Extreme Heat Distorts Railway Tracks

[snoop1130]

 

The extreme heat has warped the railway tracks in Nakhon Si Thammarat, Thailand, according to the State Railway of Thailand (SRT). This has caused temporary pauses in train services to enable the tracks to cool down and return to normal operations.

 

Pictures and reports on social media show that the railroad tracks between Ron Pibul Station and Khao Chum Thong Junction were distorted on April 30. The abnormal heat has caused the concrete sleepers, which uphold the tracks, to expand and become stressed, leading to the tracks becoming misaligned.

 

The SRT's Engineering Division has responded to the situation by spraying the tracks with water and ice to cool them down, a process that took about an hour. After cooling, the tracks have returned to their normal state. Alongside this, inspections of the entire railroad line took place, and additional stones were used on the railway bed to ensure the tracks remain stable and safe.

 

However, in hot weather conditions, it's common for the steel tracks to expand. To combat this, the SRT's engineering team regularly checks the condition of the tracks.

 

File photo for reference only. Courtesy of Google

 

-- 2024-05-02

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[Crossy]

Looks pretty normal SRT standard to me, but of course it's a "file photo".

 

By the way, could AN persuade the AI not to mix languages in its articles please.

 

Either use English or US English (I really don't care which), but please do not mix them.

[scottiejohn]

12 minutes ago, Crossy said:

By the way, could AN persuade the AI not to mix languages in its articles please.

 

Either use English or US English (I really don't care which), but please do not mix them.

I agree!

Either way one minute we are on track the next we are being railroaded!

Edited May 2 by scottiejohn

[hotchilli]

13 hours ago, scottiejohn said:

I agree!

Either way one minute we are on track the next we are being railroaded!

Nice touch

[KhunLA]

13 hours ago, Crossy said:

Looks pretty normal SRT standard to me, but of course it's a "file photo".

 

By the way, could AN persuade the AI not to mix languages in its articles please.

 

Either use English or US English (I really don't care which), but please do not mix them.

Yea, the 'file photos' are getting pretty silly.   They had a sailed cutter photo, for news-blip about RTN prepping to evacuate Thais from Myanmar if necessary.  Maybe if it was the 18th century.  

 

Some photos in news about TH, are eve from TH.  I usually ignore the news posted here, unless I want a chuckle.   Blaming the heat again, for everything, and just silliness, so had to peek.

[worrab]

13 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

The abnormal heat has caused the concrete sleepers, which uphold the tracks, to expand and become stressed, leading to the tracks becoming misaligned.

So, so wrong! Nothing to do with the sleepers. It is the metal rails that expand in the heat and buckle. Used to get this in UK during exceptionally hot summers.

[damian]

30 minutes ago, worrab said:

So, so wrong! Nothing to do with the sleepers. It is the metal rails that expand in the heat and buckle. Used to get this in UK during exceptionally hot summers.

Correct. Happens in Aus often during very hot summers along with broken rails when they contract during winter. 

[simon43]

43 minutes ago, worrab said:

So, so wrong! Nothing to do with the sleepers. It is the metal rails that expand in the heat and buckle. Used to get this in UK during exceptionally hot summers.

Well, it is to do with both 🙂. Solids expand as they are heated.  The expansion coefficient of steel is about 14 * 10^-6 and for concrete it is about 10 * 10^-6.  So both are expanding...

 

For the steel rails, this expansion can be managed by using expansion joints, but I guess it's not so easy with the concrete sleepers.

 

[newbee2022]

15 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

 

The extreme heat has warped the railway tracks in Nakhon Si Thammarat, Thailand, according to the State Railway of Thailand (SRT). This has caused temporary pauses in train services to enable the tracks to cool down and return to normal operations.

 

Pictures and reports on social media show that the railroad tracks between Ron Pibul Station and Khao Chum Thong Junction were distorted on April 30. The abnormal heat has caused the concrete sleepers, which uphold the tracks, to expand and become stressed, leading to the tracks becoming misaligned.

 

The SRT's Engineering Division has responded to the situation by spraying the tracks with water and ice to cool them down, a process that took about an hour. After cooling, the tracks have returned to their normal state. Alongside this, inspections of the entire railroad line took place, and additional stones were used on the railway bed to ensure the tracks remain stable and safe.

 

However, in hot weather conditions, it's common for the steel tracks to expand. To combat this, the SRT's engineering team regularly checks the condition of the tracks.

 

File photo for reference only. Courtesy of Google

 

-- 2024-05-02

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Well, that's called "creating new jobs", so the climate change with increasing temperatures could be a job machine?

So what will be the name of the new job? Rail cooler? 😳

[khunjeff]

For anyone who wants to get way down into the weeds on this issue, the video below has pretty good explanations of how rails respond to temperature changes, and what engineers can do to prevent warping and buckling. 

 

 

[Nickcage49]

Just another reason not to take the trains here.