Trains in the UK look set to be fitted with tiny devices that emit microwaves in order to bring an end to service disruption caused by wet leaves on the line, writes transport correspondent Graeme Paton.
100 times more powerful that domestic microwave ovens, they will fire bursts of radiation at the line a fraction of a second before wheel contact to dry out wet mushy leaves collecting on the railhead.
It promises to bring an end to an annually occurring problem when an estimated 5,800 hours of delays are caused each autumn from reduced track adhesion between train wheels and the railhead.
The microwave system, being pioneered by London-based the Imagination Factory, is one solution being considered by the RSSB in a £4 million research programme and has attracted interest from a number of train operators and manufacturers.
- We've read it in: The Times, September 12, p13
