Railhead cleaning
Autumn weather can make it challenging to safely run trains on railway infrastructure around the world. Every autumn, millions of leaves fall from the trees onto the tracks. Windy conditions can cause heavy leaf fall in a short space of time, and rain makes the leaves more likely to stick to the rails.
When trains pass over the leaves, the heat and weight of the trains bake them into a thin, slippery layer on the rail. This is equivalent to ice skating on rails, making it difficult for trains to accelerate and brake effectively. Safety is a priority, so when this happens, drivers must be more cautious when pulling out of stations and brake much earlier for stations and signals. This can lead to longer journey times, delays, and even train cancellations.
A build-up of leaves on the tracks can also cause delays by forming a barrier between the train wheels and the electrical circuits that are part of the track system. These circuits help to pinpoint where trains are on the network. To prevent this, railway operators use leaf-busting trains, which move around the network cleaning the top of the rail by spraying it with high-pressure water jets to remove leaf mulch and contamination.
Interflon LeafGuard® is a unique fast-acting liquid that not only dissolves organic leaf matter, but also addresses rail oxidation upon contact. It offers an innovative and efficient means of combatting the challenges posed by autumn leaves on the railway tracks.
