Rail Adapt - Adapting the railway for the future

Climate Change:

• is a long term, slow acting, but very high impact risk;

• affects all parts of railways in all parts of the world but in many different ways;

• can have beneficial effects but effects can also be catastrophic;

• requires leadership to plan and change but there is the knowledge and the tools to achieve this.

• Where does Climate Change feature in your risk register?

• How well prepared is your organisation to manage the risks?

• Are you asking the right questions about your assets’ future and your investment criteria?

• Do you have Climate Change adaptation embedded in all departments?

• Are you communicating with stakeholders so that everyone has a shared understanding

These are some of the questions that directors should be asking and answering to ensure the long-term health and sustainability of the organisations they lead, and of the railway sector generally.

This framework document sets out the context of climate change, the issues at stake, strategies and toolkits for dealing with them. It helps railways to support government commitments such as the Paris agreement on climate change, the UN Sustainable Development Goals and National Adaptation Plans. It offers case studies to show how railways in different parts of the world are dealing with them today.  It provides techniques and tools, adapted from other areas of risk management and from the varied experiences of engineers, operators and planners in different regions of the world, facing different challenges. Challenges that you will face tomorrow are being managed somewhere in the world today, by asset managers, railway operators, rolling stock engineers, scenario planners and many others, and this framework and guidance document is designed to support both directors and departmental managers in anticipating and facing up to those challenges.

An adaptive railway organisation is one that adjusts intelligently to the changing climate, delivering service sustainably with value for money.