Animal trespassing on the railway has been an issue since the early days of the railways, though despite nearly being in operation for almost two centuries, it is still a problem.

A problem which train companies are looking into more closely as trains get ever faster and more frequent.

Animal strikes not only cause, on average, 48 minutes’ worth of delays, but depending on the size of an animal and the speed of a train, they can have the ability to damage or derail a train if an impact happens at speed.

One such animal that causes problems is deer. Their ability to jump, although remarkable, does mean that they do occasionally leap over lineside fencing and place them in danger of oncoming trains.

This is something London North Eastern Railway (LNER) knows all too well as they run trains through many deer territories across England and Scotland.

In an attempt to combat this, the LNER has won an award in partnership with Network Rail, the ‘Remarkable Innovation for Large Organisations’ at the 2024 Dynamites IT and Tech Awards.

This has gone to the new Automated Deer Deterrent System, which has been built and installed at major deer crossing points along the East Coast Main Line.

The deer deterrent system works by using AI. When the camera sees something that resembles the shape of a deer, it emits noises and uses lights to move the deer away from the lineside fencing.

Despite its high-tech abilities, this technology proves to be more cost-effective than installing conventional deer deterrent fencing.

Since the installation of these devices in May 2023, the number of deer strikes has decreased hugely, with an estimated 6,000 recorded deer trespassing incidents being avoided.

The winning of this award acknowledges LNER’s commitment to safeguarding wildlife along the railway and enhancing customer service and experience.

“This award win is testament to the hard work and dedication that teams from both LNER and Network Rail have displayed in tackling this important issue.

Since Covid, the deer population has grown massively and, sadly, we were seeing more deer strikes on
the East Coast route. This technology greatly reduces the likelihood of an incident and the results speak
for themselves. Some hotspot areas have seen no strikes since the introduction of the system,
protecting the deer population, and improving railway performance for our customers.”

Ross Welham, LNER’s Lead Digital Research and Innovation Manager