Eurostar's new trains can operate in up to 55°C as extreme heat becomes more common

Eurostar’s new trains will be able to operate in temperatures up to 55 degrees Celsius as extreme heat becomes more and more the norm. The trains the company ordered last year need to run until the 2060s, so Eurostar updated its specifications from 45 degrees to 55 degrees, chief executive Gwendoline Cazenave told the Financial Times.

“This year, the heatwave has been earlier, longer, hotter than ever,” Cazenave said. The United Kingdom and Europe’s summers are quickly approaching conditions more commonly associated with Saudi Arabia, she said.

Eurostar ordered up to 50 new trains from Alstom last year for €2 billion. The contract gave the company space to change the heat specifications before finalizing the order. The change will mainly impact the air conditioning units used in the new trains. The first new trains are expected by 2030, and Eurostar hopes to use them for 30 years.

This year’s summer arrived hot and heavy in Europe, with devastating wildfires currently raging in France and in Spain. Parts of the Netherlands will likely hit their third heatwave of the season tomorrow. The previous one became a superheatwave. It brought highs over 40 degrees Celsius and triggered the country’s first-ever code red weather alarm for heat.

Eurostar has already implemented several measures to deal with the changing climate, including a protocol to test the air-conditioning in each carriage every day and setting aside more capacity to fix units. The train company now also carries bottled water on board on hot days.

Cazenave told FT that the recent heatwave showed that the company needed to not only strengthen its short-term approach, but also look differently at the future. “I have to confess that before last week I would never have thought that we would need to buy up to 55 degrees Celsius.”