Abstract
Railway operators enforce train operation control such as speed reduction and suspension of operations based on precipitation observed by rain gauges to ensure safe train operation in the times of heavy rainfall. Many railway operators install rain gauges at intervals of approximately ten kilometers. These rain gauges can generally detect heavy rainfall occurring along rail lines, but cases are also encountered in which localized heavy rainfall goes undetected. Therefore, we developed a train operation control method utilizing radar precipitation that can detect localized heavy rainfall undetected by rain gauges. In this study, we evaluated the new method from the aspects of both safety and stability of train operation using Radar/ Rain-gauge analyzed precipitation data, rain gauge data observed by East Japan Railway Company (JR East), and rainfall disaster data occurred on the JR East lines. We propose that the current train operation control method using rain gauges be continued, to be supplemented by Radar/ Rain-gauge analyzed precipitation.
