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Railway Infrastructure Scour Risk Prediction
Challenge
Scour is a natural phenomenon caused by the erosive action of water. It occurs when flowing water removes material from riverbeds and can be particularly significant around obstacles such as bridge piers. Identifying railway infrastructure vulnerable to scour is therefore an important task for transport agencies.
In many cases, scour contributes to the collapse of structures following flooding. Transport agencies assess scour risk through field inspections and practical procedures, but these assessments still largely rely on engineers’ subjective judgement.
At the same time, climate change is increasing the frequency and intensity of natural hazards such as floods and droughts. With thousands of railway structures exposed to flooding across Europe, the risk of scour-related damage is expected to increase, highlighting the need for simple and effective tools to support proactive infrastructure management.
The solution
To predict the scour risk of railway infrastructure, Europe’s Rail (EU-Rail)’s FP3-IAM4Rail project, has proposed the following solutions:
- Automation of the data flow to ensure that the scour database is continuously updated with the latest inspection reports and information.
- Optimisation of the machine learning algorithm to ensure that scour predictions are consistent with engineering knowledge.
- Automation of the prediction system to ensure that the machine learning model is regularly updated and adapted to climate change.
Readiness for Industrialisation and Deployment
The solution is currently at the prototype stage and is expected to be available from 2029.
Maturity level
TRL 6
Expected benefits
By applying the proposed solutions, the prediction of scour risk among thousands of railway infrastructures threatened by flooding and climate change helps:
- to focus on monitoring the safety of infrastructure exposed to high scour risk during the floods. to ensure infrastructure safety by anticipating repair needs for high-risk structures.
- to prioritise and optimise maintenance and repair planning.
- to benefit from safer and more reliable railway infrastructure during flooding events.
Who benefits
Infrastructure Managers
Suppliers
Final users
Conclusion
In conclusion, leveraging EU-Rail’s solution, railway infrastructure companies can move towards a more proactive approach to scour risk management. By automating the prediction process and provide and engineer-friendly environment, the solution helps anticipate potential infrastructure damage before flood events occur, supporting safer and more resilient railway operations.
Learn more about the project
FP3-IAM4Rail
This solution has been developed within the EU-Rail Flagship Project FP3-IAM4RAIL. The project FP3-IAM4RAIL focuses on seven different integrated demonstrators for rail assets which are key for research and innovation in the rail sector.