Rail warning system ^ears^ can hear landslide
A train derailed near the Falls of Cruachan power station after hitting a boulder. Picture: PA▸ Electronic ^ears^ have been installed along one of Scotland^s most landslide-prone train lines in a pioneering project that could protect rail tracks and roads across Scotland.
The fibre-optic cables are a modern-day replacement for a Victorian rockfall warning ^system in the steep-sided Pass of Brander on the Glasgow-Oban line.
The
UK▸ first is being tested on the route below Ben ^Cruachan, where in 2010 a ScotRail train nearly plunged down a 50ft embankment after hitting a fallen boulder and^ derailing.
A tripwire system built by engineer John Anderson in 1882, in which falling rocks trigger line-side signals, did not detect the boulder because it fell from lower down the slope.
The ^stone signals^ a vertical screen of ten horizontal steel wires ^ are known as ^Anderson^s Piano because of the humming sound of the wires in the wind.
In 2012, a ScotRail train hit debris from a nearby landslide ^ one of two incidents in Scotland the same day. Three weeks earlier, a freight locomotive crashed down a hillside near Corrour in the Highlands after hitting landslip debris.
Network Rail Scotland said its novel ^distributed acoustic sensing^ (Das) scheme could also be deployed to warn of trees falling on tracks, and landslides on roads such as at the landslide-stricken Rest and Be Thankful on the A83 in ^Argyll.
In 2012, dozens of trees were blown on to a 300-yard stretch of line at Markinch in Fife.
The Das scheme involves ^cables being buried just below the surface on either side of the single-track line for six miles between near Falls of Cruachan and Loch Awe ^stations.
The track firm said the system, which is monitored from a signalling centre, was sensitive enough to distinguish between obstacles falling on the line and other noises such as trains, deer and hailstones.
It said the new technology could offer a cheaper alternative to maintaining Anderson^s Piano and other anti-landslide measures such as netting slopes and removing rocks, which often require line ^closures.
Alan Ross, director of route asset management, said: ^Rockfalls and landslips are one of the railway^s longest-standing risks and we are ^always looking at ways we can use new technology to solve old problems. The new acoustic monitoring technology on trial offers us a potential solution to a problem which has affected the West Highland lines since they were built by the ^Victorians. If successful, this new ^system will help us provide an even safer and more reliable railway on a line vital to both the local communities it serves and to Scotland^s tourist trade.^
A ScotRail spokeswoman said: ^We are aware Network Rail has begun trials of a new acoustic system. We welcome this initiative as, if successful, it will aid in the delivery of a more reliable, consistent and safe railway.^
The Office of Rail Regulation has previously instructed ^Network Rail to improve its ^assessment of landslide risks to speed up its response to ^incidents.
A spokesman for the watchdog said ^The ^regulator ^supports Network Rail^s work to develop, and ^introduce, new technology for monitoring the condition of its infra^structure. That is why we approved ^95 million of funding for the implementation of remote condition testing for earthworks, signalling equipment, level crossings and other ^assets over the next five years.^
A spokeswoman for the ^Scottish Government^s ^Transport Scotland agency, which is responsible for the Scottish trunk road network, said: ^We are aware of the work at the Pass of Brander. We are interested in any technique that improves detection of falling rocks.^
