Editing IPCC:AR6/SRCCL/Chapter-3 (section)

==== 3.4.2.7 Impacts on transport infrastructure through dust storms and sand movement ====

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Dust storms and movement of sand dunes often threaten the safety and operation of railway and road infrastructure in arid and hyper-arid areas, and can lead to road and airport closures due to reductions in visibility. For example, the dust storm on 10 March 2009 over Riyadh was assessed to be the strongest in the previous two decades in Saudi Arabia, causing limited visibility, airport shutdown and damages to infrastructure and environment across the city (Maghrabi et al. 2011 <sup>[[#fn:r762|762]]</sup> ). There are numerous historical examples of how moving sand dunes led to the forced decommissioning of early railway lines built in Sudan, Algeria, Namibia and Saudi Arabia in the late 19th and early 20th century (Bruno et al. 2018 <sup>[[#fn:r763|763]]</sup> ). Currently, the highest concentrations of railways vulnerable to sand movements are located in north-western China, Middle East and North Africa (Bruno et al. 2018 <sup>[[#fn:r764|764]]</sup> ; Cheng and Xue 2014 <sup>[[#fn:r765|765]]</sup> ). In China, sand dune movements are periodically disrupting the railway transport on the Linhai–Ceke line in north-western China and on the Lanzhou–Xinjiang High-speed Railway in western China, with considerable clean-up and maintenance costs (Bruno et al. 2018 <sup>[[#fn:r766|766]]</sup> ; Zhang et al. 2010 <sup>[[#fn:r767|767]]</sup> ). There are large-scale plans for expansion of railway networks in arid areas of China, Central Asia, North Africa, the Middle East, and eastern Africa. For example, The Belt and Road Initiative promoted by China, the Gulf Railway project by the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf or Lamu Port–South Sudan–Ethiopia Transport (LAPSSET) Corridor in Eastern Africa. These investments have long-term return and operation periods. Their construction and associated engineering solutions will therefore benefit from careful consideration of potential desertification and climate change effects on sand storms and dune movements.

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