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Change of climate is unequivocal, and many of the observed changes are unprecedented over five decades to millennia. It is expected that the global atmosphere and ocean is increasingly getting warmer, the amount of ice on the earth is decreasing over the oceans, and the sea level has risen. According to Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, such temperature change is around 0.78 °C over decades. Without international collaboration towards Paris Agreement, the temperature change could potentially rise over 5.5°C in 2100. In addition, it is highly likely that even such a small change can trigger the worst of other extreme natural threats to interdependent urban and transport infrastructure systems. The vulnerability of those infrastructure systems has not been comprehensively addressed in open literature due to the fact that the actual climate change impact depends on specific differences of local environmental and geographical conditions. As a result, our research will highlight the extremes that can lead to system failure, degraded operation and ultimately, delays to train services. The emphasis is placed on the newly proposed Malaysia–Singapore high speed rail network, which can be affected by the most-frequent severe weather conditions including heavy rainfall and flash flood. It is found that tunnelling, steep cutting and ballast foundation are ones of the most vulnerable assets from a heavy rainfall or a flash flood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Paris Agreement of December 2015 signifies global unity to limit global warming to well below 2°C (above pre-industrial levels) and to pursue efforts to limit the increase to 1·5°C. The global community now agrees that anthropogenic climate change is unequivocal. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the global average combined land and surface temperature has increased by 0·78°C. Although the magnitude of change in mean temperatures is relatively small, attendant extreme weather events have been shown to have increased in frequency, and are projected to increase in the future. The potential impacts of climate change on railway infrastructure and operations have not been fully assessed in the literature. The projected urban growth in Kuala Lumpur and Singapore has led to the necessity to establish a high-speed rail (HSR) system between the two. However, the existing railway network in the region has been significantly affected by severe weather conditions such as rainfall, lightning, wind and very high temperatures. This research addresses a knowledge gap regarding the potential impacts of climate change on future rail projects in the region, and points out the vulnerabilities that may lead to impaired operations and system failures. These insights are intended to inform the holistic consideration of climate change impacts in the design stage of HSR systems in Malaysia and beyond. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]