Heat wave: How the record temperatures are pushing German transport routes to their limits

Created: 07/22/2022, 14:46

By: Lisa Mayerhofer

The heat wave has Germany under control.

Even roads and rails need cooling in the high temperatures.

(Iconic image) © Julian Stratenschulte/dpa/Iconic image

The heat wave has Germany under control.

Even roads and rails need cooling in the high temperatures.

This is becoming a problem for companies and private households.

Berlin – The Dutch are leading the way: Because of the high temperatures, they cool their streets and bridges with road salt.

The salt is supposed to cool the asphalt, according to the Dutch municipality of Hardenberg.

Because it removes moisture from the air, which in turn cools down the asphalt.

This is to prevent damage and sticking to the road surface.

In addition, the movable bridges in Amsterdam were specially cooled with water.

This is to prevent the steel from expanding.

Because in this case the bridges could no longer be opened to let boats through.

In Germany, too, the heat is taking its toll on the infrastructure.

Heat wave: Blow-ups on older autobahns in Germany

So-called blow-ups are particularly feared in Germany at temperatures of over 30 degrees – i.e. burst road surfaces on older motorways.

Motorcyclists in particular could be fatal, but the risk of accidents is also increasing for motorists, the ADAC warns.

Older sections of road made of concrete, which are not as deformable as roadways made of asphalt, are particularly affected.

You can recognize them by the fact that they do not have a closed road surface, but are built from slabs lined up next to each other.

You can hear them in the rhythmic noise when driving over the edges of the record.

According to the ADAC, the bulges typically form on these transverse grooves.

“Areas that have repair spots made of asphalt on adjacent concrete slabs are also considered to be particularly at risk.” The club advises road users to drive particularly attentively and carefully on relevant routes by also increasing the distance to the vehicle in front.

The ADAC asks that roads on which no signs draw attention to existing damage should be reported immediately to the police or motorway maintenance department.

According to the information, the proportion of concrete roadways is around 30 percent nationwide.

In recent weeks there have been speed limits and lane closures on important connections such as the A 2 Dortmund - Oberhausen, the A 9 Berlin - Halle/Leipzig and the A 13 Schönefelder Kreuz - Dresden.

However, many danger points have been eliminated in recent years. 

Deutsche Bahn: Thousands of air conditioning systems for control and safety technology

But the heat doesn't just affect the roads: It can also affect rails and the track bed, as steel expands at extreme temperatures, as Deutsche Bahn announced this week.

Therefore, according to Bahn, the control and safety technology in particular is equipped with thousands of air conditioning systems, which are regularly checked and serviced.

"In addition, we have installed temperature sensors in interlockings that are particularly relevant to operation, which automatically trigger messages when certain threshold values ​​are exceeded."

According to its own statements, Deutsche Bahn is currently experimenting with so-called phase change materials.

These are said to function like an inverted pocket warmer: “Through heat radiation, the initially solid material turns into a viscous gel.

This conversion effect consumes heat and thereby cools its surroundings,” it said.

The extent to which this technology can protect sensitive components is being tested.

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Heat wave: Barges only half loaded – and fully booked

The heat wave has also severely restricted shipping in some cases: the water levels of the rivers in Germany are too low for the time of year.

The cargo ships on the Rhine and other rivers are only allowed to transport about 50 percent of the volume that they could otherwise transport, reports the board member of the German Transport Cooperative for Inland Shipping, Roberto Spranzi, the German Press Agency in Duisburg.

Due to the smaller amount of cargo, the ships are lighter and not as deep in the water.

The capacities are reduced, but the demand is high.

"We're fully booked," says Spranzi. 

The Federal Association of German Inland Shipping (BDB), also based in Duisburg, speaks of an “enormously high demand for shipping space”, for example for coal, containers and grain.

This demand is now accumulating because of the grain transports and the restarting of the coal-fired power plants.

"That's why it can happen that not every customer can be served to the extent that they want," says Association Managing Director Jens Schwanen.

This leads "to a certain aggravation of the situation, which is already the case due to the low water".

Climate change leaves its mark

The problems that motorway maintenance depots, railways and inland waterway vessels are currently dealing with will probably remain for a long time: Due to man-made climate change, all of Europe is affected by stronger and more extreme heat waves, said Karsten Haustein, climate scientist at the Institute for Meteorology at the University of Leipzig.

These are therefore related to the so-called jet stream - i.e. large wind bands five to ten kilometers high - whose circulation has changed.

In view of the heat wave, the Federal Environment Agency is urging cities and infrastructure to be better equipped to withstand high temperatures and heavy rain.