For rock slope stability, I recommend you contact Dr. ____ at Radford University in Virginia. I don't remember his name but he's in the geology department there and he specializes in rock stability. Expert witness kind of person has written several papers and some software, etc.

Hes $$$$, but worth it.

geoman

MGW67


Geologist

Thanks for the tip. Is the prof's name Skip Watts? or is it someone else.

Chris Bunce

Yup... it's Skip Watts at Radford University.  I am currently involved in numerous highway and railroad rock fall investigations and will be happy to pass on anything I can... as well as learn from others.  I can be located through Radford University www.runet.edu. ; Thanks for the interest, Skip Watts

How not? Everyone sees the failures when the water comes even in the tv. In Spain Renfe will have the failures records, as INM would the rainfall records.

Maybe an automatical with satellite coordinated NOOA or something so (I don't know trhe acronym for your meteorology center) plus railway input from the railway operators can make the 2 databases to be then studied and correlated.

Maybe give a look at the following:

Slope Stability Problems Associated with Timber Harvesting in Mountainous Regions of the Western United States, USFS General Technical Report PNW-21, 1974 (has a good discussion about the relationship between precipitation and mobilization).
Earth Flows: Morphology, Mobilization, and Movement, USGS Professional Paper 1264, 1983 (also discusses the relationship between precipitation and mobilization).
Debris Flows and Debris Torrents in the Southern Canadian Cordillera, D.F. VanDine, Canadian Geotechnical Journal, No. 22, pp 44-68, 1985 (discusses precipitation as a "triggering event").

Hope this helps!