Summers Here, Stay Indoors, But If You Have To Travel By Train Expect Delays.

anotheoldgit | 10:20 Tue 30th Jun 2015 | News

13 Answers

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3144179/The-wrong-kind-heat-Trains-cancelled-tracks-buckle-sun-expected-tomorrow-heatwave-hits-35C.html

So we are in for a few days of summer, and what happens? we get warnings of hundreds of deaths, and that there will have to be speed reductions on trains which will consequently lead to delays, simply because the heat is likely to buckle the rails.

We invented rail travel and introduced and installed the fore-mentioned through out our Empire, I wonder if Africa or India (to name a couple) experience the same problem in the much greater extreme temperatures in their countries?

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Retrochic

Its the same when 'Winter' arrives . One flake of snow and the whole infrastructure of the UK grinds to a halt ;-)

anotheoldgit

Question Author

Only when it is the 'wrong type' of snow Retrochic. :0)

ummmm

I don't why it happens but maybe it's something to do with the sudden changes of temperature in the UK.

naomi24

//I wonder if Africa or India (to name a couple) experience the same problem in the much greater extreme temperatures in their countries? //

Perhaps their systems are built differently. Ours have to cope with extreme temperatures at both ends of the spectrum. Just a guess.

Barmaid

I dont know for sure because I have never travelled by train in India and Africa but if they do not have the high speed trains we have that could be part of the reason. According to that article, the low speed trains have less impact on the rails and therefore reduce the chance of buckling.

Buenchico

India and Africa have a lot of track that has been laid in the old-fashioned way, with short lengths of track used and with expansion gaps deliberately left between them. (It was the existence of those gaps that resulted in the 'clickety-clack' sound of trains passing over the tracks in John Betjeman's days).

Such track-laying techniques cost vastly more in labour, not only when the tracks are laid but forever after in order to keep the track in good condition (especially when high-speed running is required).

The use of continuous track cuts down costs (both in track-laying and in subsequent maintenance), greatly improves safety (because there's no chance of a single section of track becoming misaligned, leading to a possible train derailment) and permits higher running speeds. The only slight disadvantage is that running speeds have to be reduced in hot weather but, even then, they'll probably be no slower than the maximum that would have been possible using the older track-laying technique.

anotheoldgit

Question Author

As far as I know steel expands when it is heated and shrinks when it becomes cold, and this is allowed for by the gap that is left between the rails.

So I can't see being in a difference country makes any difference, except for the extremes in temperature.

anotheoldgit

Question Author

Thank you Buenchico it would seem that I am far behind in rail technology, seeing that I thought they still had a gap between the rails.

Canary42

Get up to date AOG - the tracks are now stretched before being laid, and this stretching takes up the expansion without distortion, so there are no longer gaps.

jourdain2

I'm genuinely curious about this. France experiences extremes of temperature too (I've known -19C and + 43) and some of the changes are quite sudden - yet their high-speed trains keep on running and I've never heard anyone say they have to slow down a bit. Odd.

Buenchico