Underground pipelines and railway infrastructure – failure consequences and restrictions

Underground pipelines are an essential part of the transportation infrastructure. The structural deterioration of pipelines crossing railways and their subsequent failures can entail critical consequences for society and industry, resulting in direct and indirect costs for all the stakeholders involved. Therefore, continuous and accurate condition assessment is critical for the effective management and maintenance of pipeline networks within the transportation infrastructure. The aim of this study has been to identify failure modes and consequences related to pipelines crossing railway corridors. Expert opinions have been collected through interviews and two sets of questionnaires have been distributed to the 291 municipalities in Sweden, with 137 responses in total. The failure analysis has revealed that pipe deformation has the highest impact, followed by pipe rupture at locations where pipelines cross railway infrastructure. For underground pipelines under railway infrastructure, ageing and the external load were awarded a higher ranking than other potential causes of pipeline failure.