Invulnerability of the Urban Agglomeration Integrated Passenger Transport Network under Emergency Events

Abstract

Urgent natural environmental events, such as floods, power failures, and epidemics, result in disruptions to the traffic system and heavy disturbances in public requirements. In order to strengthen the ability of the transport network to handle urgent natural environmental issues, this paper simulates the disruption situation of traffic stations in the urban agglomeration by attacking nodes, and evaluates the ability of the transport network to resist disruptions (i.e., invulnerability). Firstly, the model of the urban agglomeration integrated passenger transport network is established based on complex network theory. The highway network, railway network, and coupling network are combined into a multi-layer network space structure, and the edge weight is calibrated by travel time and cost. Secondly, the invulnerability simulation process including multiple attack modes under random and deliberate attack strategies is sorted out. By improving the traditional network efficiency indicator, the network impedance efficiency indicator is proposed to measure network performance, and the network relative impedance efficiency indicator is used to evaluate network invulnerability and identify key nodes. Finally, Chengdu–Chongqing urban agglomeration is taken as a case study. The results show that the network does not collapse quickly and it shows certain invulnerability and robustness under continuous random attacks. Network performance and invulnerability are not necessarily positively correlated. The failure of individual nodes that are small in scale but act as transit hubs may significantly degrade the network performance. The identified key nodes have significance for guiding the construction, maintenance, and optimization of the urban agglomeration passenger transport network, which is conducive to promoting public safety.