Fast-moving floods threaten TGV train lines

Torrential storms can wreak havoc on train tracks. An EPFL laboratory has been commissioned by the French national train network, SNCF, to reproduce the consequences of extreme weather events at a very small scale. Storms can have serious repercussions on the railway infrastructures. On some lines, flooding can erode the ballast - the bed of piled-up rocks underlying the tracks. The stability of the track is then at risk. In France, high-speed TGV trains, which travel at speeds of nearly 300 km/h, are particularly sensitive to this danger. EPFL researchers have been commissioned by the SNCF to study a scale model in order to better understand the consequences of this rare but dangerous phenomenon.
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