Media centre

Tuesday 18 Oct 2005

TURNING OVER A NEW LEAF TO REDUCE DELAYS

Region & Route:

More water-jetting trains and leaf busting teams than ever before will be helping to get passengers across the East Midlands to work on time this autumn. They will be out across the network tackling a problem that affects railways across the world – leaves on the line. More teams than over before will be out across the region, making this the largest ever autumn campaign by Network Rail. A team of leaf busting trains, based at Toton, will be shooting out water at an equivalent pressure of 1,000/bar (up to 1000 times faster than the water coming out of your tap) getting rid of ‘leaf mulch’, the railway equivalent of black ice on the roads, off the track where it forms a hard Teflon-like coating on the rail. This causes the trains to slip and slide, causing delays for passengers and can also damage the track and the train. Network Rail’s Route Director Dyan Crowther explained: “The notion that ‘leaves on the line’ is solely a British problem is a myth. Countries across Europe and North America experience similar problems every autumn. While we will never beat Mother Nature, we are putting more resources into keeping the trains moving than ever before. Planning for autumn is a year round process and we work closely with the train operators to minimise the impact on passengers” Methods that are being used to tackle the ’black ice’ of the rail industry include:

• Mobile leaf-busting teams located at Derby and Leicester on-call round-the-clock.
• The four-person leaf busting teams use railhead scrubbers, sand and Natrusolve, which dissolves the leaf mulch to tackle the “black ice” of the railways
• Two specialist ‘leaf busting’ trains will operating in the East Midlands blasting leaf mulch of the track with water at 1,000/bar.
• Static sandite applicators will help keep trains moving at leaf fall ‘hot spots’
• Motorway style dot matrix signs will warn train drivers of poor rail conditions so they can adjust their driving accordingly and keep the trains moving
• A dedicated ‘Adhesion Controller’ who works to ensure a co-ordinated approach and a speedy response to problem areas on the network