Heat and drought expose Britain’s railway infrastructure weaknesses
Britain’s railways have suffered heat-related disruption during one of the hottest and driest summers on record, including derailments near Lewes in East Sussex and Wickford in Essex. The incidents underline how a network largely built for a cooler, wetter climate is vulnerable as high temperatures and drought place greater strain on tracks and their foundations.
Heat makes continuous welded rails expand and potentially buckle, while drought can dry and shrink the soil beneath sleepers and ballast, causing uneven settlement under passing trains. Network Rail says much of the network can operate at track temperatures up to 46C, although rails have reached 51C; after two record-hot days in 2022, nearly 7,700 trains were cancelled at an estimated cost of £30m. UK rails are pre-stressed for a stress-free air temperature of 27C, lower than in hotter countries because they must also withstand colder winters without breaking.
- Heat and drought are exposing weaknesses in Britain’s ageing rail network.
- Rail expansion and dried ground can lead to buckling and derailments.
- Adapting tracks involves balancing hotter summers against cold winters.
Both sides, in good faith
The strongest fair case each way — we don't pick a winner.
The case for
The disruption makes a strong case for accelerating investment to adapt Britain’s railways to a hotter, drier climate. Repeated cancellations, derailment risks and damage to track foundations can impose major costs on passengers, freight and the wider economy, while safety must take precedence over short-term savings. Supporters argue that upgrading drainage, earthworks and track systems now is prudent resilience planning as extreme weather becomes more likely.
The case against
Others argue that adaptation should be targeted and proportionate rather than treated as a case for wholesale rebuilding of a vast network. Britain’s rails must also safely accommodate cold winters, and changing their stress settings or replacing infrastructure extensively could create new engineering trade-offs and consume funds needed for capacity, reliability and affordability. They favour better monitoring, speed restrictions, maintenance and focused upgrades at the most vulnerable locations while evidence develops about where changing conditions pose the greatest risk.
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Originally published by The Guardian as “How Britain’s railways are struggling in the heat – and can they be fixed?”.