Unbearable UK: Why are trains cancelled, flights grounded when there is a heatwave?

Unbearable UK: Why are trains cancelled, flights grounded when there is a heatwave?

Jul 19, 2022 - 19:30
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Unbearable UK: Why are trains cancelled, flights grounded when there is a heatwave?

The heat is on!

Britain is sweltering away, as temperatures soared past 40 degrees Celsius and the mercury is expected to rise to an absolute peak of 43 degrees Celsius (109F) in central or eastern England today.

The extreme temperature in Britain has made the front pages of newspapers across the country, with The Sun tabloid headlining its coverage of the heat as “British Bake Off”, observing that the “scorcher” was making the United Kingdom hotter than Ibiza, where temperatures were a comparatively low 30 degree Celsius.

Also read: Feeling Hot! Hot! Hot! Europe battles heatwave, wildfire as mercury continues to soar

The rising mercury has also caused travel chaos with train operators cancelling or slowing down services while flights were also suspended due to “defects” on the runway. In some parts of Britain, there have been reports of train tracks catching fire owing to the extreme temperatures.

Train services disrupted

With the weather office in UK sounding off a red extreme heat warning for England, train services announced that trains will mostly be limited to speeds of 90 mph, down from 100 mph or 125 mph, while some will go as slow as 20 mph.

The heat has brought major rail chaos for commuters around the capital, with no Thameslink or Great Northern trains running in any location north of London, from Blackfriars via St Pancras, or from King’s Cross or Moorgate.

LNER will run no trains from south of York and south of Leeds to King’s Cross — and Southern, Southeastern, South Western Railway and Great Western Railway are among the operators running significantly reduced services.

On the London Underground, there was no Hammersmith & City line, no Metropolitan line between Baker Street and Aldgate due to ‘heat-related speed restrictions’, and severe delays on the Central and District lines.

There was also no Overground between Willesden Junction and Richmond or Romford and Upminster, while there were delays on other Overground lines, the Jubilee line and the western and eastern parts of the Elizabeth line.

Commuters wait for their train on a platform at West Norwood station in south London amid disruption warnings over extreme heat. AFP

Transport for London said London’s rail network will be running a reduced service throughout today due to safety restrictions put into place to deal with the heat, and Gatwick Express trains were completely suspended.

Not ‘train’ed to handle the heat

Network Rail — which owns and operates Britain’s 20,000 miles of railway track and 30,000 bridges, tunnels and viaducts — explaining the reasons for cancellations or reduced speeds said that abnormally high temperatures can cause steel rails across the network to buckle.

“When Britain enjoys a summer heatwave, rails in direct sunshine can be as much as 20 degrees Celsius (36°F) hotter than air temperature,” it explained.

“Because rails are made from steel, they expand as they get hotter, and can start to curve. This is known as ‘buckling’.”

Rail passengers pass an electronic sign warning of 'Extremely hot weather' forecast for 18 and 19 July, and advising commuters to only travel for essential journeys, at Kings Cross station in London. AFP

Additionally, the movement of trains also generates forces onto the track. The higher the speed, the greater the force of a train. When heat expansion adds to the pressure, British trains have to slow down to reduce the additional forces they are applying.

Another issue for railway networks amid the heatwave is the risk of overhead wires overheating.

During heatwaves, the overhead wires can expand and sag, causing the train's pantograph to become entangled in the wires and requiring repairs.

Heatwave grounds flights

On Monday, one of the UK’s largest airports suspended flights after high temperatures damaged a runway.

Engineers detected a 'surface defect' in the runway and closed it for repairs.

Commenting on the disruption, Luton Airport said: “Following today’s high temperatures, a surface defect was identified on the runway.

“Engineers were called immediately to site and repair works are currently in progress to resume operations as soon as possible.

“We would like to apologise for the inconvenience caused.”

It was later restarted on Monday evening.

This announcement came shortly after the Royal Air Force (RAF) paused all flights to and from Brize Norton, its biggest air base, in Oxfordshire after a report from Sky News suggested that the runway had "melted."

The UK Ministry of Defence tweeted a statement on flights at Brize Norton on Monday afternoon.

A tourist uses a fan whilst standing in the hot sun outside Buckingham Palace, during hot weather in London. AP

Solutions

A short-term solution that officials are using is to paint the rail tracks with white paint. A rail painted white can be 5 to 10 degrees Celsius cooler than one left unpainted.

Also, commuters in London have been advised not to use the city’s transport network unless for “essential journeys”.

For those who have to travel, an advisory has been issued which asks people to travel during the coolest parts of the day, which are early in the morning and late in the evening.

Doctors have also asked people to be attentive for signs of heatstroke and heat-related illness.

With inputs from agencies

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