Microwave system promises end to leaf-induced rail misery

The source of this interruption to services can be found in the leaves falling onto railway lines and being turned into a Teflon-like mulch by trains passing over them.

Consequently, this slippery coating requires train drivers to brake earlier when approaching stations and signals, then accelerate cautiously to avoid wheel spin.

The situation is so pronounced that annual timetable adjustments are made, a situation that London-based Imagination Factory hopes to alleviate with bursts of microwave energy to dry out a section of the track.

In 2014 the company was one of seven organisations awarded funding by the Rail Safety and Standards Board (RSSB) to take forward its solution as part of the 'Predictable and Optimised Braking Challenge'.

The company’s solution, which has completed an early proof of concept feasibility study, would see microwave energy directed at railway tracks during braking.

Julian Swan, engineering lead and co-founder of Imagination Factory, said the idea is to dry the contact patch between the rail and wheel interface, which is approximately 12mm wide.