New approach to climate resilience can protect rail industry

The Rail Resilience Framework, from global sustainable development consultancy Arup, details the huge toll extreme weather events caused by climate change are already taking on rail networks around the world – from US$7.6bn of restoration work for the New York City subway network, to €2bn of flood damage to railway infrastructure in Germany.

And this will only happen more often, with forecasts showing that once-in-50-year weather events will soon happen as much as once in every six years. And those who can least afford it are worst affected; with transport disruptions causing a $107bn annual loss to businesses in low-and medium-income countries.

Rail networks are taking action – including £2.8bn of investment recently announced to defend UK railways against climate change. But authors of the framework warn that action needs to include collaboration between all sections of rail operation, governments, businesses, and local communities. Otherwise, railways face the risk of expensive and repeated piecemeal repairs and upgrades that could lead to long closures.

The framework sets out a proactive, whole-system approach to resilience planning across the three key dimensions of any rail network around the world. Drawing on a methodology tested across cities and infrastructure, it helps rail operators, owners, and planners to move from a position of worrying about the next week or the next year to creating a clear line of sight into the future.

This helps avoid a cycle of repeated costly and disruptive emergency repairs by helping to:

1. Identify potential gaps that impact long-term resilience and risk

2. Unlock cost savings and efficiencies across rail organisations.

3. Enable better day-to-day decision-making on operations and maintenance.

4. Spread action and cost to prioritise actions over the long-term

5. Develop shared knowledge and understanding of resilience across the network.