurations. This model is applied to the case study based on data of a high velocity line in construction in Spain. Keywords: