{"id":1513,"date":"2026-08-26T10:38:16","date_gmt":"2026-08-26T10:38:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/redzine.co.uk\/index.php\/2026\/08\/26\/how-climate-change-affects-different-modes-of-transport-from-roads-to-railways\/"},"modified":"2026-08-26T10:38:16","modified_gmt":"2026-08-26T10:38:16","slug":"how-climate-change-affects-different-modes-of-transport-from-roads-to-railways","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/redzine.co.uk\/index.php\/2026\/08\/26\/how-climate-change-affects-different-modes-of-transport-from-roads-to-railways\/","title":{"rendered":"How climate change affects different modes of transport \u2013 from roads to railways"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/span> ET Tisomboon\/Shutterstock<\/a><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As climate change makes extreme weather more frequent and intense, floods, heatwaves, droughts, wildfires and storms are increasingly disrupting the roads, railways, airports and waterways. Roads have been closed in Germany<\/a> during this summer\u2019s heatwaves, for example, while travel has been chaotic on railways in the UK<\/a>. <\/p>\n

But climate change<\/a> does not affect every form of transport in the same way. Floods
\ncan wash away roads or inundate subway lines<\/a>, heatwaves can bend steel railway tracks and droughts can leave cargo ships stranded in shallow rivers.<\/p>\n

The result is more than cancelled journeys. When one part of the transport network
\nfails, disruption can quickly spread across a country<\/a> or even a continent<\/a>, affecting deliveries, businesses and everyday life.<\/p>\n

On roads<\/h2>\n

Heavy rain can flood streets and tunnels or trigger landslides, blocking roads and
\ndamaging bridges. Heat softens asphalt<\/a>, expands concrete and deforms road signs. Smoke from wildfires and dust storms can also reduce visibility, turning an ordinary drive into a dangerous one.<\/p>\n

In London, bus drivers<\/a> are due to strike over working in hot weather, saying temperature inside their cabs can exceed 40\u00b0C.<\/p>\n

The biggest disruptions can occur when different forms of extreme weather combine<\/a>. For
\nroads, heavy rain combined with strong winds during Storm Claudia<\/a> in
\nWales in 2025 caused flooding. During the storm, trees and power lines came down, blocking routes and making them dangerous to use.<\/p>\n

\n

\n
\n
\n Read more:
\n Can Britain\u2019s railways cope with ever-more extreme heat? An expert Q&A<\/a>
\n <\/strong>
\n <\/em>\n<\/p>\n

\n

On rail<\/h2>\n

Railways are especially vulnerable to flood and extreme heat. In southern Germany<\/a> in 2024, heavy rainfall triggered a landslide that derailed a high-speed train, while flooding caused widespread rail cancellations and delays.<\/p>\n

Heatwaves stranded passengers for hours on a train stuck in a tunnel<\/a> at Birmingham in 2022, after extreme heat damaged overhead power lines; passengers described the train as feeling \u201clike a sauna\u201d. On a Paris-Brussels train<\/a> in the same year, temperatures reportedly reached about 45\u00b0C after the air conditioning failed, leaving hundreds of passengers trapped in sweltering conditions.<\/p>\n

In the air<\/h2>\n

High temperatures reduce aircraft performance and can even damage runways.
\nDuring the 2022 heatwave, London Luton airport<\/a> temporarily closed after parts of its runway softened in record-breaking temperatures, forcing flights to divert elsewhere. Storms can flood coastal airports, and wildfire smoke caused hundreds of flight cancellations in Marseille airport<\/a> in France in 2025.<\/p>\n

On water<\/h2>\n

Climate change creates a paradox for rivers and ports: sometimes there is too much
\nwater, sometimes there is not enough. Heavy rain made the Danube river in Austria<\/a> too high for ships to pass safely in 2024 \u2013 but this year water levels in the Danube in Bulgaria were so low they exposed mammoth skeletons<\/a>. Drought this summer left waterways like the Rhine in Germany<\/a> and the Panama canal<\/a> too shallow for cargo vessels. This can significantly disrupt national and global supply chains.<\/p>\n

\n \"people<\/a>
\n pedestrians.<\/span>
\n Zeynep Demir Aslim\/Shutterstock<\/a><\/span>
\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The domino effect<\/h2>\n

Transport works like a chain: when one link breaks, the others feel the strain.
\nDuring a recent period of drought, exceptionally low water levels on Germany\u2019s Rhine<\/a> disrupted fuel deliveries, contributing to shortages at petrol stations and higher prices. Similar knock-on effects happen whenever a flooded railway pushes commuters onto roads, or a closed port shifts freight onto already congested motorways.<\/p>\n

The economic stakes are enormous. Europe\u2019s coastal transport network already
\nsuffers hundreds of millions of euros in weather-related damage each year, those
\nlosses could double to around \u20ac1.5 billion (\u00a31.3 billion) annually<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Extreme weather can affect people even when transport infrastructure remains
\nintact. Heatwaves can increase the risk of traffic crashes by contributing to fatigue and reduced concentration, while prolonged heat or heavy rain can change when, where and how we travel<\/a>. For tourists<\/a>, repeated periods of extreme weather can even affect whether they choose a destination<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Smarter engineering involves introducing heat-resistant road and rail materials, improving drainage to flood-proof stations and ports, plus building infrastructure that can withstand rising seas. But physical upgrades alone will not solve the problem. <\/p>\n

Adaptation to future conditions is also important. That includes shortening waiting times<\/a> for pedestrians and motorcycles at traffic lights and providing shade along walking and cycling routes to reduce people\u2019s exposure to extreme heat. During heatwaves, trains may have to run more slowly<\/a> to reduce the risk of tracks buckling, resulting in longer journeys.<\/p>\n

Transport infrastructure cannot be totally climate-proof. Future climate risks are uncertain, and protecting against every possible extreme would be technically difficult and costly. But repairing damage after every disaster is no longer enough. Building climate resilience into transport infrastructure is becoming increasingly necessary.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

Vahid Aryanpur receives funding from government departments and agencies in Ireland, including the Department of Climate, Energy and Environment (DCEE), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and Met \u00c9ireann.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ET Tisomboon\/Shutterstock As climate change makes extreme weather more frequent and intense, floods, heatwaves, droughts, wildfires and storms are increasingly disrupting the roads, railways, airports and waterways. Roads have been closed in Germany during this summer\u2019s heatwaves, for example, while travel has been chaotic on railways in the UK. But climate change does not affect […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1513","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/redzine.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1513","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/redzine.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/redzine.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redzine.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redzine.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1513"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/redzine.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1513\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/redzine.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1513"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redzine.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1513"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redzine.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1513"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}