To most, the track is something that carries the train that takes them to their destination, like work or the airport. But this does the track a great disservice. A railway track is an engineering system, comprising of multiple components, each with their own specific function.

As rail temperatures rise, so do the forces acting within the track. The question is not just how hot the weather gets, but whether the track system is built, maintained and managed in a way that can cope with it. In this article, I break down how that works in practice and why it matters.

When a train passes over track, the rail has to do two things at the same time. It transfers vertical load down into the sleeper and ballast and also forces along its length — from temperature change, traction and braking. Those forces do not stop at the end of a rail. They must pass through whatever joins one rail length to the next. Every time two rails are joined, it creates an area where the behaviour of the track changes. These joins affect: How forces are transferred Ho