As Europe's railways buckle under record heat, roads melt and power grids come under increasing strain, countries are resorting to a range of solutions to their aging infrastructure - from drones to inspect tracks and AI-powered sensors to a surprisingly simple remedy: white paint.
At Oslo Airport in Norway, where temperatures were expected to reach 30 degrees Celsius today, ten degrees above normal for this time of year, workers doused the runway with water to cool it.
It represents a significant change in a country much more accustomed to dealing with the cold and shows how Europe must adapt to rising temperatures, which are fueling wildfires, causing thousands of excess deaths and putting increasing pressure on infrastructure.
"In Norway, asphalt has to withstand both extreme cold and quite high temperatures," Jorn Arvid Remark, an operations engineer at Norwegian state airport operator Avinor, told Reuters, adding that the airport was testing a new type of asphalt resistant to high temperatures.
The fire department is spraying about 9.000 liters of water on key parts of the runway, which can be damaged in high temperatures as the asphalt softens under the weight of the aircraft.
Europe's roads and railways, many built decades ago, are struggling to cope with the conditions. Temperatures across Western Europe were 5,5 degrees Celsius above average for July 15, according to the Reuters Climate Monitor.
"Our infrastructure is in no way prepared for the extreme weather events we are about to see," said Chris Dodwell, one of the heads of the sustainability center at Impax Asset Management, adding that heat waves, once rare, are becoming a regular occurrence.
A 2025 report by leading central banks estimated that extreme weather events, including heatwaves, droughts and floods, could reduce the eurozone's gross domestic product by as much as 4,7 percent by 2030.
More storms and floods
European railways are feeling the consequences particularly strongly.
An EU report published in April said that more than 70 percent of rail infrastructure managers are seeing increasing disruptions due to extreme weather. Between 2015 and 2024, weather-related disruptions totaled between one and three years of rail traffic across the region.
Heat can cause rail expansion, as well as failures of switches, signals and power systems. However, extreme weather events caused by high temperatures can be even more devastating.
"The most critical problem for rail networks is not the heat itself, but the thunderstorms, strong winds and landslides that often follow heat waves," said Oliviero Bacelli, a professor at Bocconi University in Milan.
"Italy has already experienced significant disruptions to its rail network, particularly on Alpine routes, as a result of climate change-related events."
Northern European countries, such as Britain, face particular challenges because much of their rail infrastructure is designed for a narrower temperature range than networks in southern Europe.
John Lawrence, president of the Institute of Engineering and Technology's Rail Technical Network, said many rail components and systems were "essentially frozen in time".
He added that adapting entire networks to high temperatures would require huge costs, although operators are exploring more stable sleeper designs and technologies such as artificial intelligence and drones to "speed up the inspection and monitoring of larger sections of track".
The British company Network Rail has pledged to invest 2,6 billion pounds, or $3,5 billion, between 2024 and 2029 to help the rail network withstand increasingly extreme weather conditions.
However, not all solutions are extremely expensive, and some operators are using traditional methods to deflect heat. The Stockholm Transport Authority spent around 100.000 Swedish kronor ($10.300) in May and June painting sections of metro tracks white to reduce the risk of them warping.
Increasingly intense heat waves
Martin Wilson, engineering director at French rail equipment maker Alstom, said Europe could learn lessons from transport systems like the Riyadh metro and Dubai trams, which are designed to operate in temperatures above 50 degrees Celsius.
“Today’s heatwaves are often more intense, more frequent and longer lasting,” he said. “Rising temperatures are increasingly posing serious challenges to rail systems across Europe.”
Roads face similar pressures.
Engineers say that highways in northern Europe are primarily built to withstand damage caused by freezing and thawing, while southern countries, such as Spain, use asphalt mixtures more suited to prolonged summer heat.
Finding the right balance is becoming increasingly difficult as countries face both colder winters and warmer summers.
“They may have to adapt their approach,” said José Pablo Sáez Villar of the Spanish Association of Civil Engineers, speaking of road planners and builders in northern Europe.
Paris' public transport company RATP has formed an emergency unit for heatwaves and is preparing a climate change adaptation plan, which should be completed by the end of the year.
In Norway, officials say warmer, wetter weather is changing the way new infrastructure is designed.
“Roads will be built to be more resilient,” said Grete Vikane, head of the social development and climate sector at the Norwegian Public Roads Authority.
"This will enable them to withstand both the challenges that are already being felt and the consequences of expected climate change."
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