A study and analysis of Underground pipelines and railway infrastructure - Failure consequences and restrictions

Important results from the project

The aim of this study is to identify failure modes and its consequences related to the crossing of pipelines in railway corridors. Furthermore, the project focuses on identifying the appropriate tools and techniques for condition monitoring, diagnostics and prognostics using data-driven methods for mitigation of failure consequences of current and future transport infrastructure with special reference of network of pipelines.

Expected long term effects

Better understanding of failure correlation between railways and pipelines at cross section. Reduce the operation and maintenance costs of pipelines and transport infrastructure. Reduce disruption to traffic infrastructure. Have less disruption to the neighboring business, as well as saving energy and resources. In addition, utilization of proposed approach will lead to have better services to the customers, for instance, all municipalities that have railway infrastructure in their vicinity, Trafikverket, and Water supply and construction companies.

Approach and implementation

The study is based on qualitative condition assessment. Inputs from expert opinion has been collected through two sets of questionnaires and interview with water and wastewater departments at municipalities, utility companies and Trafikverket database. Questionnaires have been distributed to the 291 municipalities in the Sweden. The Failure Mode and Effect Analysis (FMEA) have been performed to identify dominant failure modes and consequences at cross-sections with railway infrastructure.