Damage and restoration of the railway structures caused by The 2011 off the Pacific coast of Tohoku Earthquake

Abstract

The railway structures suffered severe damages over the wide area by The 2011 off the Pacific coast of Tohoku Earthquake. Although embankments and cuttings of conventional lines suffered damage due to the ground shaking in JR East railway lines, each scale of damages were slight. The maximum length of the embankments damages was about 120m. The tunnels of the Shinkansen and conventional lines suffered little damage. The extensive liquefaction along Keiyo Line caused no damage of railway viaducts and bridges. The tsunami triggered by the earthquake caused catastrophic damage of embankments. The embankment and cutting on 5 railway segments along the coast sustained damages at 50 sites, the forms and scales of the damage varied by the existence of the tide embankment for tsunami and viaduct bridge adjacent to railway embankment.