UK: Infrastructure manager Network Rail and national meteorological service the Met Office have signed a memorandum of understanding to reduce from months to days the time needed to commission research into the effects of weather on the rail network.
Plans include work on probabilistic weather forecasting and understanding the links between earthwork failures and rainfall, antecedent soil wetness and geology.
‘Extreme weather is one of the biggest challenges facing the railway and one of the major causes of delays to passengers and freight’, said Network Rail’s Industry Weather Response Director Lisa Angus on August 21. ‘Science plays a significant role in our response, in particular using the vast amount of data and data processing capacity the Met Office has.’
The MoU builds on what had been a commercial relationship between the two state-owned bodies. Angus said Network Rail is ‘one of the world leaders in understanding the links between rainfall and earthworks, from soil types to rain intensity, and that is thanks to our partnership with the researchers at the Met Office’.
The MoU does not include day-to-day weather forecasting, which is supplied to Network Rail by weather firm MetDesk.
