The Coastal Wave and Overtopping Forecast Service for Network Rail Scotland

An operational coastal forecasting service has been provided to Network Rail in Scotland by the Met Office and HR Wallingford since 2004 for the management of sea defence inspections. This paper provides a background to the service, the modelling approach and some examples that illustrate the value of the service.

Network Rail’s assets include approximately 150 miles of sea defences around the coast and a significant proportion of these are located within Scotland under the responsibility of Network Rail Scotland (NRS). As illustrated in Figure 1, which shows the sea defences and track at Saltcoats in the Firth of Clyde, many of the coastal and estuarial defences are exposed to adverse weather and sea conditions. Guidelines from the rail inspectorate (The Office of Rail Regulation) require NRS to carry out timely inspections of defences that protect the track from flooding, exceptional tides or gales. These inspections are intended to supplement routine line inspections and annual structural inspections with the intention of reducing the potential damage to the network and risk to rail traffic by responding early to signs of damage.