RAIN · Risk Analysis of Infrastructure Networks in response to extreme weather

The RAIN vision is to provide an operational analysis framework that identifies critical infrastructure components impacted by extreme weather events and minimise the impact of these events on the EU infrastructure network. The project has a core focus on land based infrastructure with a much wider consideration of the ancillary infrastructure network in order to identify cascading and inter-related infrastructure issues. A core component of the research will consider the implications of climate change and the subsequent impacts that this may have on an already ageing and vulnerable infrastructure system. The impact of these disruptions on both the key components and the wider pan-European network will be assessed using economic and social markers that will identify and rank a series of “worst case” scenarios. Technical and Logistic solutions will be developed to minimise the impact of these extreme events, which will include novel early warning systems, decision support tools and engineering solutions to ensure rapid reinstatement of the network. These tools will be implemented within a fresh Europe-wide operational and response strategy that will build on previous European infrastructure models. The robustness of the existing transport and energy networks to deal with changing weather conditions will be analysed in detail. The ability of this response plan to transcend borders will be guaranteed by the multi-disciplinary consortium. The project grouping will have expertise in climatology, operational analysis, transportation economics, risk analysis and mitigation, emergency planning, transportation engineering as well as engineering design and assessment. The outputs from the project will result in enhanced safety and reliability of critical infrastructure networks in the case of major weather induced disruptions and will address European policy in the areas of safety and security, inter-modality and emergency response planning.