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Thursday 25 Sep 2025

Leaf-busting trains ‘will travel 12 times around the planet’ this autumn

Region & Route:

Southern

| Southern: Kent

| Southern: Sussex

A special fleet of leaf-busting trains has this week begun working across Kent and Sussex to keep the railway running safely and reliably.

Across the Southern region – which covers the railway in the south of England– tackling the issue of leaf-fall requires a massive operation between Network Rail and train companies, with advanced planning and specialised forecasting.

The stars of the show – Network Rail’s fleet of ‘leaf-busting’ trains - will again be in action this Autumn to keep the railway leaf free and running reliably.

Running around the clock to and from the Tonbridge depot in Kent, the special trains will run until mid-December to keep tracks clean. Equipped with high pressure water jets to blast leaves off the lines and where necessary apply a sand-like gel to help trains grip the rail better. The special trains will work tirelessly to treat a total of 318,000 miles of track – roughly 12 times around the planet.

In a first this year, new ‘Sand Rover’ 4x4’ vehicles which treat the track to increase grip will be trialled on lines in the south east. This year, they will be helping to keep passengers services on time on the Hayes Line in south east London, as well as protecting vital freight flows, including aviation fuel to Heathrow airport via the  Grain branch line in north Kent.

David Davidson, chief operating officer for the South Eastern Railway, said: “There are millions of trees on or next to the railway, and when Autumn arrives, thousands of tonnes of leaves fall onto the railway. They stick to damp rails and passing trains crush them into a thin, hard layer on the rail which, a lot like black ice on the roads, can affect braking and acceleration.

“Just like you wouldn’t accelerate over black ice on the roads, we can’t risk passenger safety by driving trains at full speed over leaves.

“At Southeastern, in some areas of our railway which have historically experienced very heavy leaf fall, we have published special autumn timetables with revised journey timings and stopping patterns. These timetables allow extra time for train drivers to drive more cautiously due to the slippery conditions caused by leaf fall, ice and snow, and, most importantly, passengers get to where they need to go safely and reliably.

”These amended timetables are on journey planners, our website and available in stations, too.”

Lucy McAuliffe, Network Rail’s Sussex Route Director, said: “Autumn is a really challenging time for the railway, owing largely to the significant amount of leaf fall and wet weather.

“Our teams will be working tirelessly using our 25-strong fleet of specialist trains to help keep the tracks leaf free so that passenger and freight services are able to continue running safely and reliably this Autumn.

“Working together with Southern, Thameslink and Gatwick Express, we will be making sure that customers are fully informed about their journeys and that the railway network across Sussex is prepared for the leaf-fall season so that people can get where they need to be”.

John Whitehurst, Chief Operating Officer at Govia Thameslink Railway, which runs Southern, Thameslink and Gatwick Express trains in Sussex, said: “Leaves on the line are no joke. The weight and heat of trains passing overhead bakes them into a slippery Teflon-like substance.

“Thanks to the performance of our trains and the hard work of our leaf-busting colleagues at Network Rail, we won’t need to introduce special timetables this autumn but there is still the chance of occasional delays, so please, as always, do check for the latest service updates on one of our websites before you leave for the station.”