The Beeb has a scare story about climate change causing disruption to the rail network as extreme weather events increase.
Changes to the climate could pose a “serious threat” to the UK rail network, scientists have warned.
Extreme weather events – wet winters and hot summers – are projected to become more common over the next 50 years as a result of global warming.
A new study, in the Quarterly Journal of Engineering Geology and Hydrogeology, predicts this could lead to more landslides and floods.
The authors say the damage could cause “widespread disruption” to travel.
Clearly the authors of this report haven’t been paying attention. We already get flooding, landslides, twisted rails, frozen points and damaged overhead electrics and have been since, well, since as long as I can recall. It’s normal.
We already have travel chaos on a regular basis. It isn’t just the weather either. All it takes is one suicide and that’s it, the line is closed for hours while the police carry out their investigations. Or, perhaps, the local pikeys decide to steal some of the cabling, disabling the signalling system, or, perhaps as on one occasion I recall, a group of drunken chavs set light to a junction box, knocking the signalling system out for the whole of the Westerleigh junction area. Sometimes it is as simple as one train failing, blocking the line for everyone else.
Travel chaos isn’t new and it will continue.
Lead author Fleur Loveridge, a PhD student at the University of Southampton, said: “This is a really serious issue which needs to be addressed.”
How, precisely?
Ms Loveridge told BBC News: “Climate change in the near future is ‘locked in’ – it’s too late to change that.”
Short of being able to stabilise the Earth’s eco system and its orbit around the sun, no, I expect it is. Perhaps we can screw the tectonic plates together, that might help.
We need to raise awareness and increase maintenance budgets, as well as supporting research to develop innovative engineering solutions to tackle the problems before they happen.
Hmm… Is it me or is this a thinly disguised “we need more money”?
Makes a change from ‘leaves on the line’ or ‘planned engineering works’, though, doesn’t it?
“The train to Reading due from Platform 16 at 10:30 will be delayed until 11:00 due to catastrophic global warming. Ice lollies and other refreshments are available at this station’
Perhaps we can screw the tectonic plates together
LOL. I shall steal that and use it sometime whilst probably forgetting to give you credit 😉
How can you tackle a problem before it happens? If you know something is going to happen its a problem, if you don’t know, well its one of those unknown unknowns, so no need to worry.
If I was a rail track manager my answer would be along the lines of, thanks, but that’s the least of my problems (as you say). Come back when the science is settled.
Leaves on the line is a big problem for two reasons. Firstly, the crushed mulch is like Teflon causing trains to slide – potentially past red signals. The second reason is that it is non-conductive, causing interference with the operation of track circuits and trains to disappear from the signalling system. That then causes signals that should be red to change to green.
So far, sanding systems on trains and anti-lock braking systems help. So does vegetation management. However, people do seem to get upset about chopping trees down. A return to steam would help…
Simon, quite.
So why are the views of a PhD student at Southampton being talked up on the subject of railway operation and maintenance ? What’s the betting she’s the daughter of someone fairly big at the BBC ? Thirty minutes checking the history of railway accidents would have led them to the conclusion that, as you rightly say, this is absolutely nothing new.
A classic example of Girly Science.