Grant: Collaborative Research and Development Grants
University of Alberta
$140,000.00
Risk assessment of ground hazards along railways - Phase II
EF 2013-14
Résumé
The Canadian railway industry is unique in that it must maintain tens of thousands of kilometres of tracks thattraverse diverse physiographic regions. Assessing ground hazard risk in diverse physiographic and geologicdomains presents a significant challenge to railway engineers as linear facilities are inherently exposed to awider variety and higher frequency of ground hazards than single site facilities. Ground hazards encounteredalong railways are classed as: earth landslides, rock landslides, subsidence, debris slides, flow erosion, andstream erosion. These ground hazards cause a significant annual loss, estimated by the railway industry, to bein the millions of dollars, primarily from damage to infrastructure and interruption of business.All engineering projects have risk. Our ability to assess this risk is dependent on our understanding of theprocesses and hazards involved. The objective of this research is focused on developing a methodology forassessing the risks associated with multiple ground hazards along these railway corridors. The riskmethodologies that will be developed will utilize the risk framework outlined in the Canadian Standard,Q850-97 Risk Management: Guidelines for Decision Makers, which is consistent with the Canadian RailwaySafety Act: Safety Management System Guidelines. The approach will utilize both qualitative and quantitativerisk methodologies and apply these methodologies to the major classes of ground hazard encountered by therailways.The implementation of the findings from this research is expected to enable the railway industry to bettermanage the risks associated with ground hazards encountered along their corridors. The outcome of thisresearch is expected to form the foundation for ""Suggested Guidelines for Railway Ground Hazard RiskManagement"". These guidelines will be extracted from this research and will be managed and produced by theRailway Ground Hazard Research Program (RGHRP). This is a cooperative research program established byCPR, CN and Transport Canada.
Programme
Collaborative Research and Development Grants
Bénéficiaire
Emplacement
Alberta, Canada
Type de bénéficiaire
Academia
Type
Grant
Source
NSERC's Awards Data
Tel que publié
Application id
387168-2009
Name nom
Martin, Derek
Department département
Civil and Environmental Engineering
Organization id
9
Institution établissement
University of Alberta
Province en
Alberta
Province fr
Alberta
Country en
CANADA
Country fr
CANADA
Fiscal year exercice financier
2013
Competition year année de concours
2009
Award amount
140000
Program id
CRDPJ
Program name en
Collaborative Research and Development Grants
Program name fr
Subventions de recherche et développement coopérative
Group en
Research partnerships programs
Group fr
Programmes de partenariat
Committee code
96
Committee name en
RPP Internal Decision Cttee
Committee name fr
Cté de décision interne - PPR
Area of application code
701
Area of application group en
Transportation systems and services
Area of application group fr
Services et systèmes de transport
Area of application en
Ground (road and rail)
Area of application fr
Terrestre (routier et ferroviaire)
Research subject code
1002
Research subject group en
Civil engineering
Research subject group fr
Génie civil
Research subject en
Geotechnical engineering (including engineering geology)
Research subject fr
Géotechnique (y compris génie géologique)
Partie
4
Nb partie
5
Application title
Risk assessment of ground hazards along railways - Phase II
Keyword
NSERC
Application summary
The Canadian railway industry is unique in that it must maintain tens of thousands of kilometres of tracks thattraverse diverse physiographic regions. Assessing ground hazard risk in diverse physiographic and geologicdomains presents a significant challenge to railway engineers as linear facilities are inherently exposed to awider variety and higher frequency of ground hazards than single site facilities. Ground hazards encounteredalong railways are classed as: earth landslides, rock landslides, subsidence, debris slides, flow erosion, andstream erosion. These ground hazards cause a significant annual loss, estimated by the railway industry, to bein the millions of dollars, primarily from damage to infrastructure and interruption of business.All engineering projects have risk. Our ability to assess this risk is dependent on our understanding of theprocesses and hazards involved. The objective of this research is focused on developing a methodology forassessing the risks associated with multiple ground hazards along these railway corridors. The riskmethodologies that will be developed will utilize the risk framework outlined in the Canadian Standard,Q850-97 Risk Management: Guidelines for Decision Makers, which is consistent with the Canadian RailwaySafety Act: Safety Management System Guidelines. The approach will utilize both qualitative and quantitativerisk methodologies and apply these methodologies to the major classes of ground hazard encountered by therailways.The implementation of the findings from this research is expected to enable the railway industry to bettermanage the risks associated with ground hazards encountered along their corridors. The outcome of thisresearch is expected to form the foundation for ""Suggested Guidelines for Railway Ground Hazard RiskManagement"". These guidelines will be extracted from this research and will be managed and produced by theRailway Ground Hazard Research Program (RGHRP). This is a cooperative research program established byCPR, CN and Transport Canada.
