Opinion piece by Marie-Ange Debon
The climate is changing. Floods and heatwaves are no longer isolated incidents. Our bus, tram and metro operations must become more resilient to these hazards to avoid service disruptions and guarantee both comfort for our passengers and good working conditions for our staff. Keolis has already begun work to build this resilience.
We must face the facts: extreme climate events are no longer exceptional occurrences. Torrential rains in Dubai, heatwaves in India and the United States, and repeated floods in France last spring once again reminded us of this reality. These phenomena are increasing not only in frequency, but also in intensity. Our daily lives are already deeply impacted, with higher summer temperatures, heavier rainfall, more intense droughts, and more violent storms. One striking figure from the French weather monitoring agency Météo France says it all: the frequency of heatwaves in France has risen from once every five years before 1989 to once a year since 2000.
In this context, our public transport systems must adapt. This is an absolute necessity. First and foremost, for safety reasons, of course. Secondly, to prevent line closures and disruption to a service which is essential for life in our towns and communities, but also to maintain our passengers’ travelling conditions and our employees' working conditions throughout the year. And on this point, Keolis has taken the lead. Firstly, by assessing the exposure of our sites and networks to climate risks. We teamed up with a climate and risk expert to draw up an inventory of 1,000 of our sites (bus depots, rail infrastructure, etc.) across 11 countries. This study identified the climate risks most likely to impact the bus, metro, or tram services we operate: heavy rainfalls leading to flooding, flash floods, and landslides, on the one hand, and heatwaves on the other. The audit also highlighted the most exposed areas of our network: Dubai, the Rhône valley and southeast coast of France, the province of Liège in Belgium, some states in the US and Australia.
As a result, in these regions as a priority, and gradually on all our sites, we are deploying solutions to anticipate and prepare our responses to these events, limit damage, and restore public transport services as quickly as possible. To strengthen our short-term resilience, these action plans are based primarily on organizational measures tailored to each site. For example, reconsidering the location of heat-sensitive equipment depots or, for rolling stock, identifying safe areas in non-flood zones.
We are also thoroughly reviewing our incident response procedures to improve efficiency. In the Boston area, last September, severe flooding overwhelmed a drainage system near a railway station and washed away the ground underneath two commuter rail tracks. Our teams worked with the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) to rebuild the track bed and improve the drainage system in the area. Service was resumed in eight days — quite an impressive performance.
In the medium term, we are aiming for "curative" adaptation — meaning rapid technical actions which help mitigate the effects of climate hazards. For example, in Melbourne, on the Yarra Trams network, we have applied solar protection films to the tram’s windows and doors, which could reduce the inside temperature by 6 to 9°C. We also plan to paint the air conditioning units’ covers on tram roofs white to protect these devices, since they tend to malfunction when temperatures reach 50°C. This will reduce the risk of breakdowns and service disruption.
Another example: in Bordeaux, we are testing the "Fresh Air" system on some trams, which recirculates cooler "inside" air instead of injecting warmer "outside" air. This process, which entails recycling the inside air to expel carbon dioxide, improves air conditioner reliability and saves energy. At the same time, we are conducting a series of checks and improving the waterproofing of rolling stock to reduce the impact of potential floods.
Finally, we are working on long-term "preventive" adaptation. The aim here is to rethink infrastructure, in collaboration with public transport authorities. For example, redesigning bus and tram stops to allow for airflows, having separate air conditioning systems for drivers, and working with manufacturers to choose materials and designs that better withstand heat. To make infrastructure less vulnerable to floods, the entire rainwater system (collection, drainage, etc.) needs to be modified in some cases.
As we can see, these actions require time, coordination, and, in certain cases, significant investment. Keolis is already committed to this ambitious project. Public transport is a key contributor to mitigation policies, but these policies appear increasingly insufficient in view of the 1.5°C target set by the Paris Agreement. Therefore, adapting our public transport networks to new climate conditions is no longer an optional extra — it is a challenge that we are fully committed to addressing.
Marie-Ange Debon, Chairwoman of the Executive Board of Keolis Group.