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Two trials of drones which will keep an eye on the railway are set to start this year.

The newly integrated Anglia management team, which consists of Network Rail, c2c and Greater Anglia, has been working to reduce vandalism, cable theft and trespassing on the railway, which are among the leading causes of train delays.

A trial based at Romford ROC will involve the use of  BVLOS (beyond visual line of sight) drones, which has been approved by the Civil Aviation Authority. They will allow staff to monitor the railway up to 400 metres from the ROC.

The drones are also fitted with high-resolution thermal imaging cameras, which can identify worn or damaged track, drainage, structures and lineside equipment before the wear develops into actual failures. More sites in Anglia are to follow, and flights will extend up to four kilometres.

A parallel trial will also be taking place at Gloucester on Network Rail’s Western route.

Anglia route crime and security manager Richard Barke said: ‘Trespass, vandalism and cable theft are some of the biggest causes of delay for passengers across the East of England.

‘The learning from Romford will help us understand how this technology could support faster and more effective incident response across the Anglia route in the future.

‘That means better coordination between route crime teams, operations and response teams, so we can deal with incidents more quickly and keep disruption to a minimum for passengers.’

Readers’ comments

The article raises more questions than it answers. Firstly, Network Rail is not ‘recruiting drones’. Drones are pieces of equipment that have already been purchased and paid for. The real question is: who is being recruited, trained and employed to operate them? The article refers to ‘staff’ monitoring the railway but never explains who those staff are. Are they frontline Network Rail employees? Are they maintenance staff with local knowledge of the infrastructure? Are they dedicated inspection teams? Or is this work being handed to contractors or managers who have little day-to-day experience of maintaining the railway? There is also a wider concern that articles such as this focus heavily on the technology but remain deliberately vague about the employment implications. The railway does not become safer simply because a drone spots a problem. Safety improves when we have an adequate number of trained railway workers that have experience and local knowledge to inspect, assess and repair the network. The public deserves a clear answer: will this work be carried out by Network Rail infrastructure employees, or is this another example of technology being used to justify outsourcing and reducing frontline railway jobs?

Jack Rawcliffe, York

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