Eurostar prepares for extreme heat with trains that can cope with 55C
Image credit: Sergii Figurnyi / Shutterstock.com
By
Clara Bousfield
Simone Jacobs
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After the unprecedented weather that countries in Europe are facing this summer, Eurostar wants to amend future trains so they can run in temperatures as high as 55 degrees celsius.
Eurostar orders trains that can operate in 55C
Eurostar recently updated its order of trains from models that can operate in 45-degree weather to models that can run in 55-degree weather. The decision comes after a string of heatwaves hit several countries in Europe, something which is likely to become a more frequent occurrence.
“This year, the heatwave has been earlier, longer, hotter than ever,” Eurostar chief executive Gwendoline Cazenave told the Financial Times (FT). Given the heat that Cazenave believes is more commonly associated with Saudi Arabia, the international rail company decided to prepare for hotter temperatures, as the new trains are set to be in service until the 2060s.
Preparing for extreme heat in Europe
Eurostar placed a 2-billion-euro order for up to 50 trains from Alstom, including new double-decker trains, to run in the Channel Tunnel from 2031. Fortunately, the terms of the contract with the producer allowed the rail company to change the heat specifications before finalising the order. The main change to the trains is the material used for the components of the air-conditioning units.
Other measures that take extreme heat into consideration, which the company is already implementing, include adding more maintenance bays for air-conditioning units and stocking trains with more bottled water when heatwaves are forecast.
While SBB has only recently signed an agreement for a direct train service from Switzerland to London, the move by Eurostar is perhaps a warning of what’s to come. The alpine nation was just one of the countries in Europe to grapple with two heatwaves recently, resulting in drought, fire bans and violent thunderstorms. Scientists have warned that due to climate change, heatwaves like this could become more likely and more intense.
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Clara Bousfield
Editor at IamExpat Media
Editor for the Netherlands at IamExpat Media. Simone studied Genetics and Zoology at the University of Pretoria in South Africa before moving to the Netherlands, where she has been working as a writer and editor since 2022. One thing she loves more than creating content is consuming it, mainly by reading books by the dozen. Other than being a book dragon, she is also a nature lover and enjoys hiking and animal training.Read more