Universities help Network Rail to update hot weather rules to reduce disruption

Description

Co-operating as part of the UK Rail Research & Innovation Network, the universities of Huddersfield and Southampton have supported Network Rail in making changes to its hot weather policies to take into account modern track and train design which reduce the risk of rails buckling during heatwaves.​

Subject

‘We have analysed 30 years of data to characterise the buckling risk of different track types and developed a simple measure of the severity of a track buckle’, said Paul Molyneux-Berry, Principal Industrial Fellow at the University of Huddersfield’s Institute of Railway Research, on June 25. ‘Vehicle dynamic simulations of many train types and buckle geometries were then carried out to determine safe speeds in hot weather.’