Climate-Resilient Railway Infrastructure operations and construction

Rail transport is an energy-efficient mode of transportation with relatively low environmental impact and more specifically lower greenhouse gas emissions. The latter makes it a key contributor to the implementation of a long-term carbon-neutral transport strategy in Europe. However, this potential can only be realised if railways are adapted to withstand impacts associated with climate change.

One of the most critical vulnerabilities in the railway transport system is the low flexibility of both infrastructure and operations in the event of disturbances. The rail transport system also depends on other types of infrastructure. For instance, disturbances in the power supply due to extreme weather events directly influence the functionality of the railway transport system. Due to the long lifetime of rail infrastructure, which is expected to operate at full capacity for more than 50 years (and even longer, for some installations), it is appropriate to integrate climate change aspects into the long-term railway planning, design and management process. Moreover, many railways were designed and constructed in the past with reference to historical climate conditions that may be different from current and future conditions, due to climate change. The Rail Adapt Report vision (UIC, 2017) considers the adaptation process of railway as part of the business-as-usual development scenario. Thus, the cost of adaptation has only a marginal impact on the financial performance of a railway company. Climate change risks for the railway industry have been thoroughly described by the ARISCC project (Adaptation of Railway Infrastructure to Climate Change), implemented by the consortium led by UIC (International Union of Railways). The outcomes of ARISCC comprise natural hazard maps and a guidance document on integrated natural hazard management on railways.

A more recent review (Haghighi et al., 2025) confirmed that climate hazards can generate a wide range of impacts on railways. These can be categorised into two main types, physical and operational impacts. Physical impacts involve direct damage to railway infrastructure. They can be structural (e.g. damages to rails and sleepers), geotechnical (e.g. damages to ballast material and to slopes), and hydrological (failure in the drainage systems, flooding). Operational impacts encompass service disruptions and delays. An extensive body of literature suggests that the impacts of climate hazards on railway infrastructure and operation are growing due to climate change.

The same study revealed that both extreme weather events (heavy rainfall, extreme winds, floods and storms) and slow onset processes (higher mean temperatures) are among the most frequently studied climate hazards. The most reported impacts for railways are thermal stress, rail buckling, flooded tracks, landslides on embankments, service disruption, and increased maintenance demands.

Adaptation approaches may seek to increase railway infrastructure robustness by reducing asset vulnerability to the hazards, and thereby allowing functioning also in adverse conditions. This may imply for example raising electrical systems above predicted flood levels. Adaptation may also seek to provide redundancy in the system, to enable continuity of operations when a system failure occurs. It comprises creating additional or alternative services. Finally, adaptation may encompass measures to enable rapid recovery to quickly reinstate the infrastructure and services (Palin et al., 2021).

The choice of the adaptation measure depends on the local context, the exposure to particular hazards, the presence of other non-climate related risks, the desired adaptation expenditure and target,  and infrastructure lifetime.

An increase in temperature can generate rail buckling, an increased risk of vegetation fires, an increasing need to install cooling and other systems for passenger comfort. The respective adaptation responses should combine technical solutions (e.g. increased heat resistance of switches and the safety system), with Nature-based solutions (e.g. vegetation planting to protect tracks from direct solar radiation).  

Heavy rain events, storms and winds can reduce soil stability, trigger landslides, rock falls or avalanches, affecting mainly mountainous areas. Structural protection measures need to be implemented, such as dikes and embankments. These measures may have multiple benefits as they may protect also settlements or other infrastructure such as roads or energy supply networks. To improve the wind resilience of catenary masts, adaptation may encompass keeping areas close to tracks and catenaries free from hazardous objects. Nature-based solutions can encompass vegetation planting to reduce soil erosion and reinforce slopes.

Vegetation is often used as a buffer zone for noise and pollution along railway tracks and also to protect the track from direct exposure to the sun. Green rail corridors can be created alongside rail tracks to favour the movement of wildlife species. To avoid operational failures caused by trees fallen over the tracks or by wildfires, vegetation planting and maintenance should be carefully planned. It must consider local climate conditions and climate change projections. For example, using plants with relatively high moisture content and low levels of volatile oils can help prevent wildfires. Tree species selection to withstand higher wind should be envisaged in storm-prone areas (Blackwood et al., 2022).

The implementation of structural measures for the whole railway system is often not feasible for both economic reasons and aspects of nature and landscape protection. Therefore, there is a strong need for additional (non-structural) risk reduction measures, such as the provision of early warning systems, traffic redirection, alternative timetables, smart replacement of services (e.g. bus transport), enhanced interconnectivity among different transport modes (multimodality).  Moreover, providing real-time information to passengers is fundamental. 

The adaptation of railway infrastructure is also part of the solutions for ensuring the continuity of supply chains for the business and industry sector. Common risks that threaten supply chain continuity related to transportation include delays or interruptions of essential transport services caused by extreme weather events, rail buckling and accidents. Supply chain disruption might finally generate increased costs. This can impact the buyer, supplier or the entire supply chain. Ensuring the resilience of railways is also critical to ensure the connectivity of destinations in tourism regions, thus also contributing to the economic development of this sector. 

Normally, railway companies working at the national level manage the implementation of measures aimed at increasing resilience of railway transport.  These actors are supported by public administrations operating at the regional, national or even European level (e.g. EC DG MOVE). Those  provide legislative, administrative and financial support for adaptation activities. Companies specialised in the design and construction of transport carry out the technical implementation of measures. . All these stakeholders are supported by research institutions and consultancy providing vulnerability assessment, prioritization of measures, feasibility studies and cost-benefit analysis. Actors delivering weather forecasting and early warning systems (e.g. UBIMET in Austria) are also important stakeholders to be involved. Some studies revealed a low level of awareness of climate change issues among railway managers and stakeholders which can hamper adaptation.

