Saturday 1 Nov 2003

NETWORK RAIL HIGHLIGHT POTENTIAL DISRUPTION ON MONDAY FOLLOWING HEAVY WEEKEND STORM

Region & Route:
National
Leaf fall season is now at its height and new weather and leaf-fall forecast techniques in use this year have predicted Sunday 2 and Monday 3 November to be severe leaf-fall problem days, resulting in very poor adhesion on the rails. Over the past six months Network Rail has been working closely with the Met Office and environmental specialist, ADAS, to develop a leaf-fall early warning system and to prepare its arsenal of weapons to tackle the leaf-fall problem. With the worst autumn days for leaf-fall predicted on Sunday and Monday, Network Rail is now putting these plans into action.  Additional manpower and equipment is being brought in and weekend engineering works are being curtailed early to enable our massive railhead treatment fleet unfettered access to the tracks. Iain Coucher, Network Rail’s Deputy Chief Executive said: “Although we cannot control the elements, we are constantly striving to improve the way we tackle the problems leaf-fall presents.       This weekend will see the culmination of six months worth of planning as we go all out to reduce delays caused by this weekend’s heavy leaf-fall.  We hope our efforts, combined with those of our train operating colleagues, will enable us to deliver a more reliable train service than would otherwise have been possible. - more - Autumn - 2 Iain Coucher continued: “We don’t expect to eliminate the problems that leaf fall causes and journeys to work on Monday may take longer than normal as our mitigation measures battle against the elements.  We can never beat Mother Nature, but we, and our colleagues in the railway industry, are determined to work together and minimise the disruptive effects of the weather this autumn.” The autumn season presents every railway in the world with a challenge and will continue to do so this year, but Network Rail is as prepared as it can be to counter the 2003 autumn leaf fall season.  This year has seen the most extensive preparations ever to help mitigate the effects of ‘leaves on the line’, which cost the industry about £50 million annually.  ‘Leaves on the line’ is the railway equivalent of ‘black ice’ on the roads.  When crushed, the leaves form a hard Teflon-like coating on the railhead that causes train wheels to slip and slide.  This results in train delays and can also damage the track.  What was once wrongly regarded as a joke is now recognised as a serious performance and safety issue for railways across the world, including the USA, Sweden, Germany and France.  Network Rail is constantly looking at new ways to tackle the problem of leaf fall.  This year has seen a special three-times-weekly forecast provided by the Met Office and ADAS, which indicate when trains are likely to have problems of low adhesion on the track.  In addition, Network Rail is operating its biggest ever treatment fleet this year, including 32 Multi Purpose Vehicles (MPVs) - which apply a sand-based gel called ‘sandite’ to the rails and have high-pressure water jets, 94 manual ‘hot spot’ teams and 30 locomotives/trains which either apply ‘sandite’, water or both. As is the case every year and in many countries there will be delays this autumn caused by leaf fall, but Network Rail and the rail industry is as prepared as it can be to minimise them. 

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