Freight Rail Network Topological Analysis Weighted by Hazmat Commodity Volumes, Traffic Density, and Population at Risk
Publication: ASCE Inspire 2023
ABSTRACT
According to rail shipping commodity waybill data compiled by the Surface Transportation Board, the US freight railroads transported around 432 million tons of hazardous materials (hazmat) in 2020, which constituted 12% of the total commodity volume. Of the total hazmat tonnage, 54.8% were chemicals and allied products, 24% were petroleum and coal products, and 13.8% were crude petroleum, natural gas, and gasoline. Considering the large amount of hazmat transported by rail, weighting rail networks by hazmat tonnage can provide useful insights with multiple operational, economic, and safety implications to enable providing effective services to a growing population market needs. Therefore, population distribution can be an important factor in railroad analysis for safety reasons. In this study, the US freight railroads are represented by a network of links and nodes. Hazmat data and population data are aggregated to determine node weights. A connectedness efficiency model is created based on node weights and network topology to identify nodes and links, if disabled, that would have significant impacts on network connectedness efficiency. This study also enables the consideration of scenarios when a network is subjected to natural or human-made disasters, resulting in the loss of function of nodes or links. These results help determine key nodes and links for safety, commerce, and economic activity, and inform planning practices related to the safety and resilience of freight transportation.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
ASCE Inspire 2023
Pages: 640 - 649
History
Published online: Nov 14, 2023
ASCE Technical Topics:
- Disaster risk management
- Disasters and hazards
- Energy engineering
- Energy sources (by type)
- Freight transportation
- Hazardous substances
- Infrastructure
- Infrastructure resilience
- Man-made disasters
- Non-renewable energy
- Rail transportation
- Risk management
- Traffic analysis
- Traffic engineering
- Transportation engineering
- Transportation management
- Transportation safety
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