Resilience Assessment of Metro Networks in Iranian Cities Based on Topological Analysis and Targeted Attack Scenarios

The rapid growth of urbanization and increasing reliance on public transportation systems have emphasized the importance of assessing the resilience of metro networks as vital urban infrastructures. This study evaluates and compares the resilience levels of metro networks in four major Iranian cities—Tehran, Isfahan, Tabriz, and Shiraz—using topological indicators and network efficiency metrics. To analyze how the networks respond to disruptions, four failure scenarios were tested, including random removal, degree-based removal, betweenness centrality-based removal, and the Louvain algorithm-based removal. The results show that the betweenness centrality scenario has the greatest effect on reducing network performance, while the Tehran metro network exhibits the highest resilience because of its extensive lines and multiple alternative routes. Additionally, the Louvain-based method proved effective in identifying critical inter-cluster links, providing a new perspective for structural resilience analysis. Overall, these findings offer a comparative understanding of metro network resilience across Iranian cities and can serve as a scientific foundation for designing resilient urban transit systems and optimizing resource distribution in infrastructure management.