High-speed rail (HSR) vulnerability refers to the sensitivity of the infrastructure network to performance degradation under disruptions. Due to the increasing complexity of modern railway systems, topological analysis alone is no longer sufficient to capture their actual operational behavior. Recent studies have increasingly recognized the importance of integrating network functionality with topological structures when assessing vulnerability. This paper proposes a service-oriented vulnerability assessment framework that evaluates HSR vulnerability from the perspective of passenger travel service capacity under uncertain interruptions. A three-layer coupled network is constructed based on a bipartite graph, mapping passenger demand onto infrastructure via a functional layer to capture the coupling between passengers, trains, and tracks. The proposed framework integrates service-based vulnerability metrics, a novel passenger demand evaluation method, and realistic transfer strategies. A case study of China’s HSR network demonstrates the method’s effectiveness. Results show that the network generally exhibits low vulnerability due to strong connectivity. However, lines serving cities with high passenger volumes or involving long-distance transfers are more vulnerable under full-load conditions, where limited spare capacity may force passengers to choose alternative transport modes. These results provide meaningful insights for enhancing disaster prevention and emergency management in high-speed railway systems, emphasizing that the degradation of service capacity should also be regarded as a critical dimension when assessing structural vulnerability.
Zhang et al. (Thu,) studied this question.
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