{"id":457779,"date":"2026-06-19T17:49:48","date_gmt":"2026-06-19T07:49:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.railfreight.com\/?p=71915"},"modified":"2026-06-19T17:49:48","modified_gmt":"2026-06-19T07:49:48","slug":"the-shifting-ground-beneath-uk-railways","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=457779","title":{"rendered":"The shifting ground beneath UK railways"},"content":{"rendered":"

Britain’s railways have always had a complicated relationship with the ground beneath them. The soaring temperatures of late May brought familiar disruption. Speed restrictions and cancellations affected routes across the country. A slump in the tracks means a slump in performance. Simon Walton, RailFreight.com UK Editor, gets the whole picture on subsidence.<\/strong>
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Most of us understand the dangers of overheated rails and sagging overhead wires. Yet there is another consequence of our changing climate that receives far less attention. The likelihood of subsidence across Britain’s railway network is increasing. Some East Coast services reportedly slowed to just 20mph (32km\/h) at locations in Cambridgeshire and North Yorkshire, more than 100mph (160km\/h) below their normal running speed. If passenger trains slow down because the infrastructure is compromised, freight services inevitably slow down too.<\/p>\n

Victorian network in a changing climate<\/h2>\n

Britain’s railway was largely built during the nineteenth century. Hardly “news just in”. It was constructed through cuttings, over embankments and across landscapes that engineers understood remarkably well for their time. However, they could hardly have anticipated twenty-first-century climate conditions, nor the intensity of today’s railway operations. Nor could they beat the propensity of owners to cut costs by cutting more steeply into the landscape than might be prudent to do so.<\/p>\n

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Multiple sinkholes near Dover. The track is clearly compromised. Image: \u00a9 Network Rail<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The recent May public holiday was the hottest ever recorded. Temperatures reached 34.8 degrees in the west of London. Phew. Climate scientists expect longer periods of drought punctuated by episodes of intense rainfall. That\u2019s not good for the railways. Those extremes place considerable strain on soils and earthworks that have often remained in service for more than 150 years.<\/p>\n

It was this issue that I discussed with Ian Thornhill, General Manager at ground engineering specialists Mainmark UK<\/a>. Thornhill has more than fifteen years’ experience across rail, highways and infrastructure services. His message was straightforward. The risks associated with ground movement must be managed proactively. If the ground beneath the tracks becomes compromised, safety concerns quickly follow. With the heaviest axle loads presented by freight traffic, those risks become most apparent.<\/p>\n

The hidden vulnerability<\/h2>\n

According to the UK Department for Transport, twenty-nine per cent of major railway stations are located in areas considered highly susceptible to shrink-swell subsidence. These soils absorb and lose moisture, causing the ground to expand and contract. The result can be uneven settlement beneath tracks, platforms and structures.<\/p>\n

Britain has numerous examples of how quickly ground conditions can become problematic. Just over a week ago, around Purley in south London, sinkholes appeared following chalk dissolution beneath the surface. Rainwater gradually creates cavities in the underlying geology before the ground suddenly gives way. Such events may be unusual, but they demonstrate how little warning nature sometimes provides. Bad news if you were heading for Gatwick Airport.<\/p>\n

Other parts of the network live with instability almost permanently. The Cumbrian Coast Line near Whitehaven is under constant scrutiny because of water ingress, coastal erosion and track-bed saturation. Much further south, at Dawlish, storm damage in 2014 became a national lesson in climate resilience<\/a>. The answer has required years of engineering intervention and substantial investment – not to mention renewed calls to reopen an inland route to preserve mixed traffic access to Cornwall.<\/p>\n

Freight foundations in ground stability<\/h2>\n

Rail freight operators have every reason to pay attention. Alongside extreme weather conditions weakening the soils supporting infrastructure, heavier freight loads and repeated vibration are likely to contribute to ground instability. The issue is not confined to railway tracks. Platforms, stations, depots and level crossings are all potentially affected.<\/p>\n

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Aerial shot of Dawlish showing the new sea wall. Image: \u00a9 Network Rail<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

History demonstrates that the railway has always adapted to geological challenges. The Selby Diversion in Yorkshire on the East Coast Main Line was engineered specifically to accommodate predicted subsidence caused by coal extraction. Likewise, during the construction of the Borders Railway in Scotland, engineers undertook extensive grouting work to stabilise old mine workings and avoid future collapse.<\/p>\n

The difference today is that many of the challenges are becoming less predictable. Rockfalls in the Severn Valley and landslips along vulnerable coastal sections can no longer be dismissed as isolated incidents. A delayed passenger train occupies the path that a freight service needs. A temporary speed restriction immediately reduces network capacity. Ground instability, therefore, has direct operational consequences for freight.<\/p>\n

Preservation rather than reconstruction<\/h2>\n

Thornhill believes the objective should always be to preserve assets wherever possible. Limiting disruption to passenger and freight operations remains paramount. Asset owners and contractors should therefore consider solutions that avoid unnecessary reconstruction and reduce the time that infrastructure remains unavailable.<\/p>\n

Mainmark’s approach uses resin injection technology to strengthen weak ground conditions and fill voids without excavation. Sections of track or platform can be treated in stages while minimising operational disruption. The same techniques can strengthen bridge supports, re-level track for improved alignment, and lift platform slabs that have settled unevenly.<\/p>\n

The argument is compelling because Britain’s railway is, by necessity, a network that increasingly requires intervention beneath the surface rather than simply on it. We tend to celebrate new infrastructure projects and rolling stock orders. Yet some of the most important engineering work may be taking place, out of sight, inside embankments, beneath platforms and under the track itself.<\/p>\n

Investing for an uncertain future<\/h2>\n

It is therefore no surprise that attention has turned towards making the railway more sustainable and reliable. More than \u00a340 billion (about \u20ac46.5bn) has been allocated to the national infrastructure agency Network Rail under the five-year Control Period 7 investment programme, which runs until March 2029.<\/p>\n

The programme covers activities ranging from emergency call-outs and preventative maintenance to geotechnical response works, bridge repairs, platform refurbishment and drainage clearance. It also recognises that earthworks, structures and ground conditions are becoming increasingly important considerations in maintaining network resilience. The Severn Valley is a good case in point<\/a>, where “soil nailing” has been used extensively to remedy a steeply sided cutting that was otherwise showing its age and compromising England – Wales freight operations.<\/p>\n

The jury is out on the contention that rail subsidence is getting worse. However, the evidence suggests that the conditions encouraging it certainly are. Britain’s railways have always lived with difficult geology. What has changed is the frequency of weather extremes and the intensity with which they expose historic weaknesses. The Victorian railway was built to endure. The challenge now is ensuring that the ground beneath it can endure as well.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Britain\u2019s railways have always had a complicated relationship with the ground beneath them. The soaring temperatures of late May brought familiar disruption. Speed restrictions and\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3909,18116,20492,20493,343,20494,471,47,17548,20495,20496],"tags":[12634],"class_list":["post-457779","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-climate-change","category-friday-forum","category-grout","category-ian-thornhill","category-infrastructure","category-mainmark-uk","category-news","category-rail-news","category-simon-walton","category-soil-nailing","category-subsidence","tag-railfreight"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t