Wait . . . What? Dimmer Sun Prompts Network Rail To Paint Tracks White To Stop Them Overheating!?

From the ‘You can’t make this shit up’ files, the BBC reports that railway lines in the south east of England are being painted white ahead of this summer to stop them overheating and buckling.

Some railway lines in south-east England are to be painted white to prevent them from overheating ahead of the summer, Network Rail says.

The company said that by painting some of the rails white it can reduce their temperature by up to 10 degrees.

When a track overheats it expands and buckles, and can make it unsafe for trains to operate, Network Rail says.

Between April 2023 and March 2024 buckled rails meant there were over 92,000 minutes of delays and a total of 647 services were cancelled, the rail body said.

Two sections of track in Network Rail's southern region were in the top three across the country for heated rail incidents that caused disruption to trains.

Buckled rails in Earlswood, Surrey were affected 2,275 trains, while Sevenoaks on the Kent route had 2,144 trains affected.

Lisa Angus, Network Rail's industry weather response director, said: "Soaring temperatures on the railway can put a huge amount of pressure on our infrastructure.

"With extreme weather events becoming more frequent [cos climate change, innit] we're working hard to keep passengers moving through the summer months ahead."

The scientifically challenged journalists at the BBC probably don’t realise this, but the reason for painting the lines white is so they reflect more incoming short wave solar radiation, therefore don’t absorb as much solar energy, therefore don’t get so hot and don’t expand so much. The ambient air temperature on the track (which, averaged over a long period, would be a measure of climate change) has only a marginal effect upon the expansion of the steel rails, which will adjust to that temperature whether they are painted white or not. A midday sun-heated steel railway track is going to be much hotter than the surrounding air, because steel is a very good conductor.

But hang on, if the nasty horrible government has been dimming our sun all these years or if they are soon to start dimming our sun by making it cloudier and/or by spraying chemtrails all over the upper atmosphere, then why paint the lines white at all? Dim sun or blocked sun = cooler railway tracks. It’s basic physics, innit!