Robust travel time predictions are of prime importance in managing any transportation infrastructure, and particularly in rail networks where they have major impacts both on traffic regulation and passenger satisfaction. We aim at predicting the travel time of trains on rail sections at the scale of an entire rail network in real-time, by estimating trains' delays relative to a theoretical circulation plan. Predicting the evolution of a given train's delay is a uniquely hard problem, distinct from mainstream road traffic forecasting problems, since it involves several hard-to-model phenomena: train spacing, station congestion and heterogeneous rolling stock among others. We first offer empirical evidence of the previously unexplored phenomenon of delay propagation at the scale of a railway network, leading to delays being amplified by interactions between trains and the network's physical limitations. We then contribute a novel technique using the transformer architecture and pre-trained embeddings to make real-time massively parallel predictions for train delays at the scale of the whole rail network (over 3000 trains at peak hours, making predictions at an average horizon of 70 minutes). Our approach yields very positive results on real-world data when compared to currently-used and experimental prediction techniques.

Effective structural assessment of urban infrastructure is essential for sustainable land use and resilience to climate change and natural hazards. Seismic wave methods are widely applied in these areas for subsurface characterization and monitoring, yet they often rely on time-consuming inversion techniques that fall short in delivering comprehensive geological, hydrogeological, and geomechanical descriptions. Here, we explore the effectiveness of a passive seismic approach coupled with artificial intelligence (AI) for monitoring geological structures and hydrogeological conditions in the context of sinkhole hazard assessment. We introduce a deterministic petrophysical inversion technique based on a language model that decodes seismic wave velocity measurements to infer soil petrophysical and mechanical parameters as textual descriptions. Results successfully delineate 3D subsurface structures with their respective soil nature and mechanical characteristics, while accurately predicting daily water table levels. Validation demonstrates high accuracy, with a normalized root mean square error of 8%, closely rivaling with conventional stochastic seismic inversion methods, while delivering broader insights into subsurface conditions 2,000 times faster. These findings underscore the potential of advanced AI techniques to significantly enhance subsurface characterization across diverse scales, supporting decision-making for natural hazard mitigation.

Railway transportation contributes to the objectives of decarbonization but also generates negative externalities, including noise. Energy noise indicators used to characterize population exposure do not adequately reflect the repetitive nature of railway noise peaks. The GENIFER pilot study aims to test a protocol designed to characterize railway noise events according to the instantaneous perceived annoyance when the train is passing, in order to improve understanding of the influence of acoustic factors on annoyance. The first phase of the survey was carried out in 2023 among 62 residents of a pilot site. An electronic device was used to collect around 5,000 ratings, ranging from 1 to 10, assessing the instantaneous annoyance induced by railway noise at passing trains. The site instrumentation included sixteen sound level meters and two video recording systems, enabling annoyance ratings to be associated with the acoustic characteristics of railway noise events. A questionnaire aimed at identifying co-determinants of long-term annoyance was also administered to participants. Feedback on the field implementation of this survey and initial results concerning acoustic measurements, instantaneous annoyance ratings and questionnaire responses will be presented.

Energy noise indicators are generally used to characterize the exposure of populations to transportation noise in relation to their long-term annoyance, but they do not adequately reflect the repetitive nature of noise peaks generated by railway traffic. The GENIFER project aims to test a study protocol designed to rank railway noise events according to the instantaneous annoyance they cause to residents. This study will be carried out in a sector exposed to railway noise in the {Î}le-de-France region and will require the recruitment of 60 volunteer local residents. It will propose the use of innovative tools for collecting information, including an electronic remote-control allowing participants to rate the annoyance they feel when trains pass by, and noise sensor instrumentation allowing the simultaneous collection of the acoustic characteristics of railway noise peaks. It also includes semi-directive interviews and a questionnaire to identify co-determinants of annoyance. The instantaneous annoyance scores collected will also be compared with those obtained from commented listening to sound samples of passing trains. In addition to assessing the acceptability of the protocol by the participants, this study aims to validate the feasibility of ranking railway noise events according to their acoustic characteristics in terms of the annoyance expressed.

Railway transportation contributes to the objectives of decarbonization but also generates negative externalities, including noise. Energy noise indicators used to characterize population exposure do not adequately reflect the repetitive nature of railway noise peaks. The GENIFER pilot study aims to test a protocol designed to characterize railway noise events according to the instantaneous perceived annoyance when the train is passing, in order to improve understanding of the influence of acoustic factors on annoyance. The first phase of the survey was carried out in 2023 among 62 residents of a pilot site. An electronic device was used to collect around 5,000 ratings, ranging from 1 to 10, assessing the instantaneous annoyance induced by railway noise at passing trains. The site instrumentation included sixteen sound level meters and two video recording systems, enabling annoyance ratings to be associated with the acoustic characteristics of railway noise events. A questionnaire aimed at identifying co-determinants of long-term annoyance was also administered to participants. Feedback on the field implementation of this survey and initial results concerning acoustic measurements, instantaneous annoyance ratings and questionnaire responses will be presented.