How hot can railroad tracks get?

Because rails are made from steel, they expand as they get hotter, and can start to curve this is known as 'buckling'. Most of the network can operate when track temperatures heat up to 46°C – roughly equivalent to air temperature of around 30°C – but rails have been recorded at temperatures as high as 51°C.



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Railroad engineering departments and train operators coordinate “slow orders,” reductions in speeds in order to avoid derailments when air temperatures exceed 100°. At an air temperature of 110°, the temperature of the rails themselves can often reach 140°.

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Because rails are made from steel, they expand as they get hotter, and can start to curve this is known as 'buckling'. Most of the network can operate when track temperatures heat up to 46°C – roughly equivalent to air temperature of around 30°C – but rails have been recorded at temperatures as high as 51°C.

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Just as people can suffer sunburn or heat stroke from too much exposure to sunlight and hot temperatures, rail can bend or warp because of a blistering sun and sweltering temps. If the rail malformations known as a sun kink or track buckle aren't repaired in a timely manner, trains can derail.

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Railways. Steel rails expand and tend to buckle in the heat – whatever the climate. According to Network Rail, railways worldwide are designed to operate within a 45C (81F) range, according to the local conditions.

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In the United Kingdom, CWR is stressed to 27 °C (81 °F), the mean summer rail temperature. In the US, standard stress free temperatures vary from 35 to 43 °C (90 to 110 °F).

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The estimated accident rate in 2019 is 0.85 fatal collisions or derailments per billion train-kilometres, which represents a fall of 78% since 1990.

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Lifetime of railway track is normally between 40-60 years.

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Expansion and contraction: Railway tracks expand and contract due to temperature changes. Without gaps, the rails would have no room to expand, leading to buckling or bending of the track. This can cause derailments and damage to the infrastructure.

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Protective coatings and paints are widely used to prevent rust formation on railway tracks. These coatings and paints create a barrier between the metal surface of the tracks and the environment, preventing moisture and oxygen from coming into contact with the metal.

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Rails are made of steel which expands as it heats up. If trains go too fast they risk buckling the track. While the air temperature might be 31C, temperatures on tracks can exceed 50C during heatwaves. Just a few hours of above-average heat is enough to cause problems.

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Worst accidents The worst accident was the Quintinshill rail disaster in Scotland in 1915 with 226 dead and 246 injured. Second worst, and the worst in England, was the 1952 Harrow and Wealdstone rail crash, which killed 112 people and injured 340.

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