Railway tracks in Scotland are now receiving their regular autumn treatment to remove leaves and debris from the lines to help keep passenger and freight services moving and reduce delays.

Network Rail has a seven-strong fleet of specialist rail-head treatment trains (RHTTs) and multi-purpose vehicles (MPVs) that will operate around the clock until December using high-pressure water jets to clean tracks before coating them with a special adhesive to improve traction. Similar leaf clearance operations have been in place for the last few years.

Leaves on the line are the railway’s equivalent to black ice on the roads, as it causes train wheels to lose their grip on the line and increase braking distances. Each year, thousands of tonnes of leaves fall onto lines in Scotland, and trains passing over the leaves compress them onto damp rails and leave a slippery black surface that affects the ability of trains to brake properly. This may result in trains overshooting signals or platforms and affect signalling systems, and make it difficult for signallers to track the locations of trains on the network.

Teams of leaf-busting engineers will support the special trains in tackling 78 trouble spots across the country. For the first time, one of these trains will be running to Oban on the West Highland Line. On the West Highland Line between Glasgow, Fort William, and Mallaig, a specially adapted road-rail Land Rover, or ‘Sand Rover’, will be used to apply traction gel to the tracks to keep trains moving.

Leaf clearance work is being co-ordinated in real-time by specialist staff in the railway control room, who will use their experience, knowledge, and weather forecasts to move resources to where they are most needed. That will also be supplemented with intelligence from train drivers, staff on the ground, and data from trains.

ScotRail has been working with Network Rail in preparing their train fleets for the autumn, including checking on wheel conditions and inspecting windscreen wiper blades. Equipment used in depots to repair wheels damaged by increased braking has undergone planned maintenance, whilst train wheelsets that showed signs of wear were changed during the summer to avoid unnecessary problems during the autumn.

Liam Sumpter, Network Rail route director Scotland, said: “Leaves on the line can pose a real danger to the safe operation of the railway – affecting a train’s wheels in a similar way to how black ice affects your car.

“Every autumn we run a huge operation to treat tracks and keep trains running. Our teams of engineers will be out on the ground around the clock and our rail head treatment trains will cover thousands of miles of track as we work hard to keep our customers moving.”

David Simpson, ScotRail Service Delivery Director, said: “The autumn weather can be a challenging time for the railway, as each year, leaves fall on the line which can make the rails dangerously slippy.

“We know few things frustrate customers more than when their train is delayed because of leaves on the line. That’s why, this autumn, we’ll be working flat out alongside our colleagues at Network Rail to keep rails and train wheels clean to help minimise the impact the weather has on our customers and ensure they are kept up to date with accurate information about their journeys.”