Pilot projects with potentially major significance for safer roads and railways 

During the last year, the Centre has installed infrastructure and performed tests as part of its development of an innovative approach to the early warning and prevention of landslides at three different locations. The aim of the pilot project focusing on Trollstigen, the dramatic switchback road in Møre og Romsdal county, is to develop advanced early warning procedures for rain-related natural hazards using the real-time monitoring of meteorological factors and ground conditions. A weather station has been installed and is currently supplying relevant data. The Norwegian Meteorological Institute’s mobile weather radar system has been installed to monitor precipitation systems approaching the area, and the Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate (NVE) is setting up water flow monitors in neighbouring streams. Together with other meteorological data and information regarding the local geology, these data will provide a foundation for the development of algorithms for real-time early warnings of hazardous conditions in the Trollstigen area, which is heavily trafficked in the tourist season, and where phenomena such as flood slides can inundate the road multiple times at different locations. 

Along a steep railway gradient at Eidsvoll in Viken county, sensors are recording data on subsoil water content from different depths and sending them via a web-based system to the Norwegian Geotechnical Institute (NGI). Together with our existing knowledge of the geotechnical properties of the slope, these new data will enable the development of an early warning system for the rail operator, which can then respond by reducing passing train speeds during periods when ground stability is considered to be poor. At Bodø railway station in northern Norway, where the rail operator BaneNor is currently experiencing slope stability problems, a number of drainage systems are being tested with the aim of stabilising ground conditions and preventing problematic water seepage and run-off. The systems installed here, supplied by partners affiliated to the Klima 2050 Centre, will be tested at five separate test sites. At the same location, a number of intelligent systems are being developed to monitor slope movements, not only to assess the impacts of the stabilising initiatives, but also to provide early warnings of unstable slope conditions. When these pilot projects are completed, they will have made a contribution towards the development of cost-effective systems both for the early warning of landslides and slope stabilisation at many locations in Norway, and in doing so contribute to more resilient road and rail infrastructures.