Wednesday 24 Jul 2019
Passengers warned of slower trains between London and the Midlands due to record heat
- Region & Route:
- North West & Central
Trains will run at lower speeds tomorrow (25 July) in order to keep passengers safe in the record heat, Network Rail has warned.
Speed restrictions will be put in place from 12pm until 8pm between Euston and Rugby on the West Coast main line, and from Marylebone to Leamington Spa on the Chiltern line.
With UK temperature records set to be broken tomorrow (25 July), Network Rail has activated its extreme weather response teams in the North West and Central Region (Euston to Carlisle).
The hot weather, particularly direct sunlight, can cause track temperatures to rise to more than 50°C. Steel rails absorb heat easily and tend to hover around 20 degrees above the surrounding air temperature.
When steel becomes very hot it expands and rails can bend, flex and, in serious cases, buckle. As a precaution, trains must run at slower speeds.
Railway staff are ready for this challenge on the West Coast main line south of Crewe, in the West Midlands and on the Chiltern line.
James Dean, chief operating officer for North West and Central, said: “Keeping passengers moving is always our top priority. But we want people to be prepared. If the soaring temperatures do lead to us having to put in place slower speeds for safety reasons, please bear with us our engineers work to fix the problem. It may mean some journeys take longer.
“For those who must travel by rail, we’d remind people to carry some water with them so they don’t get too parched, and always check before travelling so they know exactly what to expect.”
For more information on how Network Rail deals with the hot weather visit www.networkrail.co.uk/how-we-prevent-tracks-from-getting-too-hot/.
Passengers are advised to check before they travel at www.nationalrail.co.uk.
Notes to Editors
- Since the last hottest summer in 2003, in 2018, we have reduced the number of buckled rail incidents by 83%.
- When installing our steel rails, we use a process called stressing to protect against buckling. Stressing the rails allows us to set the range of temperatures the track can comfortably cope with. Stressing our rails to cope with higher summer temperatures would mean making them less able to cope with low temperatures during the winter. Our rails have a stress-free temperature of 27oC, the average summer rail temperature in the UK. You can find more info here - https://www.networkrail.co.uk/why-rails-buckle-in-britain/
- Our teams work hard all year round to reduce minimise the disruption caused by hot weather. You can find more information about what we do here -https://www.networkrail.co.uk/running-the-railway/looking-after-the-railway/delays-explained/buckled-rail/
Contact information
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Network Rail national helpline
03457 11 41 41
Latest travel advice
Please visit National Rail Enquiries
Journalists
Network Rail press office - North West & Central Region
07740 782954
NWCmediarelations@networkrail.co.uk
About Network Rail
We own, operate and develop Britain's railway infrastructure; that's 20,000 miles of track, 30,000 bridges, tunnels and viaducts and the thousands of signals, level crossings and stations. We run 20 of the UK's largest stations while all the others, over 2,500, are run by the country's train operating companies.
Usually, there are almost five million journeys made in the UK and over 600 freight trains run on the network. People depend on Britain's railway for their daily commute, to visit friends and loved ones and to get them home safe every day. Our role is to deliver a safe and reliable railway, so we carefully manage and deliver thousands of projects every year that form part of the multi-billion pound Railway Upgrade Plan, to grow and expand the nation's railway network to respond to the tremendous growth and demand the railway has experienced - a doubling of passenger journeys over the past 20 years.
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