Operational risks of Malaysia-Singapore high speed rail infrastructure to extreme climate conditions

Based on several decades of scientific observations, the world agrees that climate change is real and unequivocal. Around the world, atmospheric and oceanic temperature has been increasing, the amount of ice on the earth is decreasing, and then sea level has risen. In reality, the current railway network in Malaysia, over the last decade, has been significantly affected by severe weather conditions such as rainfall, lightning, wind and very high temperatures. These extreme climate conditions can result in asset system failure, quickly deteriorated operation and ultimately, delays to train services. Thus to avoid those disaster to happen, such infrastructure resilience is a vital for the new proposed High Speed Railway from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to Singapore. Identifying new and innovative way of improving infrastructure, which is resilience during periods of severe weather conditions, will reinforce the operational resilience of HSR once it is open. This study is therefore focused on the risks and pertinent effects of climate change on HSR infrastructure operation in Malaysia, including their operational requirements, local conditions including topographical and geological aspects, together with the operational requirements and local conditions to the design of infrastructure.