Europe turns to drones, AI and simple fixes to shield infrastructure from heat

CAPITALS: European countries are stepping up efforts to protect ageing transport and energy infrastructure from intensifying heat, deploying measures ranging from drone inspections and AI-enabled monitoring to low-cost steps such as painting tracks white and cooling runways with water.

At Oslo airport on Wednesday, with temperatures forecast to reach 30 degrees Celsius — around 10C above the seasonal norm — workers sprayed water on the tarmac to reduce surface heat. Norway’s state-owned airport operator Avinor is also testing a new type of heat-resistant asphalt, according to Jørn Arvid Remark, an operating engineer with the company.

Remark said the fire brigade applies about 9,000 litres of water to critical sections of the runway, where high temperatures can soften the surface under the weight of aircraft. He said the challenge now is designing asphalt that can cope with both severe winter cold and much warmer conditions in summer.

“In Norway, the asphalt must withstand both extreme cold and fairly warm temperatures,” said Jørn Arvid Remark, operating engineer at Norwegian state-owned airport operator Avinor, adding the airport was testing a new heat-resistant asphalt.

Older networks under strain

Across Western Europe, temperatures on Wednesday were 5.5C above the average for July 15, according to the Reuters Climate Monitor. The mounting pressure is exposing the vulnerability of roads, railways and power grids, much of which were built decades ago and were not designed for the current pattern of extreme weather.

Chris Dodwell, co-head of sustainability centre at Impax Asset Management, said existing systems were not ready for the scale of extreme weather events expected in the years ahead, as heatwaves that were once unusual become more common. A 2025 report by leading central banks estimated that severe weather, including heatwaves, droughts and floods, could reduce euro zone GDP by as much as 4.7 per cent by 2030.

An EU report published in April found that more than 70pc of rail managers were reporting increasing disruption linked to extreme weather. Between 2015 and 2024, weather-related interruptions amounted to the equivalent of one to three years of railway service across the region.

Railways face direct and indirect heat risks

Heat can cause rails to expand and can also disrupt points, signalling and power systems. But researchers and engineers say the broader weather effects associated with heatwaves can be even more damaging.

Oliviero Baccelli, a professor at Bocconi University in Milan, said the main threat to rail systems was often not heat alone but the thunderstorms, strong winds and landslides that can follow prolonged hot spells. He said Italy had already seen major disruption on railway lines, especially along Alpine routes, due to climate-related events.

Britain and other northern European countries face added difficulty because large parts of their rail systems were designed for a narrower temperature range than networks in southern Europe. John Lawrence, chair of the IET Railway Technical Network, said many elements of the rail system were effectively outdated. He said fully heat-proofing whole networks would be extremely expensive, though operators were looking at more stable sleeper designs as well as drones and AI to speed up inspection and monitoring.

Britain’s Network Rail has said it will spend 2.6 billion dollars between 2024 and 2029 to help its network cope with increasingly severe weather. In Sweden, Stockholm’s transport authority spent about 100,000 Swedish crowns, or 10,300 dollars, in May and June to paint sections of metro track white in an effort to lower the risk of buckling.

“The most critical issue for rail networks is not the heat itself, but the thunderstorms, strong winds and landslides that often follow heatwaves,” said Oliviero Baccelli, a professor at Milan’s Bocconi University.

Adaptation plans widen across Europe

Martin Wilson, engineering director at French rail equipment manufacturer Alstom, said European operators could draw on examples such as the Riyadh Metro and Dubai tram, both designed to function in temperatures above 50C. He said heatwaves were becoming stronger, more frequent and longer in duration, placing growing stress on rail systems across the continent.

Road networks are facing similar challenges. Engineers say highways in northern Europe were largely built to resist freeze-thaw damage, while countries such as Spain use asphalt mixes more suitable for long, hot summers. José Pablo Sáez Villar of the Spanish Civil Engineers Association said planners and builders in northern Europe may need to revise their approach as they confront both hotter summers and colder winters.

Paris transport operator RATP has established a heatwave contingency unit and is preparing a climate adaptation plan due by the end of the year. In Norway, Grethe Vikane, head of social development and climate at the Norwegian Public Roads Administration, said warmer and wetter conditions were already changing the way new infrastructure is planned, with roads set to be built to be more robust.

“Roads are going to be made more robust,” said Grethe Vikane, head of social development and climate at the Norwegian Public Roads Administration.