Engineering news
The special trains – which would still operate public services as normal – are being planned by Northern, the second largest train operator in the UK.
Described as ‘data hoovers’ by the company, the trains would feed information about the track and surrounding infrastructure to Network Rail. The data would then be downloaded and analysed at the end of every day.
The scheme is part of Northern’s Intelligent Trains programme. The collaboration with Network Rail is designed to make journeys safer, more reliable and more efficient.
Rob Warnes, strategic development director at Northern, said: “Each of our trains travels, on average, 100,000km around the North of England every year and that presents an amazing opportunity for data capture.
“We would only need 40 of our fleet of 335 trains to be fitted with this technology to regularly sweep our entire network, which spans 3,000km of track.
“Those trains could provide engineers with data from the same section of track over many days, weeks and months – enabling maintenance issues to be identified and repairs scheduled whilst they are within operational safety standards.”
Northern is in talks with Network Rail to secure funding for the programme, which it estimates would save tens of thousands of ‘delay minutes’ caused by urgent, unscheduled maintenance each year.
Want the best engineering stories delivered straight to your inbox? The Professional Engineering newsletter gives you vital updates on the most cutting-edge engineering and exciting new job opportunities. To sign up, click here.
Content published by Professional Engineering does not necessarily represent the views of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers.