Vulnerability Analysis of Urban Rail Transit Networks: A Case Study of Shanghai, China


Loading...

Date

2015-06

Publication Type

Journal Article

ETH Bibliography

yes

Citations

Altmetric

Data

Abstract

Rail transit is developing rapidly in major cities of China and has become a key component of urban transport. Nevertheless, the security and reliability in operation are significant issues that cannot be neglected. In this paper, the network and station vulnerabilities of the urban rail transit system were analyzed based on complex network and graph theories. A vulnerability evaluation model was proposed by accounting metro interchange and passenger flow and further validated by a case study of Shanghai Metro with full-scale network and real-world traffic data. It is identified that the urban rail transit network is rather robust to random attacks, but is vulnerable to the largest degree node-based attacks and the highest betweenness node-based attacks. Metro stations with a large node degree are more important in maintaining the network size, while stations with a high node betweenness are critical to network efficiency and origin-destination (OD) connectivity. The most crucial stations in maintaining network serviceability do not necessarily have the highest passenger throughput or the largest structural connectivity. A comprehensive evaluation model as proposed is therefore essential to assess station vulnerability, so that attention can be placed on appropriate nodes within the metro system. The findings of this research are of both theoretical and practical significance for urban rail transit network design and performance evaluation.

Publication status

published

Editor

Book title

Volume

7 (6)

Pages / Article No.

6919 - 6936

Publisher

MDPI

Event

Edition / version

Methods

Software

Geographic location

Date collected

Date created

Subject

Vulnerability analysis; Urban rail transit networks; Complex network theory; Metro interchange; Passenger flow

Organisational unit

Notes

Funding

Related publications and datasets