Laser technology will clean and maintain the railway at 60 mph for the first tim

Recently, Network Rail, the British railway network, announced that it was testing a new laser technology to remove leaf litter on the railway at a speed of 60 miles per hour.

It is reported that when leaves and grass are pressed on the rail, they will form a layer of oil film, causing a driving condition similar to "black ice" skidding, which will reduce the grip of the railway train, while affecting its safety and service performance, eventually causing the train to slow down, accelerate or brake in advance, and even lead to serious accidents.

In order to solve this problem, the British railway network is trying "LaserTrain" technology, which is developed by Laser Precision Solutions (LPS) in Amsterdam. It can evaporate any remaining oil on the rail by emitting laser beams to the rail.

Image source: official website of Laser Precision Solutions

This technology will be tested on the East Lancashire railway in the northwest of England in October this year. This is part of a plan to apply the new Lasertrain technology to the railway across the UK. The plan aims to make the railway cleaner, more environmentally friendly and safer. The experiment in the UK will also be the first time that laser technology is used in the railway cleaning scene at a processing speed of 60 miles per hour.

To test this technology, Network Rail first needs to measure the friction level on the contaminated rail. After being processed by LaserTrain technology, measure the friction level again. This process will be repeated several times in a few weeks. During the test, the laser cleaning process will run at different speeds, with a maximum speed of 60 mph.

Harm Medendorp, CEO of Laser Precision Solutions: "We are very happy that Network Rail has chosen our technology as a consideration for the future and has the opportunity to show how our intelligent and sustainable railway cleaning solutions can create more reliable and efficient services. With the power of laser, we have increased the cleaning speed from 25 miles per hour to 60 miles per hour."

Since 2018, LaserTrain has been operating in cooperation with the MTA Long Island Railroad in New York City, and has shown positive results so far.

In the first year alone, due to the weather, the number of delayed trains on LaserTrain operation lines decreased by 65%, the number of canceled trains decreased by 48%, and the number of carriages decreased by 32%.

What's more, like other laser cleaning technologies, LaserTrain does not require consumables or produce any by-products. According to Laser Precision Solutions, this is a unique patented design.

Source: OFweek Laser Network