The drones are fitted with special cameras with high-quality zoom and thermal imaging to speed up the process of finding the person quickly before they come to any harm. This also reduces the length of time trains are stopped in the area, minimizing the impact on services.
Ellie Burrows, Network Rail’s route director for Anglia, said: “We’re already seeing the benefits of having this technology, in terms of finding people quickly and reducing the length of delays for passengers. The railway is full of danger, both obvious and hidden and this new equipment will help us and the British Transport Police to keep everyone safe.”
Trespass is a huge problem on the British railway with thousands of incidents recorded each year. Last year (April 2021- April 2022) there were 1105 incidents, which resulted in 48,702 delays for £3.5m.
