Today, Network Rail has announced a pioneering initiative to develop the UK’s first ‘drone assured navigation and safety system’ for use along its 20,000 miles of railway tracks and infrastructure. The technology has now been trialled along the Wolverhampton and Severn Valley Railway lines and has proved its potential to vastly improve the safety, speed, and efficiency of the UK railway service, while also delivering many millions a year in savings.
Image Credit: Drone Major Limited
Partnering with independent drone advisors, Drone Major Limited, which has received record approval from the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) to fly small drones along the railway, Network Rail’s innovative and world-first approach has the capability to dramatically transform trespass management on UK railways. Existing response processes will be enhanced by drones operated beyond the visual line of sight (BVLOS), helping Network Rail to significantly speed up the verification and interception of trespassers, thereby reducing train down-time and also potentially saving lives.
This unprecedented modernization of monitoring will vastly improve the efficiency and safety of Britain’s railways.
Flying alongside railways, these drones operate in a carefully defined ‘safety corridor’, much like aeroplanes, using an advanced ‘Digital Tethering™’ concept to assure the safety of the aircraft’s flight behaviour, significantly minimizing risks to those on the ground. The innovative Digital Tethering™ solution began in Wolverhampton before being trialled further afield to include tests, trials and surveys along the Severn Valley Railway. The drones are able to monitor the UK’s railways, transmitting visual data in real time to operators, providing vital detection and monitoring of trespassers.
The Digital Tethering™ system employs a world-leading navigation solution including artificial perception and highly accurate ground-based beacons, together delivering cutting-edge technology to the project and enabling reliable autonomous navigation, providing real-time and precise position of the drones, particularly in areas along the railway where GPS/GNSS signals are unstable or inaccessible. Digital Tethering™ has been designed to significantly improve safety and increase the efficiency of UAS operations during railway monitoring and inspection tasks.
Across the rail network in England, Wales and Scotland, there were over 18,500 recorded incidents of trespass last year, a number which is rising and almost equivalent to one incident for every mile of railway track each year. Trespass on the rail network creates delays, with the total performance delay costs associated with trespass and vandalism estimated at £55million per year before the COVID-19 pandemic.
The current ‘manual’ processes of monitoring for and resolving trespass and vandalism on UK railways are not only slow, creating significant additional delays on the UK’s railway lines, but also potentially dangerous for Network Rail staff. One of the biggest safety risks posed to rail workers is the potential for being struck by a train while working trackside, which currently typically happens every 18 to 24 months.
The new system which has been thoroughly trialled will not only vastly improve the efficiency and safety of Britain’s railways for both passengers and staff, limiting the number of trespassers, but will also set the foundations for a fully operational drone network, which can be used for monitoring and maintaining the entire Network Rail estate. This will deliver additional savings and significantly reduce the £1.9billion spent every year on monitoring for infrastructure issues and other external problems, such as animals on the line, collapsed trees, and lineside fires.
Dominic Mottram, Programme Manager for National Drone Strategy at Network Rail stated: “The potential for these projects to deliver a more reliable, safer railway for our passengers and colleagues is huge and could even be a game-changer.
“We operate one of the safest railways in the world, but it is also one of the busiest, so keeping trains running reliably while monitoring tracks and dealing with incidents can be a challenge and delays can spread quickly and far from the original source. Information provided by drones will mean our colleagues’ expertise in maintaining the railway can be focussed where it is needed, without exposing them to the risk of the ‘live railway’, and instances of trespass can be tackled much more quickly.”
Robert Garbett, Founder and Chief Executive of Drone Major Limited commented: “Drones represent enormous opportunities across a huge number of industries. Network Rail’s initiative as a ‘first mover’ in trailing our Digital Tethering™ concept sets an example worldwide. In the UK, it presents an opportunity to fully modernize our rail infrastructure; deliver a faster, safer, more effective and efficient service for customers; and ultimately drive economic growth for the whole of the UK.”