Resilience Evaluation of the Railway Transport Network of the New Western Land-Sea Corridor

Abstract

Rail transport along the New Western Land-Sea Corridor serves as the core transportation mode connecting China’s inland regions with coastal ports, playing a vital role in ensuring the corridor’s efficient and stable operation. This paper constructs an evaluation index system for node importance within the corridor’s rail transport network. Utilizing the entropy-weighted TOPSIS method, it identifies critical nodes and high-risk nodes. K-means clustering is then applied to group nodes based on their comprehensive risk levels. Furthermore, regional belt analysis is employed to examine the spatial distribution characteristics of rail transport risks. Simultaneously, leveraging resilience triangle theory and employing network dynamic evolution simulation, the study assesses the evolution of railway transport network efficiency under various disturbance and recovery strategies, calculating network resilience indices. Research findings indicate: The railway transportation network of the New Western Land-Sea Corridor exhibits strong dependency on core hub nodes, with high-importance and high-risk nodes clustering toward core hubs along main corridors. Railway transportation risks display pronounced spatial heterogeneity: border port areas concentrate relatively high-risk nodes, seaport areas harbor extremely high-risk points, while inland transshipment zones maintain overall controllable risk levels. Simulation experiments reveal that under targeted attack scenarios, the network exhibits weaker disturbance resistance and more pronounced efficiency degradation, whereas targeted recovery strategies effectively accelerate network efficiency restoration. Finally, policy recommendations to enhance the resilience of the railway transportation network along the New Western Land-Sea Corridor are proposed across three dimensions: resource allocation, operational efficiency, and sustainable development.