Concern about climate change is an issue that extends to the development of society and the infrastructures it invests in to achieve a sustainable future.
The accumulation of CO2 in the atmosphere slows down our planet’s natural heat dissipation process and has potential negative effects on our environment, making the promotion of public transport a crucial mitigation strategy, but during this process how can we protect our rail infrastructures against future climate projections?
ADIF has recently published a new version of the NAG 4-0-0.0 Standard regarding the “Methodology for the Analysis of Vulnerability, Risk and Adaptation to Climate Effects”, reaffirming through a four-stage study process its concern for this aspect in future actions on the Spanish railway network.
At IDOM we anticipate the new quality demands that our clients require in their commissions and we have extensive experience with their application in projects such as those that include the different sections of the new railway network in the Baltic countries, where the development of a Climate Change Matrix throughout the design phases has served to assess the risk of possible adverse effects on drainage systems, slopes or superstructure rails, among others, and to propose adaptation measures that prevent the railway service from being affected, in turn extending the life cycle of the infrastructure.