Containment capacity and estimation of crashworthiness of derailment containment walls against high-speed trains

Europe, USA, China, Japan, and Korea, which possess advanced railway technologies, have attempted to develop high-speed rail technology and ensure safety based on social requirements and the need for greater speeds. However, despite these efforts, there have been recent reports of train accidents resulting in loss of lives. Fatal train accidents usually involve derailments or collisions that do not happen frequently. However, when they occur, the damage is catastrophic. Therefore, a protection infrastructure should be installed to minimize such damage. Since the high-speed railways were introduced in Korea, derailment containment walls have been constructed to mitigate and minimize the damages caused by such accidents. The need for the judgment of effectiveness and feasibility review of the derailment containment walls in terms of economics and construction ability has been presented by designers and constructors. In this paper, the authors have evaluated the containment capacity and collision durability (crashworthiness) of a derailment containment wall, constructed in Korea, using a collision simulation after the derailment of a train.