Real-time Adhesion Estimation for Improved Rail Transportation

The rail industry invests considerable resources to manage low adhesion problems from leaves on the line. These degrade braking performance causing safety issues such as station overruns, signals passed at danger, and costly delays. It has been estimated that the GB rail industry spends over £80M per annum directly on mitigating the effects of low adhesion problems in autumn, the overall cost of low adhesion to the industry exceeds £300M per annum. This project addresses the significant challenge of low adhesion in the railway system, by carrying out proof-of-market analysis for a real-time adhesion measurement system.