Rail network at risk.

[pre65]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-11601014

[Tony]

Another scare story from the climate change nutcases. Landslides in London? Did no-one tell them that London is almost flat?

[pre65]

Originally Posted by Tony

Another scare story from the climate change nutcases. Landslides in London? Did no-one tell them that London is almost flat?

So, there are no cuttings or embankments in London ?

[pre65]

This was the bit that concerned me.

"In a separate study by Network Rail, engineers concluded that half of the UK's 10,000km (6,000 miles) of railway cuttings and embankments were in "poor" or "marginal" condition, leaving them vulnerable to extreme weather events."

Look what happened to the Severn Valley and Gloucester & Warwick railways.

[Madcaravanner]

Originally Posted by pre65

This was the bit that concerned me.

"In a separate study by Network Rail, engineers concluded that half of the UK's 10,000km (6,000 miles) of railway cuttings and embankments were in "poor" or "marginal" condition, leaving them vulnerable to extreme weather events."

Look what happened to the Severn Valley and Gloucester & Warwick railways.

BUT

Why are the cuttings and embankments in MARGINAL condition when Network Rail are supposed to care for all the infrastructure not just the nut& bolts on crossings

[Flying Pig]

Originally Posted by that BBC article

Extreme weather events - wet winters and hot summers - are projected to become more common over the next 50 years as a result of global warming.

Well on the Fens the reverse is true.

We've had an incredibly DRY winter which is causing subsidence of the track bed due to the black-peat shrinking.

Methinks this is just another quiet newsday for the Beeb...bad news sells, or so they say.

[klordger1900]

I think you'll find that your local rabbit population does a great deal of damage to embankments and badgers love cuttings so all this activity needs to be investigated because it causes a lot of problems under the trackbed and heavy rain will easily wash down unsafe gradients and take trees with them.