BULLETIN
Solar storms cause train delays
Sun’s activity found to mimic the system used for train signalling
‘Your train has been delayed due to a signalling failure’ is a phrase commuters will be all too familiar with. While most of us might lay the blame on snow or rain, a recent report suggests another type of weather could also be at fault – space weather.
Train signalling systems use electric currents in the rails to determine if a train is present on a given section of track, showing a red light if it detects one. However, solar storms also cause similar currents to form in the rails and it only takes a moderate event to trigger a red signal, even when there’s no train present.
“We are now working on looking at the case where trains are present on the line, and how strong a solar storm needs to be to turn a red signal back to green,” says Cameron Patterson from Lancaster University, who investigated the phenomenon. “That’s a far more hazardous scenario, potentially leading to crashes!” www.lancaster.ac.uk