The specific feature of trains as a means of transportation is that, on one side, at once they can carry big loads but, at the same time, if an accident occurs, it potentially leads to many human casualties or big material losses. Especially, train accidents caused by bad weather conditions result in many fatal losses of human lives and property. In Korea many railways run either in mountainous areas or along rivers thus making them especially susceptible to natural hazards. The types of damages inflicted by heavy rains resulting from rapidly changing meteorological conditions are diverse; and not only their scope is big but also they repeat regularly. Consequently, this study analyses the reasons why such effects of heavy rains on the railway conditions, damage to the railways caused by heavy rains or cases of stone fall as well as other types of accidents are not avoided. Study also, on the basis of laws related to movement in poor weather conditions and specifics of train braking, identifies systematic and technical problems and suggests and emphasizes new complex measures on their prevention.

The specific feature of trains as a means of transportation is that, on one side, at once they can carry big loads but, at the same time, if an accident occurs, it potentially leads to many human casualties or big material losses. Especially, train accidents caused by bad weather conditions result in many fatal losses of human lives and property. In Korea many railways run either in mountainous areas or along rivers thus making them especially susceptible to natural hazards. The types of damages inflicted by heavy rains resulting from rapidly changing meteorological conditions are diverse; and not only their scope is big but also they repeat regularly. Consequently, this study analyses the reasons why such effects of heavy rains on the railway conditions, damage to the railways caused by heavy rains or cases of stone fall as well as other types of accidents are not avoided. Study also, on the basis of laws related to movement in poor weather conditions and specifics of train braking, identifies systematic and technical problems and suggests and emphasizes new complex measures on their prevention.

The spatial rainfall distributions accompanied by the heavy rainfalls in the Korean peninsula were classified to 6 typical patterns and synoptic characteristics of each pattern were analyzed. 274 cases of heavy rainfall events occurred for 10 years from 1981 through 1990 were used for this study. In the 4 types of them, heavy rainfalls are not by the strongly developed but by the rapidly deepening low pressure systems, which have a well defined low and high level jets before arrival to the Korean peninsula. In another 2 types, heavy rainfalls are due to specially developed surface low pressure system. Most of the heavy rain areas are associated with the location of the low level jets and their direction and with the position of surface warm front. In the 4 types, the heavy rain areas extend in zonal direction. And the latitudinal locations of these areas are associated with the polar low center or strong main trough over 500 hPa level. The more northwestern part of the Asia the low locates the higher latitude in the Korean Peninsula the rainfall concentration occurs at. It is also known that the seasonal drifting of the lows have some relations to the progression of summer monsoon but its characteristics change year by year.