Credit: Lancaster University
Key points:
- Space weather, such as solar storms, may cause train accidents by switching signaling from red to green.
- Through powerful magnetic disturbances and geomagnetically induced currents (GICs), space weather can interfere with electricity transmission and distribution grids.
- In the future, space weather forecasting can be used to make decisions about limiting railway operations if an extreme event is expected.
New research examining the impact of space weather finds that train accidents could be caused by solar storms switching signaling from red to green. Space weather, including solar storms, can trigger powerful magnetic disturbances and create geomagnetically induced currents (GICs) that interfere with electricity transmission and distribution grids.
The study, published in Space Weather, used two routes—the Preston to Lancaster section of the West Coast Main Line and the Glasgow to Edinburgh line—to model how GICs flow through track circuits of AC electrified lines powered with overhead cables.
Their computer model of the signaling track revealed that space weather events are capable of triggering faults in track circuits. Additionally, the model demonstrated that “wrong side” failures—when the signal goes from red to green—occur at a lower geoelectric field strength than “right side” failures—when the signal goes from green to red.
The team estimated that “wrong side” failures caused by a geomagnetic storm would occur with a frequency of about one or two decades. When the team analyzed a once-in-a century timescale, they found that an extreme event would be capable of causing both “wrong side” and “right side” malfunctions in both directions of travel.
“As our understanding of the space weather hazard improves, it’s possible to consider how to reduce the risks,” said Jim Wild, professor at Lancaster University. “In the future, we could see space weather forecasting being used to make decisions about limiting railway operations if an extreme event is expected.”