Heat shock: Train traffic in Germany massively disturbed - passengers affected!

Heat shock: Train traffic in Germany massively disturbed - passengers affected!

High temperatures are part of their part to mess up rail traffic in Germany. Like the Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger , not only the Deutsche Bahn, but also other railway companies suffered from train failures and delays. The causes are quickly called: broken soft and overheated engines are at the top of the problem list. Especially in Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Hamburg, there were route closures due to embankment fires that were favored by the extreme heat.

In North Rhine-Westphalia, several rail operators issue warnings that over 30 lines are affected. Replacement buses were used to ensure certain mobility to ensure passengers. In the morning there was a normalization of rail traffic. But this is just a drop on the hot stone; Further restrictions from extreme weather are in prospect, and the repair teams are ready to react to upcoming storms.

The risk of increasing temperatures

The current situation reflects a worrying trend, which the Tagesschau . Climate change not only has an impact on the temperatures, but also leads to increased floods, landslides and storms. Particular attention is paid to the 70% tree -covered routes of Deutsche Bahn. But only around half of these trees belong to the train, which makes cooperation with nature conservation authorities and property owners essential.

Responsibility is great, because while strong storms used to appear, especially in the autumn and winter months, we are now seeing a shift in the weather events. At Cologne-Mülheim, a broken branch had badly damaged an ICE-another indication that nature becomes more unpredictable. The risk has increased and the forecasts for tree health are often unreliable. So the branch showed no abnormalities at the last inspection before breaking.

measures and adjustments

In order to counter the challenges of climate change, Deutsche Bahn has developed prevention measures since the mid-2010s. In a recent study by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, it becomes clear that we have to expect an increase in heat and less hard winters by 2060. As the Deutsche Bahn , a further increase in extreme weather events such as heavy rain and hail will be forecast in the next few years.

Thanks to intensive green care on the track with new technology and higher personnel expenditure, storm damage has been reduced by 25 percent since 2018. The railway invests 125 million euros annually in the weather strength of its infrastructure. These investments are not only necessary, but also essential to maintain the mobility of the future.

The problems caused by the heat also have an impact on the passengers of the flixtrains. They reported that due to the extreme weather, ten trips were canceled and two more were shortened. It is particularly annoying that older flixtrain cars have no functioning air conditioning systems, which makes the temperatures unbearable on hot days.

The conditions therefore seem to be challenging not only for rail traffic, but for all modes of transport. Deutsche Bahn remains in search of solutions to minimize the risk of failures and to ensure the flow of travel even in extreme weather conditions.