Essay by Eric Worrall

It wasn’t slipshod earthworks maintenance, it was climate change wot dunnit?

Newington landslip due to climate change, says Network Rail

By Jacob Panons

BBC News, South East

A railway director said the train system is “suffering the challenges of climate change” following a landslip in Kent.

Network Rail, which found a 40m (131ft) long crack, said material had slipped about 5m (16ft) down an embankment at Newington on Friday.

Network Rail’s Kent route infrastructure director Bob Coulson said more than £470m had been spent on earthworks.

The line is due to reopen on Monday.

…

Read more: https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-kent-68435639

To be fair, Kent does get a lot of rainfall, including over the last few days. But getting historic rainfall data out of the British Environment Agency is like pulling teeth.

In addition, the area has long been known for landslips. Down the road in Folkestone, a recent landslip is threatening a residential house. And you don’t have to look hard to find historical accounts of other landslides in the region, such as a Kent landslide which caused a train crash in 2020, a severe landslide in 1988, or severe landslips in 1877, 1920 and 1939.

Clearly these evil CO2 molecules have developed the ability to tunnel backwards in time, and cause climate disasters before they were even released into the atmosphere.