Solar storm warning that could lead to train accidents

Scientists have warned that solar storms could cause train accidents.

Space weather (changes in the atmosphere that include energy bursts from the Sun) can disrupt everything from communications to power grids. While scientists have repeatedly warned that Earth faces a potential disaster threat from solar storms, these storms could be powerful enough to collapse much of the infrastructure we depend on.

WARNING ISSUED

According to information reported in Independent Türkçe, researchers warn that this danger could be sufficient to cause railway signal malfunctions and lead to train accidents.

Researchers modeled how geomagnetically induced currents from solar storms could pose a danger by looking at two routes: the section of the West Coast Main Line from Preston to Lancaster, and the line from Glasgow to Edinburgh. These are just two of the lines that are heavily dependent on railway signaling, and there are over 50,000 track circuits in the United Kingdom (UK) that control railway signaling via electrical circuits.

In the new study, researchers found that space weather could alter these circuits. The researchers found that their models indicate this could happen every few decades.

Cameron Patterson from Lancaster University says, "The vital thing our research points to is that space weather could switch a signal in either direction, turning a red signal to green or a green signal to red. This is, of course, very important from a safety perspective."

By creating a computer model of track circuits using realistic guidelines for various components of the system, we determined that space weather events capable of triggering failures in these track circuits are expected in the UK every few decades.

Patterson had previously worked on research suggesting that solar storms could lead to "right-side" failures, where signals turn from green to red. These failures are less dangerous as trains would remain at the station. The new research suggests that "wrong-side" failures, where signals are switched to green, could also occur. Moreover, less power is required for these signals to change, which indicates they could occur during less intense solar storms.

Cameron says, "Our research shows that space weather poses a serious, albeit relatively rare, risk to the railway signaling system, which could lead to delays and even more critical safety-related consequences."

This natural hazard needs to be taken seriously. While it is difficult to plan for high-impact, low-frequency events by their nature, ignoring them is rarely the best path.

In 1859, the world was shaken by an event known as the "Carrington Event," which was powerful enough to disable telegraph signals and cause other disruptions. If this event were to happen today, it would cause widespread disruptions, including causing major problems on both train lines examined in the study.

However, even if less powerful, there have been more recent space weather incidents strong enough to hit power grids. For example, the Swedish city of Malmö experienced problems caused by space weather in 2003.

The research was reported in a new study titled "'Wrong Side' Failures Caused by Geomagnetically Induced Currents in Electrified Railway Signalling Systems in the UK," published in the scientific journal Space Weather.