zemeunvalsts.lv note: While railway issues in Latvia are currently being affected by the so-called human factor and quality problems at the train manufacturing plant, elsewhere in Europe, problems are being caused by nature. For example, in Austria in 2023, trains were forced to stop 1,900 times due to weather conditions.
Climate change is causing an increasing number of serious problems for rail transport
Storms, snowfall, floods and fires are causing difficulties for rail networks across Europe. Following the death of three people in August 2020, when a train in Scotland, Aberdeenshire, hit a landslide, Network Rail has developed special new software that forecasts sudden and heavy downpours.
The company's Cardiff operations centre is equipped with heat sensors and cameras to monitor weather conditions on the railway across the entire region. While this does not prevent service disruptions, it can improve safety by introducing speed restrictions and calling out railway maintenance teams accordingly.
Europe's “tri-mode” trains, which could revolutionise rail transport
The railway industry in Europe is also paying attention to the root causes of problems and is trying to reduce the impact of global warming. The Italian company Hitachi Rail has developed a revolutionary so-called “tri-mode” train. The Masaccio locomotive can be powered in three ways: by electricity, by a diesel hybrid engine or by a battery.
According to data from the Austrian newspaper Kronen Zeitung, in Austria alone, in 2023, Railjets and other ÖBB (Austrian Federal Railways) trains were forced to stop 1,900 times due to weather. This raises logical questions: “How is the railway industry adapting to global warming? How is climate change affecting the rail industry?”
“In recent years, we have not cancelled as many train journeys due to storms as we did last August,” Bernhard Rieder, a representative of the ÖBB communications department, told the Austrian press. “Floods in Tyrol and Salzburg and massive mudslides after thunderstorms caused 716 unplanned stops,” B. Rieder added that rising temperatures in the Alpine region cause damage to railway embankments, an increase in the number of forest fires, the buckling of tracks, and a reduction in protective tree belts due to heat. “We are monitoring with concern the disruptions caused by extreme weather conditions,” he emphasised.
UK government adviser Sir John Armitt has warned that travel comfort will deteriorate significantly due to climate change unless more funding is allocated to the national rail network. In August 2023, he pointed to very heavy downpours in England that affected train traffic, causing flash floods and landslides. Meanwhile, heatwaves forced the cancellation of many train journeys, for example, due to track buckling and damage to overhead power lines caused by heat. Railway tracks are designed to withstand a certain temperature range; in very hot conditions, they can deform. Heat can also cause power lines to sag and collapse onto carriages.
How is the railway adapting to climate change?
In Austria, power lines are being modernised to prevent them from overheating. Rails are being made more heat-resistant by using white paint. Slopes prone to the risk of landslides are being monitored even more closely, and weather conditions are also being watched more intensively. In the UK, more funds are being spent on drainage, and technology is being introduced to remotely monitor and control track temperature.
Modern batteries can be charged while the train is moving, using electricity from power lines, and it is also possible to use braking energy generated when the train stops. Such environmentally friendly batteries can power the train without using diesel fuel. This is possible on short sections if there are breaks in electrification. Batteries are also used when approaching and leaving stations so that the train does not increase the noise background in the residential area or air pollution. Trains are tested in a specially created climate chamber, where temperatures from -50 °C to +40 °C are simulated. This is done to ensure that trains can withstand extreme weather conditions in the future.
(I wonder if the Czech Škoda Vagonka tested the new trains intended for Latvia in this way? It seems not…)