Open AccessAnalogues for the railway network of Great Britain
Author(s) -
Sanderson M. G.,
Hanlon H. M.,
Palin E. J.,
Quinn A. D.,
Clark R. T.
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
meteorological applications
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.672
H-Index - 59
eISSN - 1469-8080
pISSN - 1350-4827
DOI - 10.1002/met.1597
Subject(s) - climate change , vulnerability (computing) , extreme weather , adaptation (eye) , stakeholder , psychological resilience , environmental resource management , resilience (materials science) , geography , environmental science , meteorology , computer science , political science , psychology , ecology , physics , public relations , computer security , optics , psychotherapist , biology , thermodynamics
In recent years (2013–2016), extreme weather events have caused substantial disruption to Great Britain's ( GB 's) railway infrastructure. In the coming decades this vulnerability is unlikely to subside as the effects of climate change become more intense. Railway stakeholders in GB are strongly engaged with understanding climate change impacts on the railway system and how the industry could adapt to these impacts. Since 2010, Network Rail and RSSB have supported research into these topics under the Tomorrow's Railway and Climate Change Adaptation programme. Under this programme, an analogue study was performed to determine whether lessons could be learned from other countries' weather management. Two types of analogue were used to identify suitable locations. First, climate data from 20 models of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project phase 5 ( CMIP5 ) were used to identify regions with similar present‐day climate to that projected for GB in the future. The analogue locations were found to be largely insensitive to the climate indicators and the methods used to compare climate at different locations. Next, railway networks in many countries were studied to find those with similar physical and operational characteristics to the GB network. The regions with both climate and railway analogues are France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and Denmark. As part of a wider aim to support the GB railway network's weather resilience and climate change adaptation ( WR / CCA ) activities, focused stakeholder engagement has been undertaken with representatives of most of these countries' railways. This targeted approach is complementary to a broader collation of existing WR / CCA measures used globally.