Track cleaning tech could prevent rail delays

The technique was developed by a team of researchers led by Professor Roger Lewis from the university’s Department of Mechanical Engineering. It uses dry ice pellets in a stream of high pressure air which freeze the leaves, then as the pellets turn back to gas they are blasted away from the railhead.

“At the moment, railway lines are cleaned using railhead treatment trains, also known as RHTTs, but there is only a limited number of these trains available so they can’t treat the whole of the network,” said Lewis. “RHTTs are expensive to run, so they are mainly used to clean high-traffic, intercity lines, which means many lines are left untreated.”

Lewis added that the current cleaning system used by RHTTs can damage parts of the track, and the system must be switched off when travelling through stations to avoid spraying passengers, resulting in unclean lines within stations and increased risk of rail delays.