This 125mph train is fitted with LASERS. Sadly no sharks, though

Walking the lines, with tech

When an item which needs maintenance – rather than an urgent fix – is found the work is automatically scheduled. This goes to track workers, who are increasingly equipped with iPads to reduce the need to carry paper charts showing the location of the necessary work.

On board: It's always better being on the inside looking out...

The crews working the systems are, in the main, drawn from people who have walked the lines and have seasoned eyes for fault spotting; however, having a train on the rails changes the track geometry just as if a passenger train in service was passing over the section, and so gives better data than examining the track on foot.

The overhead line inspection is purely visual, looking at the power wires over the train for height, lateral position and wear. There is no contact with the wires, although a dedicated vehicle – called Mentor – exists to test the wires that’s currently out of service.

In addition to using GPS the New Measurement Train keeps track of where it is, and more importantly where the fault it has found is, by using a decades-old system of Route Setting Tapes which run off mileposts at the trackside. The posts are not always exactly a mile apart, so there is a database of where each post is and positions are logged against this in miles and yards. Faults are tagged to plus or minus 20 yards.

This might all sound a bit low tech but GPS has its limitations – and the rail network has a lot of tunnels. The system is also supplemented by technology which looks at the sway of the train; if it goes across a set of points at a junction, the sway determines which way the train has gone.

Network Rail has a huge amount of infrastructure and much of it is currently regularly replaced without a deep understanding of wear. By measuring and understanding the need for repair more accurately, there are millions of pounds worth of savings which can be made in reducing unnecessary maintenance.

There is something very cool about being on a train which isn’t available to ordinary passengers, a kind of private jet exclusivity. Yet while the qualification for getting on a private jet is money, from talking to the people working on the New Measurement Train the main qualification seems to be a love of the railways. And looking comfortable in orange. ®

Network Rail video about the New Measurement Train. Includes interviews with crew members.