Investigating Resiliency of Transportation Network under Targeted and Potential Climate Change Disruptions

Rahimitouranposhti, Maedeh; Sharma, Bharat; Camur, Mustafa Can; Omitaomu, Olufemi A.; Li, Xueping

doi:10.1177/03611981251355510

Investigating Resiliency of Transportation Network under Targeted and Potential Climate Change Disruptions

Journal Article · Fri Sep 12 00:00:00 EDT 2025 · Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1177/03611981251355510· OSTI ID:3002333

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Univ. of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN (United States)
Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)

Ensuring robustness and resilience in intermodal transportation systems is essential for the continuity and reliability of global logistics. These systems are vulnerable to various disruptions, including natural disasters and technical failures. Despite significant research on freight transportation resilience, investigating the robustness of the system after targeted and climate-change-driven disruption remains a crucial challenge. Drawing on network science methodologies, this study models the interdependencies within the rail and water transport networks and simulates different disruption scenarios to evaluate system responses. Here, we use the data from the U.S. Department of Energy Volpe Center for network topology and tonnage projections. The proposed framework quantifies deliberate, stochastic, and climate-driven infrastructure failure, using higher resolution downscaled multiple Earth System Models’ simulations from Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase version 6. We show that the disruptions of a few nodes could have a larger impact on the total tonnage of freight transport than on network topology. For example, the removal of targeted 20 nodes can bring the total tonnage carrying capacity to 30% with about 75% of the rail freight network intact. This research advances the theoretical understanding of transportation resilience and provides practical applications for infrastructure managers and policymakers. By implementing these strategies, stakeholders and policymakers can better prepare for and respond to unexpected disruptions, ensuring sustained operational efficiency in transportation networks.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Advanced Research Projects Agency - Energy (ARPA-E)

Grant/Contract Number:: AC05-00OR22725; AR0001780

OSTI ID:: 3002333

Journal Information:: Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, Journal Name: Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board Journal Issue: 12 Vol. 2679; ISSN 0361-1981; ISSN 2169-4052

Publisher:: SAGECopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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