Our existing infrastructure is n’t build to withstand climate variety , and heat wave have set out to repulse wedge into the cracks in the system . Triple - digit temperaturescaused a train to derail near San Francisco last week , accord to an home evaluation by Bay Area Rapid Transit ( BART ) .
About 50 people had to be evacuated from the derailed string in Concord , California on Tuesday . No one was severely injure , but some reported nonaged combat injury , allot to theLos Angeles Times .
“ Our initial assessment is that heating plant played the main role in the partial derailment by get a curve in the track , ” order a BARTpress statementfrom Wednesday .
A BART train came off the tracks because of extreme heat last week.Photo:Ben Margot(AP)
A heat wave brought temperatures high above norm to the Bay Area last week . San Jose hit102 degrees on June 21st , a everyday record . Parts of Oakland andConcordalso experienced track record highsabove 100degrees . It was amid this conditions that the BART derailed .
Sitting the in direct sun , the train tracks became much hotter than the airwave . The rail reached about 140 degree Fahrenheit , which is 25 degrees hotter than its maximum operating temperature , a BART spokesperson toldthe San Francisco Chronicle .
That excess heat caused a misalignment in the track , which BART officials tell can occur anytime the track exceeds its baseline temp by 20 degrees . The Chronicle reported that the BART has derail three times previously , but that this was the first report case of heat energy causing the way out .
However , this is n’t the first clip high heat has caused a notable theodolite bankruptcy in the area . Last twelvemonth , a different June heating system waving in the Pacific Northwestmelted the cablesthat baron Portland ’s MAX light rail in Oregon . Just a pair of weeks ago , roads in Minnesotastarted bucklingunder high rut conditions . Larger scale issues , likestressed electric gridsandpower outagescan also pop up with extreme heat . Human - do climate alteration is lead to more frequent , more acute , earlier , and longer heatwaves across the U.S. , accordingto the EPA .
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