In a letter to the Rail Minister, Huw Merriman MP, the report’s authors highlight that electric railways have an essential role in reducing emissions from transport and reducing dependence on volatile, international fossil fuel prices, but they also must be prepared for increasingly severe climate impacts.
Almost a year on from the UK’s first ever red weather warning for extreme heat, the report details how the 6,000km of overhead wires and structures that support electric trains could be under threat from hotter, drier summers, more heatwaves, wetter winters, stronger winds, more extensive flooding, and sea level rise.
The report identifies specific sections of track at risk, as well as making five recommendations to safeguard against these future risks and deliver a reliable railway that continues to power the economy.
The systematic review is the first of its kind to consider a full range of climate related risks to electrified railways, following Network Rail’s Resilience Taskforce, which looked at extreme heat only. The new Furrer+Frey report identifies five recommendations for Britain’s railway, including:
- Reviewing existing systems’ temperature ranges against climate projections.
- Assessing the most vulnerable assets to identify any urgent renewals.
- Implementing “nature-based solutions”, for example, incorporating vegetation to provide shade and shelter, limit flooding, stabilize embankments and limit coastal erosion.
- Increase remote monitoring regimes to aid a shift toward risk-based maintenance.
- Further research into the impacts and potential solutions to climate impacts, for example, in advanced materials, nature-based solutions and the performance of materials in extreme weather conditions.
Co-author, Noel Dolphin, fellow of Permanent Way Institute for Rail Infrastructure Engineering and managing director of Furrer+Frey GB, said, “Getting more people and freight onto electrified rail is vital in mitigating climate change. But at the same time rail needs to adapt to climate threats that we know are here.
“Last summer we saw how rail lines had to be closed or speeds restricted as our overhead wires sagged from the extreme heat – disrupting business and livelihoods across the country.
“Climate impacts add risk to every sector of our economy and every mode of travel, but the solutions we provide will be specific to rail – what we have done is identify the potential threats and opportunities, as well as how to manage these risks across the network.
“It’s not just about extreme heat – other weather extremes will become increasingly normal, so we need to ensure our systems are designed with that new, and more volatile, ‘normal’ in mind. Our report shows how we can build climate resilience now by making changes to how we maintain, renew, and enhance electrification equipment,” he added.
Modern lines, such as HS1 and forthcoming HS2 are highlighted as already being designed to withstand very high temperatures. Older lines highlighted for review in the report include sections of lines in London, Essex, Manchester, and Glasgow.