Network Rail has announced a programme of vital rail line protection works across its network to ensure safe and reliant travel throughout the summer.

Engineers have been preparing tracks and other infrastructure for hot spells. Rails in direct sunlight can be as much as 20°C hotter than air temperatures and expand as they heat up, causing them to curve or buckle.

Engineers have been stressing sections of track (artificially stretching the rails) in known hot-spot areas to help them cope with sudden rises in temperature and painting the rails white in key locations to reflect the sun, keeping them up to 10°C cooler and helping prevent buckling.

Overhead electric power lines can also expand in prolonged heat, causing them to sag, which can disrupt train services on busy routes as speed restrictions need to be introduced to prevent trains snagging on the wires.

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To combat this, the tension in the wires at some locations has been adjusted to levels that will help prevent sagging and keep trains running.

Remote temperature monitoring equipment has been installed on rails at known hotspots allowing decisions on whether to implement speed restrictions to be made in real-time when necessary for safety reasons.

Summer rain can also cause flash-flooding with water quickly running off dry ground onto low-lying rail lines.

Tilt meters are being used to detect slope movement near the railway at nearly 100 sites across Scotland – alerting the railway's controllers of potential problems within two minutes of an alert.

Aerial inspections using the Scotland's Railway helicopter's high-tech thermal imaging equipment is also helping to identify and fix faults at an early stage while meteorologists are monitoring the weather from a specialist control room in real-time to prepare for adverse conditions.

Liam Sumpter, Route Director, Network Rail Scotland, said: "Every year we invest millions of pounds in preparing for the summer months to keep passengers and freight moving.

"We're continuing to prepare for extreme weather using the latest technology, including tilt meters, remote temperature monitoring equipment and thermal imaging equipment for aerial inspections.

"Our engineers, weather experts and everyone else on Scotland's Railway are working incredibly hard to keep the railway reliable for all our customers through the summer and beyond."