Eye sky for train chopper

LEAVES on the line, track defects and signalling issues will be picked up quicker thanks to a new eye in the sky.

Network Rail are introducing helicopters across the South Western Railway network in a bid to provider better journeys for passengers.

The company said that inspecting the railway by air will allow it to deliver improvements to performance, reliability and safety, with no disruption to train services.

It will use high-tech thermal and visual imaging equipment to identify the smallest of faults and inspect a wide area of infrastructure in a short space of time. The helicopter is capable of covering the route from London's Waterloo station to Weymouth station in Dorset in around three hours, including hovering over equipment to capture the critical thermal and high definition images.

The flights also reduce the need to send members of the workforce onto the track when trains are operating, improving safety for our teams.

Jason Bridges, chief operating officer for Network Rail, said: “We are using all of the tools at our disposal to improve performance across the south western rail network to provide a better railway for passengers – these new aerial surveys are a great example of this.”

The helicopter is equipped with a full high-definition camera system that provides a gyro-stabilised image with embedded location data in the digital video.

A ‘fault spotter’ on the flight reviews the live footage and can feed information back to maintenance teams on the ground, who can respond within minutes to inspect and repair the infrastructure.

Jacqui Dey, operations and safety director for South Western Railway, said: “We welcome this new initiative by Network Rail. Anything that can prevent disruption to our network can only be of benefit to our customers.”

The surveying will be carried out approximately every four weeks.