Railways need to get a grip in the face of normalised extreme weather

Jess Brown-Fuller has called on the railways to get a grip in the face of extreme weather, which is leading to delayed and cancelled services. This follows a summer in which temperatures of 30°C or above were recorded on 40 days.

Jess raised the impact of this extreme heat on her constituents during a parliamentary debate on the impact of extreme weather on trains. She discussed the experiences of those travelling to work in Chichester from Bognor Regis and Portsmouth, who are facing increased disruption because of the weather. Jess also highlighted the announcements of trains being cancelled due to issues such as leaves on the line and swans on the track.

Jess outside Chichester station

Afterwards, Jess said:

Over the summer, Chichester was faced with horrendous rail disruption because of extreme heat. Well, extreme heat is becoming the norm, with 40 days above 30°C, yet the country and our rail network are not ready.

Our infrastructure in many parts of the country is Victorian, and disruption is going to become more and more frequent if we do not get a grip right away.

 The Government must urgently look at how they can future-proof the railways. If they are going to keep reneging on their climate promises, they need to start taking action to mitigate the impact of climate change on our national infrastructure.