Improving the Resilience of High-Speed Rail Systems from a Configuration Perspective

A high-speed rail (HSR) system is directly related to people’s daily travel and safety. To make HSR systems work better for society, it is necessary to improve their resilience. Based on an in-depth literature review, six HSR system ontology-related variables and four resilience attribute-related variables were identified. Then, a questionnaire was designed and distributed to targeted respondents after a pilot survey, aiming to collect experts’ opinions on these driving variables. Subsequently, multiple regression analysis was conducted to check the relationship between driving variables and HSR system resilience. Finally, a fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) was carried out to identify the potential configurations of driving variables from a holistic perspective. The results show that all driving variables are significantly correlated to HSR system resilience. Moreover, seven variable configurations were identified and divided into three categories, i.e., strong HSR system ontology–weak resilience attributes, weak HSR system ontology–strong resilience attributes, and strong HSR system ontology–strong resilience attributes. This paper explores the effect of configuration of the driving variables on HSR system resilience, providing a holistic perspective for system resilience literature. The results can also help HSR system-related stakeholders understand the effect of variable combinations on resilience improvement.