This spring we’ll use about 1,500 litres of white paint – the equivalent of 30,000 square metres – for sections of the railway to help keep you moving in the summer.
Why? Extremely hot weather is a serious challenge for the railway. Last year hot weather caused rails to buckle, leading to 350,006 minutes of delays to your journeys.
Hundreds of our team members – armed with paint, brushes and rollers – are taking to the tracks to get the railway ready for the hot months ahead.
Spring is a busy season for DIY projects and a simple lick of paint can go a long way. Over the next few weeks, we’ll paint sections of railway white across Britain to help reflect the sun rays and reduce overheating and buckling.
Last summer was Europe’s warmest on record, according to Copernicus, the Earth observation component of the European Union’s space programme. It was 1.54°C above the 1991-2020 average – exceeding the previous record from 2022, which stood at 1.34°C.
Billions of investment to prevent delays
Lisa Angus, industry weather response director at Network Rail, said: “Soaring temperatures on the railway can put a huge amount of pressure on our infrastructure. With extreme weather events becoming more frequent we’re working hard to keep passengers moving through the summer months ahead.
“Last year we announced plans to invest £2.8bn over the next five years to make the network more resilient to the issues caused by climate change; helping to keep our railway safe, improve performance and minimise disruption.”
20°C hotter than air temperature
Our railway has 20,000 miles of track and in a summer heatwave, rails in direct sunshine can be as much as 20°C hotter than air temperature. Rails are made from steel so they expand as they get warmer and can start to curve. This is known as buckling, which can lead to disruption for you and freight.
We work hard to keep you moving in hot weather and reduce disruption caused by overheating rails. Painting parts of the rail white means they absorb less heat – reducing the risk of expansion. Typically, a rail painted white is 5°C to 10°C cooler than one left unpainted.
We also work closely with specialist weather forecasters and local weather stations to make necessary plans and take action so rails are less likely to buckle.
This includes checking track stability each winter, as part of ongoing maintenance, and strengthening weak parts.
Meanwhile, we’ve installed probes on some parts of the railway to alert us when track temperatures rise. This information helps us know when to slow down trains so they exert less force on the rail, keeping you safe.
