'Leaves on the line' problem may have finally been solved for Harrogate rail passengers

Each autumn railways services have to cope with leaves on the track which can make the top layer of the track – or the rail head – slippy, making it difficult for trains to progress in safety.

As recently as 2018, Northern had to take 306 trains out of service for repairs to carriage wheels caused by ‘wheel-slide’ on slippery rails.

But engineers at the second largest train operator in the UK have now completed the final fleet modifications to help their annual battle with autumn leaf-fall.

The train operator has been deploying an increasingly innovative range of tactics in recent years to combat ‘leaves on the line’ between York-Harrogate-Leeds.

The technological solutions include:

Water-Trak technology – equipment that sprays water onto the track to simulate heavy rain conditions which helps wheels from slipping - has now been fitted to all 16 of the Class 170 trains in the Northern fleet

Wheel Slide Prevention (WSP) - technology that prevents wheels from ‘locking’ while the train is moving, a scenario that creates flat spots on a round wheel as carriages slide along the track – now fitted to all Class 150 and Class 156 trains in service.

Double Variable Rate Sanders (DVRS) – which deploy up to three times the quantity of sand at a higher speed than previous versions - to all 34 of Northern’s Class 323 trains.

The company is confident that disruption caused by leaf-fall will be kept to an absolute minimum this year.

Rob Cummings, Northern’s seasonal performance improvement manager, said: “Whilst it feels like summer has only just arrived this week - our engineers have had their eyes firmly fixed on autumn for some time.

"Fallen leaves used to cause significant disruption across the network but, having tried a number of methods and by fine-tuning our approach, we have been able to cut that right down."

Northern runs nearly 2,500 services a day in the north.