Network Characteristics and Vulnerability Analysis of Chinese Railway Network under Earthquake Disasters

Abstract

The internal structure and operation rules of railway network have become increasingly complex along with the expansion of the network, putting a higher demand on the development of the railway and the reliability and adaptability of the railway under earthquake disasters. The theory and method concerning complex railway network can well capture the internal structure of railway facilities system and the relationship between subsystems. However, most of the research focuses on the vulnerability based on the logical network of railway, deviating from the actual spatial location of railway network. Additionally, only random attacks and deliberate attacks are factored in, ignoring the impact of earthquake disasters on actual railway lines. Therefore, this paper built a geographic railway network and analyzed topological structure of the network and its vulnerability under earthquake disasters. First, the geographic network of Chinese railway was built based on the methods of complex network, linear reference and dynamic segmentation. Second, the spatial distribution of railway network flow was analyzed by node degree, betweenness and clustering coefficient. Finally, the vulnerability of the geographic railway network in areas with high seismic hazards were assessed, aiming to improve the capacity to prevent and resist earthquake disasters.