By Paul Homewood
Thanks to WUWT for this research:
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.
Mr Coulson said the amount of money spent "shows the size of the challenge we’re facing".
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-kent-68435639
Maybe Coulson might like to explain what caused landslides in Kent pre-climate change:
Exceptional images have re-emerged of one of Kent’s biggest landslips, highlighting the essential work by Network Rail to maintain coast-side railway lines.
Original photographs of The Great Fall, a severe landslip at Folkestone Warren in December 1915, show train derailments and continued rail movement following the incident.
The railway line to Dover moved 50 metres towards the coastline and 1.5 million cubic metres of chalk fell into the sea following weeks of heavy rain.
The line remained closed until 11 August 1919, the First World War having delayed its reopening.
Derek Butcher, a route asset manager at Network Rail, found the historic images in a filing cabinet while moving offices.
He said: “All landslides are activated by rainfall… [that location] has quite complex geology formed of chalk overlying clay. The water from the rainfall percolates through the chalk and sits on top of the clay and saturates it, and leads to landslips. The chalk can’t sit in a stable manner on the clay when it’s that wet.”
The kink in the line remains visible today, underscoring the severity of the incident.
Derek said: “We believe the train pictured was alerted to the landslip by the signal box at Folkestone Junction and was slowed down and found itself part on and part off the landslip. They were able to evacuate passengers who walked through the tunnel to Folkestone Junction station.
“There was a significant amount of movement following the train stopping… That’s why it looks so horrific.”
Landslips have been a major feature of the line since it opened in 1844. In 1877, two people died when part of the Martello Tunnel was destroyed. The line remained closed for three months afterwards.
The last major movement was recorded in 1939 but Derek said some ground movement had forced Network Rail to implement speed restrictions on the line in recent years. The need to take such precautions typically follows a very wet winter.
Landslides can occur anywhere and when they impact on railways, roads and other infrastructure, they can cause a lot of disruption.
As the earth becomes heavier, the water forces apart grains of soil so that they no longer lock together – resulting in a landslip as the structure becomes loose and unstable.
Derek said: “The landslip [at Folkestone Warren] is still active… There are a number of ways that movement is controlled. Firstly, we monitor the location extensively with settlement points on a monthly basis.”
We also use light-detecting and ranging (LIDAR) technology, a laser scanning technique to record points on the landscape. The data helps us keep track of which locations are moving.
Other techniques include boring holes in the ground to drain water, and building walls and other structures designed to stop the landslip from moving.
Meanwhile, Derek and his team regularly walk over locations at risk, comparing photographs to see whether the ground has moved.
https://www.networkrail.co.uk/stories/the-great-fall-historic-landslip-images-resurface/
via NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW THAT
March 2, 2024 at 01:21PM
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