Research on Unit Criticality in Comprehensive Transportation Infrastructure Network Based on Cascading Failure Model

The efficient operation of regional socio-economies is highly dependent on the resilience of a comprehensive transportation infrastructure system. An essential metric for assessing this resilience is the criticality index within the comprehensive transportation networks. This study proposes a model based on cascading failures to measure the unit criticality in the network, accounting for the network topology, propagation mechanism, and node attributes. An empirical study was conducted in the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei–Shandong region by integrating network vulnerability and unit criticality. The study found 170 critical units which can significantly enhance the resistance against cascading failures at a relatively low cost.