Treefall detection

Extreme weather and storms have made falling trees a significant and growing threat to railway safety and reliability. These events impact railways in two major ways: By blocking the line / causing collision damage, or by damaging or disabling overhead electrification catenary cables.

Both scenarios lead to significant operational disruption. Hitting a fallen tree at speed can lead to catastrophic derailment, endangering the lives of passengers and staff and causing extensive damage to rolling stock and infrastructure. For locating catenary flashover faults see here

Our Distributed Acoustic Sensing (DAS) technology offers a constant vigilance solution by providing real-time detection and precise location of falling trees (or other large objects) across long lengths of railway route. We bring a definitive answer to the age-old question, “If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?” By continuously monitoring the acoustic signatures of ground impact events, our system delivers vital, real-time and geolocated warnings, empowering operators to take immediate action and effectively mitigate the risk of train meeting a large fallen tree.

This application is under development. We welcome enquiries from infrastructure owners/maintainers for further information.