UK: Train signals melt, rail line expands as Europe reels under heatwave; see pics

As parts of Europe are battling extreme heatwave, the UK has been experiencing scorching temperatures rising over 40°C. As the UK witnesses an unbearable heatwave, several pictures of melting infrastructures in the country are doing rounds on the internet, triggering concern over climate change. 

Recently, pictures shared by UK's National Railways on Twitter have left the netizens shocked. The image displayed a melted railway signal and a level crossing damaged because of the extreme heatwave. 

After train services were hit due to heatwave conditions causing a wildfire, the National Railways took to its official Twitter handle and wrote, “We're asking you to check your journeys before travelling on the East Coast Main Line today because we expect severe disruption. We're repairing the line after a fire on the route between Peterborough and London King’s Cross.”

Take a look: 

Elaborating on the extreme temperatures, National Railways shared another tweet saying, "On any given day we have about 30,000 km of rail but the network was 9km longer yesterday! Why? Because the record-breaking heat was able to expand each kilometre of rail by 30cm!"

Britain records hottest temperature ever

Britain recorded its hottest-ever temperature, surpassing 40°C for the first time. The UK Met office also forecasted that the mercury could even cross 40°C in the coming days too. Meanwhile, a national emergency was also declared for two days.

Many social media users too shared videos and pictures of how the temperature is affecting the environment, infrastructure and daily lives of citizens. Sharing a video of a wildfire, a user wrote, "I knew I was right not to bother attending any Cobra meetings about the so-called 'heatwave'."

"London this morning in the heatwave - 8 am and roughly 27 degrees C. Extreme heat is crippling other transport infrastructure. Cycling is a vital, resilient transport mode for the city. We're seeing the benefit of investment in it today," wrote another user.

"The latest scenes from Spain, oh no, wait..sorry, it’s Dartford. There are big fires all over the place in the UK. Shut up with your stupid minimising tweets, you look utterly ridiculous," said a third user.