UK’s network rail to spend £2.8 billion to tackle climate woes

UK’s Network Rail Ltd. plans to “significantly” increase investment in making the nation’s railroads more resilient as they get buffeted by more frequent disruptions from heavy rain and high temperatures.

“We are seeing far wetter and more volatile winters, our summers are less predictable, and our railway - built mostly on Victorian foundations - is vulnerable under these changing conditions,” Chief Executive Officer Andrew Haines said Tuesday a filing.

The infrastructure manager to the British railway network plans to invest £2.8 billion ($3.6 billion) over the next five years to keep trains running safely even with “more frequent and extreme weather” conditions. Severe weather was the biggest challenge faced by the railroad over all others in the last 12 months, Haines said in a statement.

Heat, historically a relatively minor threat to European trains, is becoming increasingly difficult to deal with. In the UK, operators get a payout from Network Rail to compensate for lost income if services are disrupted or canceled by weather. 

In the past, most of the compensation has been linked to wind and flooding, but heat rose from 3% of claims between 2009 and 2014 to over 10% on average between 2015 and 2020.

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