We’ve developed a unique tool that helps us keep you and freight moving safely during gale-force winds. It’s already helped us save about 10,000 minutes of train delays.
Windy weather on the railway
Gale-force can cause significant disruption to rail journeys, with debris and vegetation blown onto the line posing a real danger.
We typically slow down trains and freight across long stretches of the railway when gale-force winds are forecast. We often use blanket speed restrictions of 50mph to slow down trains and keep you safe.
But this has caused widespread disruption and delays to train and freight services in the past. For example, gale-force winds caused more than 160,000 minutes of delays to trains and freight in the last five years in the Wales and Western region, where we’ve trialled the new tech.
An innovative new tool
We’ve worked with risk consultant Arthur D Little to develop a weather-management tool called Gales: Use of Speed-restrictions Targeted to Operational risk – or GUSTO.
GUSTO is a state-of-art tool that helps us manage the effects of gale-force winds by assessing when and where to apply speed restrictions during gale-force winds.
GUSTO calculates which sections of the railway are most at risk from gale-force winds using data we’ve already collected. This data includes the topography – or physical features – of our land. It also includes the position and height of trees on our railway and past incidents when trees and debris have blown onto our railway.
Our weather force teams can then use these calculations to implement more targeted speed restrictions during gale-force winds. We’re also able to keep lower risk areas operating as normal – for fewer disruptions to you and freight.
Keeping your trains running on time
We began trialling GUSTO in the Wales and Western region in December 2023 with promising results.
Gale-force winds particularly affect journeys in this region. Storms crossing the Atlantic tend to hit South-West England and West Wales first, often causing severe damage. We hoped the trial would make a significant and positive difference in the area – and so it did.
We estimate GUSTO has already helped us save about 10,000 minutes of train delays, during Storm Isha in January. This is because we were able to keep more of the Western route open by only applying speed restrictions on high-risk areas of the track.
Julie Gregory, a senior programme manager at Network Rail, said: “GUSTO has helped us target speed restrictions to where the risk is. This has helped us keep trains running during windy weather which in turn supports passengers getting to their destinations.”
