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Network Rail has unveiled a groundbreaking dronebased navigation and safety system to enhance monitoring and security along the UK’ s 20,000 miles of railway infrastructure. Successfully trialled along the Wolverhampton and Severn Valley Railway lines, the system promises to revolutionise trespass detection, improve operational efficiency, and deliver substantial cost savings while ensuring safer railways for passengers and staff.

The technology has now been trialled along the Wolverhampton and Severn Valley Railway lines and has proved its potential to vastly improve the safety, speed, and efficiency of the UK railway service, while also delivering many millions a year in savings.

Partnering with independent drone advisors, Drone Major Limited, which has received record approval from the Civil Aviation Authority( CAA) to fly small drones along the railway, Network Rail’ s innovative and world-first approach has the capability to dramatically transform trespass management on UK railways.

Existing response processes will be enhanced by drones operated beyond the visual line of sight( BVLOS), helping Network Rail to significantly speed up the verification and interception of trespassers,

The potential for these projects to deliver a more reliable, safer railway for our passengers and colleagues is huge and could even be a game-changer. thereby reducing train down-time and also potentially saving lives.

This unprecedented modernisation of monitoring will vastly improve the efficiency and safety of Britain’ s railways.

Flying alongside railways, these drones operate in a carefully defined‘ safety corridor’, much like aeroplanes, using an advanced‘ Digital Tethering’ concept to assure the safety of the aircraft’ s flight behaviour, significantly minimising risks to those on the ground. The innovative Digital Tethering solution began in Wolverhampton before being trialled further afield to include tests, trials and surveys along the Severn Valley Railway. The drones are able to monitor the UK’ s railways, transmitting visual data in real time to operators, providing vital detection and monitoring of trespassers.

The Digital Tethering system employs a worldleading navigation solution including artificial perception and highly accurate ground-based beacons, together delivering cutting-edge technology to the project and enabling reliable autonomous navigation, providing real-time and precise position of the drones, particularly in areas along the railway where GPS / GNSS signals are unstable or inaccessible. Digital Tethering has been designed to significantly improve safety and increase the efficiency of UAS operations during railway monitoring and inspection tasks.

Across the rail network in England, Wales and Scotland, there were over 18,500 recorded incidents of trespass last year, a number which is rising and almost equivalent to one incident for every mile of railway track each year. Trespass on the rail

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