There have been several instances over the years where trains have hit debris that has fallen onto a track and caused a derailment.
In high risk areas, it is not uncommon for avalanche shelters to be built which are strong enough to withstand the force of anything that can roll down a hillside.
These can frequently be seen in the Alpine areas of Switzerland and Austria and some exist in the UK, the Cambrian line just south of Fairbourne being an example where rock falls from the cliffs of Friog have, in the past, caused trains to derail and plummet into the sea.
The Pass of Brander Accident
Scotland has its fair share of high risk spots and, on the 6 June 2010, a train from Glasgow to Oban hit a boulder in the Pass of Brander just west of Falls of Cruachan station (see the rail engineer issue 69 July 2010).
The front coach of the 2 car DMU derailed to the left and could have rolled down the embankment onto the A85 road and into Loch Awe if trees and vegetation had not prevented its passage.
The section was equipped with an automatic stone guard system consisting of 10 single strand ‘piano’ wires which, if any were broken, would replace to danger one or more of 17 semaphore ‘stone’ signals either side of the break.
Such was the perceived risk that this detection system had been installed in stages by the Caledonian Railway between 1893 and 1913. In 2010, however, the displaced boulder had tumbled from below this wire screen and thus was not detected.
The subsequent RAIB investigation produced recommendations for a better inspection, maintenance and recording regime including the production of new standards. No comment was made on the effectiveness of the detection system, nor whether an improved system should be investigated.
A New Detection Concept
To protect against any immediate repeat of the incident, major geological protection work was authorised and QTS was awarded a contract to clear vegetation, improve the drainage and fettle up the piano wire detection system.
QTS are a private company specialising in lineside management, the initials originally meaning quality tree surgeons, but now more realistically standing for Quality Technical Services.
All this represents good precautionary measures but Network Rail in Scotland believed that a more effective means of detection was possible. Could lessons be learnt from elsewhere?
It came to light that BT had used fibre optic cables to detect rock falls on to roads, so this concept was investigated.
The principle is based upon a fibre having a marginal change in its refractive index if a vibration occurs.
This can be detected by the injected light source being partially reflected at the vibration point, which in turn can be calculated by distance from the light source. Fibre optic cable faults are located in a similar manner, using an optical time domain reflectometer. In theory, the bigger the ‘thump’, the bigger the refraction change.
More ferreting yielded the information that the principle had been tried in Yorkshire to detect cable thieves since the removal of trough lids and any disturbance of cables would cause a fibre to ‘blip’. This trial was mostly successful and may well be taken further.
Accordingly, a contract has been let via BT to Fotech Solutions, a company based in Fleet, Hampshire, to undertake a ‘Proof of Concept’.
This involves setting up a trial site, establishing a testing methodology, rolling different sizes of boulders down a hill, measuring the disturbance on a controlled length of fibre optic cable and producing a set of test results with accompanying analysis.
The Trials Underway
Getting a suitable test site has not been easy but QTS came to the rescue by creating a small artificial length of railway at their Rench Farm depot site near Drumclog, half way between Hamilton and Kilmarnock.
A hillside has been constructed replicating the Pass of Brander and 30 boulders of varying sizes have been made from drums filled with concrete and coated with plastic.
The fibre optic cable layout is a laser light source and sensor located in an adjacent test hut connected firstly to a 1km reel of mono mode fibre, then secondly to a fibre in a 400 m length of fibre cable as used on the FTN (Fixed Telecommunications Network) project, thirdly to a 5km reel of fibre and lastly to a second 400m length of fibre cable. The fibre cable is run outside at the foot of the ballast shoulder on both sides of the test track.
The light source uses the standard 1540 nm wavelength common on optical transmission systems.
Coupled to this test length are the various measuring equipments with the resultant fibre performance being shown graphically by distance on a laptop computer. Fotech claim that a vibration can be detected to a distance of 2½ metres in a 10 km length.
An important element of the trial is to distinguish, within a reasonable degree of accuracy, the difference between normal vibrations as would be caused by a passing train, or even someone walking in close proximity, and a boulder rolling down the hillside and fouling the track, hence the importance of testing different size and weight boulders.
Another variable will be the height above rail level that the boulder commences its descent. Facilitated by QTS staff, Fotech are arranging test heights of 2, 5, 7 and 10 metres.
The smallest boulders can be lifted into place by hand but the big ones need a ‘grabber’ JCB perched on the hill top to place them in position. Once the go signal is given, the boulder careers down the hill towards the track; the smaller ones tend to ride over the cess, bounce off the rail and return to the cess; the bigger ones ride the cess and stop with a clang against the rail. Any train would hit these with considerable force.
A boulder was not observed to climb the rail into the 4 foot but this is obviously possible since it happened at the Pass of Brander. Back in the test hut, the rollings are observed by a strong peak on the fibre measurement graph. Since the fibre exists on both sides of the rail, two peaks are observed. These peaks can be captured and used to trigger an alarm.
Records are being kept of the exact position where the various boulders come to rest. Further tests will involve a road-railer vehicle being put on the track and moved up and down to compare this with the vibrations caused by the boulders
Next Steps
It looks like the ‘proof of concept’ trial will be successful. If so, the next stage will be to install 400m of fibre cable in the Falls of Cruachan area, including through the Pass of Brander, and connect this to onsite test equipment.
This will establish how well the system performs on a real railway and will evaluate the profiles of normal vibration likely to be encountered. Assuming this is able to pick out unusual events, then a third stage will be embarked on by extending the fibre cable to a 20km length through this whole section of the Oban route and terminating it in an RETB repeater site.
The associated equipment room will be provided with a line that can support ISDN or IP connections, thus enabling the alarms to be monitored from a central point.
Future Potential
Whilst it is acknowledged that much testing / proving has still to be done, this system could completely change the way the problems of falling boulders and other obstructions are managed. If successful, the ancient and difficult to maintain piano wire system will be abolished. It is frequently triggered by deer and walkers so few will miss it. Beyond that, the Network Rail geotechnical group will consider installing similar equipment at other high risk locations. With the roll out of the FTN, most rail routes now have a fibre optic cable installed trackside. A spare fibre within these cables can be utilised for the detection system obviating the need to run out a dedicated cable. Significant cost advantages will result.
The means by which and to where the alarm signals are sent and interpreted will need careful thought. Too many false alarms will quickly give the system a bad name. The opportunity for using the technology to detect cable theft has already been mentioned. It may however be some time before that full potential is realised.
Thanks are expressed to Ian Findlay, the senior project engineer at Network Rail, Phil Jones from QTS for managing the site visit and facilitating the boulder drops and Lindsay McInnes from Fotech for being the onsite brain and explaining the technology.
