Great Western Coffee Shop

New computer technology is being tested to identify and record the location of formerly discarded trackside material including sleepers, ballast bags and rails.  This can then be used to organise a structured retrieval plan for reuse/recycling.
Apparently the build up of discarded and unrecorded materials is now becoming something of an issue.  Aside from the growing untidiness along railway lines, discarded "junk" accounts for a large proportion of lineside accidents as they form a serious trip hazard, especially for night working or where the area has become overgrown.  The article in question is on the link below.

https://www.railadvent.co.uk/2023/06/network-rail-using-artificial-intelligence-to-locate-scrap-materials.html

If the trial is successful, there will be a national roll out.  You never know, the long discarded rail panels on the Severn Beach line at Narroways Junction might get collected before they are listed as ancient monuments!

What ever happened to using a pair of eyes?

Not too reliable at 125 mph!

Knowing it is there is not the problem .............

Its getting the track access (ie possessions) to recover it.

Often a renewal or maintenance is planned, it may be cancelled due to the TOC / FOC needing to run trains so the possession is cut back, if the work does happen as planned then the recovery of scrap and waste, often the access is not agreed by the TOC / FOC to do the recoveries so it just sits there.

Its even worse if the work is done by a contractor, there is no or little profit in the recovery phase of a renewal, its quite common once a project is commissioned into service and handed back for the NR and contractor project teams to move onto other projects.

Crazy I know but that's how the privatised industry works

Tried to post a comment and it keeps on coming up how many traffic lights can be seen,

and keeps saying try again,so I have given up.

Railhenge! Does anyone know how long they've actually been there? They're almost buried in undergrowth now.

I wonder if making the trackside tidier in terms of discarded "assets" will also have a knock-on effect in terms of rubbish that people tip over garden fences? If the line looks tidy to begin with, perhaps people will think twice about dumping their own rubbish there?

Crumbs, I'm getting visions of hoards of railway enthusiasts descending upon Narroways Junction for the summer solstice now.

Maybe I'm mis-remembering, but wasn't there a fairly major railway accident caused by a length of abandoned rail being put on the line by vandals?  I'm fairly confident that I remember an edict from the Railways Inspectorate coming out about it when I worked on the WSR back in the mid 1970s

Yes there was, can't recall which one or when... 1970s(?) ... it caused a drive to clear materials from the trackside, particularly cut lengths of rail that were 'Liftable'...

Mark

I also remember something like that. I've looked in the 'Railway Accidents' archive, and the most likely one is on the Fenchurch Street line near Elm Park, 1965 March 29. Report at https://www.railwaysarchive.co.uk/documents/MoT_ElmPark1965.pdf (https://www.railwaysarchive.co.uk/documents/MoT_ElmPark1965.pdf). Two fatalities, one the driver of the train. Is that the one you're thinking of?

Legend has it that the original Victorian signal pole was located such that, with the signal in the proceed position, the sun's rays were focused through the green glass onto the bedroom window of the station master's house, rousing him from his slumbers. There are those who claim to have seen his ghost patrolling the remains of the defunct up platform in readiness for the early workman's train.


Or if legend doesn't say that, I'll make sure it soon does!

Only just over 11½ months to wait.

The company behind the technology are moving into an office by Temple Meads and looking to the European railway markets.
More in this article:

https://www.bristol247.com/business/news-business/ai-software-firm-that-keeps-trains-on-track-opens-new-hq-in-bristol/

At last - a use for AI that no-one can criticise! Good for them, and I hope the company gets big on the proceeds. It will still need someone to actually act on the information, of course, which could be the weak link here.