November 2017 RAIL ADAPT Adapting the railway for the future Report authors: A Quinn, A Jack, S Hodgkinson, E Ferranti – University of Birmingham J Beckford – Beckford Consulting J Dora – JDCL November 2017 Dr Andrew Quinn, University of Birmingham Centre for Railway Research and Education, Edgbaston, Birmingham, UK Email:
[email protected] ISBN 978-2-7461-2680-0 Warning No part of this publication may be copied, reproduced or distributed by any means whatsoever, including electronic, except for private and individual use, without the express permission of the International Union of Railways (UIC). The same applies for translation, adaptation or transformation, arrangement or reproduction by any method or procedure whatsoever. The sole exceptions - noting the author’s name and the source - are “analyses and brief quotations justified by the critical, argumentative, educational, scientific or informative nature of the publication into which they are incorporated” (Articles L 122-4 and L122-5 of the French Intellectual Property Code). © International Union of Railways (UIC) - Paris, 2017 Rail Adapt - Adapting the railway for the future Summary for Executives Climate Change: • is a long term, slow acting, but very high impact risk; • affects all parts of railways in all parts of the world but in many different ways; • can have beneficial effects but effects can also be catastrophic; • requires leadership to plan and change but there is the knowledge and the tools to achieve this. • Where does Climate Change feature in your risk register? • How well prepared is your organisation to manage the risks? • Are you asking the right questions about your assets’ future and your investment criteria? • Do you have Climate Change adaptation embedded in all departments? • Are you communicating with stakeholders so that everyone has a shared understanding? These are some of the questions that directors should be asking and answering to ensure the long-term health and sustainability of the organisations they lead, and of the railway sector generally.