Switzerland‘s Federal Office of Transport (FOT) has authorised the first removable solar power plant to be installed between rails on the country’s railway.

The pilot project will be located near Buttes (Neuchâtel) railway station.

To prepare for the pilot, the developer manufactured prototypes in 2023, and has subjected them to tests and measurements.

The company proposing the project – a start-up called Sun-Ways, based in Vaud – carried out several expert appraisals, showing that its system met the high safety standards set by the FOT for systems to be deployed on an operational railway line.

Sun-Ways’ technology puts the unused space between rails to use without disrupting train traffic or track maintenance and inspection work. The technology claims that two of its features make it unique:

• It can be installed either manually or mechanically, using a machine designed by Scheuchzer SA which can install up to 1,000 m2 of solar panels per day.
• It is removable, ie. workers can quickly remove all or part of a Sun-Ways solar power plant for maintenance work, and can then put the equipment back in place to resume operating.

Switzerland is considering various options for producing electricity from solar sources, including placing solar power plants on the mountains of the Alps mountain range.

Sun-Ways contends that its technology offers a way forward that has no negative environmental or visual impact and could generate thirty percent of Swiss public transport sector’s needs.

The FOT’s experts spent ten months examining the application for authorisation, having previously turned it down last year due to lack of technical references, and has made its agreement subject to technical conditions to ensure that it does not damage or disrupt the railway infrastructure, including additional tests and measurements to be carried out during the operation of the pilot project.

Efforts by the UK rail industry to use solar power include Network Rail installing solar-powered weather stations along the West Coast Main Line in 2021, and Govia Thameslink placing solar panels on depot roofs.