Speed restrictions imposed on British national rail because of summer heat

• Heatwave causes rail disruption, BBC News Online 4/8/03.
  (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/3120805.stm)

Speed restrictions were imposed across British rail network because of the fear of track buckling caused by today's "heatwave", resulting in severe delays on the country's busiest lines, the report says.

If the speed restrictions were set on lines such as preserved railways or extremely rural lines with very few patronage, I would have said it might be a strategy; however, it is simply unbelievable such restrictions have been set on lines on which trains are designed and scheduled to run at a top speed of 100mph or more. Tracks in Britain must withstand temperature difference of its winter and summer, and today's heat was not the easy temperature to cope? Ridiculous. Today's temperature was only around 35 degrees Celsius. What about Northern Europe? In those countries tracks should be able to cope with much wider range of temperature.