Adapting to climate changes

(c) NetworkRail

Railways have been forming part of our landscapes for years and as such, they have been constantly subject to the effects of the weather. Now, due to climate change, railways are more than ever exposed to hard weather conditions and thus, the need for adaptation is growing urgently.

To cope with extreme weather and to recover quickly from it, various strategies have been implemented by different railways companies that aim at coping with the impacts of flooding, storms and gales, intense short time period rainfall, extended rain periods, thunderstorms, hot temperatures and changing vegetation.

ARISCC Project - http://www.ariscc.org/ In 2009 the UIC launched a project named ARISCC, (Adaptation of Railway Infrastructure to Climate Change) which reported in late 2010. The project found good practice examples and case studies of adaptation plans and made recommendations on how to develop these strategies. The case studies and recommendations are available at http://www.ariscc.org/

Preivous work: In 2006 UIC dedicated a task force to examine the consequences on rail infrastructure. In 2007 the task force launched a feasibility study aiming to explore if and how the impact of extreme weather events are an issue for UIC members and to give directions for the next steps.

The feasibility study was finalised in 2008 and demonstrated that the impact of global warming is an important issue for UIC members – and the future work will be targeting three phases: 1) Readiness for extreme weather events, 2) Robustness when extreme weather events occur 3) Recovery ability after extreme weather has occurred

UIC is a member of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Changes (UNFCCC UNFCCC United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Changes )’s Global Adaptation Programme entitled the Nairobi work programme.

UIC is also a member of the UNECE UNECE United Nations Economic Commission for Europe Expert Group on Adaptation, and the EC Adaptation Steering Group.

UIC recently made a presentation to an OECD Conference on Climate Change Adaptation - see presentation below.

UIC presentation to OECD - Railway perspective on adaptation

Please see below a series of presentations from our workshop held in 2010 on this topic.

Workshop on Adaptation of Railway Infrastructure to Climate Change (ARISCC) with contribution from “Railways and Winter“

When: 19th and 20th October 2010 Where: UIC HQ Paris

The workshop on focused on the 3Rs – Readiness, Resilience & Recovery of climate adaption. During the two-day workshop, several presentations and participants from different European countries illustrated and discussed the status quo as well as key elements of an integrated natural hazard management with regard to ARISCC.

The European perspective – the position of the rail sector: Adapting rail infrastructure to Climate Change

The European perspective – the position of the rail sector

Overview over the Workshop & the ARISCC project; Roland Nolte, IZT

Overview over the Workshop & the ARISCC project

Weather information and warning systems, Christian Rachoy, ÖBB

Weather information and warning systems

How to learn from past events? SBB Event Database, Roland Nolte, IZT on behalf of Andreas Meyer (SBB)

SBB Event Database Paris 19-10-2010

How to set priorities for the assessment of vulnerabilities? Report from the TraCCa project, John Dora, Network Rail

Report from the TraCCa project

Regional climate projections and potential vulnerabilities for DB AG, Roland Nolte IZT

Regional climate projections and potential vulnerabilities for DB AG

How to identify vulnerable parts of the infrastructure (“hot spots”)? Vulnerability mapping. Examples: Vulnerability Maps, climate projections and hazard modelling for the West Coast Main Line in UK, John Dora

Vulnerability mapping, UK

Bonus presentation: Severe Weather Management Communication, Paul D Arnold, Network Rail

Severe Weather Management Communication, UK