Extreme heat and transportation

AccuWeather Severe Weather Expert, Guy Pearson talks about the impacts of heat on railways.

Transcript

00:00Boy, heat, heat, heat has been the story over the last couple of days.

00:04Joining me right now is AccuWeather severe weather expert Guy Pearson.

00:08And you know, Guy, when you think of heat, you think of the dangers associated with it.

00:13Of course, being outside, getting dehydrated, sunburn.

00:18But also there's another hidden danger that I don't think a lot of people know about,

00:23and it's how this heat affects the railway transportation across the country.

00:32Yes, certainly. Good morning, Bernie. Good morning, everyone.

00:35Yes, during the summertime, you know, while all those impacts that you're talking about there are directly related to humans,

00:43it does affect the way in which we travel as well.

00:46And if you're a passenger on a rail line and traveling along, especially during the middle of summer or extreme heat waves,

00:54you may not be traveling as fast as what you used to.

00:57That sun, and especially the sun angle and everything, plays a huge part in how much that rail actually heats up during the day

01:05and can certainly misalign or what you end up seeing in some places is called sun kinks.

01:13And so especially in the northeast, you do get into a situation where you have areas that are in the shade,

01:19you have areas that are in the sun, and that allows, you were talking about differential there earlier,

01:24well, that allows for a heating differential.

01:26And sometimes then that can cause the track to warp and then move out of place.

01:31Now, is there a standard temperature for the railways and the tracks,

01:37or does it differ depending on the part of the country that the train is moving upon?

01:47Yeah, it really depends upon the part of the country in which you're in,

01:50because all of it goes back to how do they lay the rail in the beginning.

01:54You know, they actually superheat the rail, they actually stretch it out and use a continuous weld is what they call,

02:00versus the old clickety-clack where everything rail line was bolted together.

02:05And so when they go through that process, it actually makes, one, the ride much smoother,

02:11but then two, there's less wear and tear, and then in this type of environment,

02:17they can actually superheat it to what the general geographical regional normal temperature is,

02:23so then there's less likely for sun kinks and track expansion.

02:27So the northeast, going in and out of the sun and the clouds,

02:30you're talking, you know, 85 to 90 degrees is when they start to slow things down,

02:35start to inspect, because you do have lots of curves, you don't know what's around the curve,

02:39and you've got to be able to make sure you're in a good spot to be able to stop.

02:44All right, AccuWeather severe weather expert Guy Pearson.

02:47Very complicated stuff. Thanks for explaining it clearly,

02:51and it just goes to show you how temperature could really impact travel on the railways this summer.

02:58Guy, thanks for joining us here this morning.