RailResilience ScotlandRail earthworks drainage

Scotland's railway resilience work puts earthworks and drainage first

*Embankment strengthening works in Scotland, where rail resilience investment is targeting slope stability, drainage and climate-related ground risks. Source: Network Rail*

Scotland’s rail network is being reinforced against a changing climate, with GBP130m invested over the past two years in works aimed at reducing disruption from flooding, landslips, rockfalls and extreme weather.

The investment forms part of a wider GBP400m programme running from 2024 to 2029. Most of the work completed so far has focused on the parts of the railway most directly exposed to ground and water risks. Around GBP73m has been spent on earthworks and GBP37m on drainage, showing that climate adaptation for railways is often a geotechnical and hydraulic challenge before it is an operational one.

The issue is straightforward. Much of the railway was designed and built for past weather patterns. More intense rainfall, higher temperatures and more frequent storms can change slope stability, increase runoff, overwhelm drainage systems and accelerate deterioration of cuttings, embankments and rock faces.

Several major schemes have already targeted vulnerable routes. On the West Coast Main Line, around GBP20m has been invested in soil slopes, rock faces and drainage systems to reduce the risk of landslips, rockfalls and flood-related failures.

At Charleston on the Highland Main Line, GBP2.85m has been used to improve drainage and strengthen adjacent earthworks. Near Ratho, between Glasgow and Edinburgh, GBP2m has been spent stabilising a rock face beside the railway. At Falls of Cruachan on the West Highland Line, GBP3m has gone into strengthening a hillside following a landslip, while Old Kinaldie between Aberdeen and Inverness has received GBP850,000 for drainage improvements.

Remediation at Falls of Cruachan following a landslip above the West Highland Line, highlighting the importance of hillside stability beside rail corridors. Source: Network Rail

These projects show the practical nature of resilience work. It is not always about large new structures. It is often about improving water control, reducing pore pressure build-up, stabilising soil and rock slopes, managing erosion, and preventing small deterioration from becoming a service-disrupting failure.

The wider programme also includes adaptation pathways, combining climate science with railway asset knowledge to identify where future investment will have the greatest effect. This is important because resilience cannot be based only on historic failure records. Slopes, culverts, drains, retaining structures and embankments may behave differently under future rainfall and temperature conditions.

Rail climate resilience depends on understanding how earthworks and drainage systems will perform under changing loading conditions. That means better inspection, monitoring, maintenance prioritisation, slope risk assessment and drainage capacity planning.

Scotland’s programme is a useful reminder that the most important climate adaptation works are often hidden beside the track. A safer and more reliable railway will depend on the stability of its slopes, the capacity of its drainage and the ability to anticipate ground behaviour before failures reach the rails.

Sources: railbusinessuk.com, railtechnologymagazine.com, heraldscotland.com