What is the problem being addressed:
There is approximately 215,400 km of rail lines in the EU which represent a significant asset. Many of the rail networks in Eastern Europe and in parts of Western Europe were developed more than 150 years ago. Failure of a single asset results in potential fatalities, large replacement costs, the loss of service for sometimes extended periods and reputational damage. The safety level of much of the EU rail network is significantly lower than modern highway infrastructure. Replacement costs for civil engineering infrastructure items such as rail track, bridges and tunnels are prohibitive. Given current economic constraints and the challenges of climate change and population growth it is vital that we maintain safety level and develop optimal ways to manage our rail network and maximise the use of all resources. At present Infrastructure Managers make safety critical investment decisions based on poor data and an over-reliance on visual assessment. As a consequence their estimates of risk are therefore highly questionable and failures of significant assets and derailment caused by obstructions are happening with increasingly regularity. As the European rail infrastructure network ages, investment becomes more challenging. As a result reliability and safety are reduced, whilst user perception of these is negative and the policy move to increased use of rail transport is unsuccessful.
Why is it important for society?
The European Rail Agency (2013) reported that the total number of passenger fatalities on the European rail network was 196, making rail the mode of travel with the lowest number of fatalities. Despite the very encouraging safety record for rail, a number of high profile failures of rail infrastructure have occurred in recent years, with the incidence appearing to increase in response to climate challenges and ageing networks amongst other factors. In addition a significant number of non-passenger fatalities occur each year where the general public interacts with rail infrastructure, with 1284 people being killed at level crossings during the same time period. The focus of the GoSAFE rail project is to provide a near-eradiation of sudden infrastructure failures, provide warning systems for obstructions or intruders on the network and using a sophisticated micro-simulation model allow the impact of safety decisions on network capacity to be determined.
What are the overall objectives?
The GOSAFE RAIL project will deliver and demonstrate a safety framework with the following key objectives:
1. Near eradication of sudden unexpected failure of critical infrastructure.
2. Develop a global safety framework to consider risk assessment across a range of infrastructure assets. The framework is fully compatible with the European Railway Agency Safety Management Systems (SMS) wheel methodology.
3. Increase traffic smoothness through a better understanding of the state of infrastructure across the network and using risk based decision making in concert with traffic flow models.
4. Demonstrate a range of techniques to detect obstructions on tracks including humans, animals, vehicles and inert obstructions such as rock falls, landslides and trees on the track.
