Imagine you’re taking a nice, quiet train trip when all of a sudden THIS happens:
Luckily the passengers aboard that locomotive traveling to Melbourne were all okay, but the reality is traveling by train isn’t as safe as you once thought.
That crazy imperfection on the metal tracks is known as railway buckling. It can be caused by a direct increase of heat which causes the metal to expand and shift, derailing your comfortable train ride.
It looks like something out of a ghost movie, but the phenomenon is entirely real.
Now, you may be thinking that this could only happen in the summer months when temperatures are well into the 80s and 90s, but you’re wrong.
Buckling can occur in any season because it’s not just direct sunlight that can cause the sudden curvature. Trains that are traveling incredibly too fast can also overheat the tracks, causing them to buckle.
I don’t know about you guys, but I’m a little leery of traveling by train now. I guess I’ll just walk everywhere I go since flying and driving are also out.
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