Figure 8 : The Bukit Lanjan rockfall along the New Klang Valley Expressway , in November 2003 , resulted in a six month closure of that particular stretch 43
return period . Local weather changes are among the natural causes that triggered the flash flood 10 .
ii ) Landslide Asia suffers more landslides compared to other world regions due to climate . According to United Nations University 11 , among natural disasters , landslides are the seventh ranked killer , after windstorms , floods , droughts , earthquakes , volcanos and extreme temperatures . An average of 940 people were killed annually by landslides in the decade 1993 to 2002 , and most of these victims were from Asia . There are many factors which can trigger landslides including changes of slope geometry , changes of water level , rainfall intensity , and changes in loading . However , the major cause of landslides in Malaysia is high precipitation 12 .
Figure 8 shows that after a rockfall due to landslide , vehicles can still swerve and go around the debris . Trains do not have this option , even if a small landslide occurs on the railway line . This brings greater risk to the trains and passengers . It is important for the infrastructure manager to design the slope and track embankment with the consideration of extreme rainfall due to climate change .
A study from the UK demonstrates the disruption caused by the impact of weather on railway lines . The wettest winter on record in England and Wales ( 2013-2014 ) caused widespread and severe consequences including flooding and disruption to road transport in the
Figure 9 : The main railway line to Cornwall and Devon was demolished at Dawlish by storms which hit the UK in February 2014 45
Somerset Levels . It also caused the destruction of the South Devon Railway sea wall at Dawlish ( refer to Figure 9 ), severing rail access to and from the counties of Cornwall and Devon and the rest of the country . 13 .
There are many consequences to the railway infrastructure due to hot and dry weather and the obvious example is the risk of buckling . According to Network Rail , the definition of buckling is the extent of track deformation constituting a reportable buckle is that which would render the line unfit for the passage of trains at line speed and / or necessitates emergency remedial work under the cover of either a temporary restriction of speed or closure of the line . Buckling is very treacherous as it could cause derailment to the train and end up disruption of railway operation service . Figure 10 shows a Singapore bound train derailed on January 26 , 2013 due to rail buckling 5 , 14-17 . The wagons landed on their sides and trapped the worker and injured five passengers . The train service to the southern part of Malaysia was disrupted for several days due to the difficulties of rescuers to reach the remote area where the incident happened .
Infrastructure Adaptation to Climate Change
Malaysia has conducted several studies on climate change scenarios through the Malaysian Meteorological Department and the Ministry
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