Due to the long lifespan of railway infrastructure, the implementation of adaptation measures shall be part of the overall railway development process and/or modernisation. More generally, it should be incorporated into long-term transport strategies, within rail is expected to play an important role. This can ensure the availability of needed financial resources. Besides lack of funds, other factors which can hinder railway development and adaptation are related to possible conflicts with environmental protection goals, mainly related to landscape fragmentation, and possible conflicts with local communities concerned about increased noise pollution and land take.

Most advantageous adaptation measures are those that provide synergies with other measures leading to additional benefits, for example, contributing to climate change mitigation, fostering sustainable development and improving biodiversity protection. In this perspective nature-based solutions could be used to adapt the rail system in a variety of ways. Some trees withstand higher wind speeds than others, small meandering water courses could buffer high water levels better than man-made drainage systems, and the selection of suitable vegetation near the rail corridor could reduce the risk of fires.

Measures leading to adverse environmental effects should not be considered, unless required by safety regulations. For instance, the increase in the use of air-conditioning systems to cool indoor spaces should be limited as much as possible to limit the production to greenhouse gas emissions. Measures to reduce the vulnerability to falling trees by establishing wider rail corridors may be counterproductive for some other objectives. A wider corridor can result in larger temperature differences in the track zone. This may challenge future objectives to reduce vulnerability to fires or rail buckling unless these problems are addressed.

The main benefit of adaptation measures is climate change resilient railway infrastructure and operation, ensuring connectivity of the transport network with implications to economic prosperity and welfare. Besides, the auxiliary benefits of adaptation measures are contributions to sustainable development and climate change mitigation (transport mode shift towards rail leads to decrease in greenhouse gas emissions). Also, other than environmental synergies and co-benefits of adaptation measures are desirable. For instance, structural protection measures may, apart from protecting the railway track, also protect settlements or other infrastructure such as roads or energy supply. In economic terms, railways are key transport infrastructures not only for the mobility of EU residents and tourists, but also for transporting goods within and across countries in a sustainable way. Carbon emissions from railway transport are only a fraction of emissions from other freight transport options (EEA, 2021). Adaptation actions aimed at preserving the medium and long-term operability of the European railway network are thus crucial also for the vitality and sustainability of the European freight trade sector and for the industries that ship their goods by railway.

Costs vary consistently according to the selected measures, their specific design, the scale of application, specific conditions of the locality where the measures are implemented, climate challenges addressed and many other factors. Economic costs include the cost of direct impacts on infrastructure assets, the cost of transport delays and cancellations arising from extreme weather, and the cost of adaptation actions. Several studies quantify the economic costs of climate change on railways. Comparing those results was found quite challenging. This is due to the use of different climate models, climate scenarios, future time periods, assessment methodologies, geographic scope etc.

Moreover, the wider socio-economic cost of transport disruption is rarely quantified. It can encompass reduced capacity for transporting essential goods, and reduced tourism attractiveness of destinations (Palin et al., 2021). With the increase in climate-related events and risks, it is reasonable to expect increased costs to maintain a safe and serviceable network, to rebuild damaged or destroyed infrastructure, and to cover increased business management (EU Agency for Railways, 2024).

The costs are primarily covered by the railway company; co-financing may be provided from the public budget, European financial instruments and other sources. Public-private partnerships can have a role in financing adaptation measures of railway infrastructure and services. For example, the Austrian railway company ÖBB adopted a risk reduction strategy based on advanced weather monitoring and an early warning system (infra:wetter).It is jointly operated by ÖBB and the private weather service UBIMET GmbH (see the case study Building railway transport resilience to Alpine hazards).

International transport by rail is governed by several intergovernmental conventions and within the European Union by several EU Regulations and Directives.

At the EU level, a major policy document, the 2011 White Paper (Roadmap to a Single European Transport Area), proposed an ambitious approach to overcome the identified shortcomings of mobility in the EU. Among various actions, it also recognised the need to address climate change challenges by strengthening climate resilience for the overall infrastructure.

Since 2020, the Sustainable and smart mobility strategy together with an action plan of 82 measures, governs the future of the EU transport in line with the ambition of the European Green Deal and the objectives of the EU’s Digital Strategy. Resilient mobility is a key objective of the EU Sustainable and Smart Mobility Strategy. To safeguard transport continuity, actions include the set-up of crisis contingency plan(s) for the transport sector, the upgrade (climate proofing) of physical and digital transport infrastructure, the interoperability between different transport modes and the reinforcement of TEN-T network. A key EU policy objective is reinforcing multimodality, ensuring a better integration of the transport modes and establishing interoperability at all levels of the transport system (EU Agency for Railways, 2024). The TEN-T regulation mandates that projects of "common interest" must demonstrate climate resilience. It specifically requires infrastructure managers to assess vulnerability to climate change (floods, heatwaves) and implement adaptation measures to protect public investments.

Typical time needed for the implementation of the technical measures is several years (approximately 2-5 years). Implementation of operational measures, however, must be fast and react promptly to the disturbance caused by extreme events. The provision of weather forecasts and early warning systems is continuous.

The lifetime of technical measures should comply with the lifetime of the railway infrastructure itself, which is several decades.