Assessing transport network resilience: empirical insights from real-world data studies

Abstract

Determining the factors that positively and negatively affect the resilience of transport networks provides valuable information that leads to a deeper understanding of the preparedness and response of networks to external disruptions. Over the past few decades, several review papers have explored various interpretations of transport network resilience and its calculation metrics. Nevertheless, only a limited number of these papers have paid attention on the utilisation of empirical data in resilience studies. This paper, through a systematic literature review, contributes to filling this gap. To this end, from a pool of 127 relevant articles, a subset of 53 articles using real-world data was selected. The paper analyses and classifies empirical findings in transport network resilience studies. In particular, it highlights and thoroughly discusses spatial patterns of resilience and relevant influencing factors that positively or negatively affect the resilience attributes of a transport network. Although it is possible to place the empirical results within the theoretical framework proposed by the literature, two main issues on target reference levels arise from the graphical representation of transport network resilience as suggested by the theory. Based on these findings, research gaps are identified and future directions for transport researchers are proposed.