Why are objects not always removed from the railway lines after engineering works?

[snowball]

Press release

Scrap that: Video and AI technology helping keep the railway tidy and railway workers safe

Artificial intelligence software is helping Network Rail find and remove forgotten scrap materials from the side of the railway more quickly and safely than ever before.

www.networkrailmediacentre.co.uk

Artificial intelligence software is helping Network Rail find and remove forgotten scrap materials from the side of the railway more quickly and safely than ever before.

Network Rail Southern region is spearheading a trial of One Big Circle’s video and AI technology to locate old railway kit that can either be re-used or recycled, reduce the risk of injury to colleagues from slips, trips and falls, and tidy up the railway at the same time.

The technology captures high-definition train’s-eye-view video – known as Automated Intelligent Video Review (AIVR) – from across the rail network, with the footage instantly accessible in the cloud.

The footage is then analysed by AI to find scrap rail, sleepers and bags of ballast and map their locations using GPS, enabling maintenance teams to plan how and when to safely remove the items.

 

[Deepgreen]

Really? I take it you don’t spend much time on our trunk road network, then.

There is vastly more stuff littering the railway than the roads. It is a major problem, because 'time is money' and clearing up always suffers. It can easily become a safety issue when walking routes are fouled with old rails, sleepers, etc., not to mention the waste and scrap value foregone, plus the general feeling of an environment out of control.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 22 Jun 2023 ==

Press release

Scrap that: Video and AI technology helping keep the railway tidy and railway workers safe

Artificial intelligence software is helping Network Rail find and remove forgotten scrap materials from the side of the railway more quickly and safely than ever before.

www.networkrailmediacentre.co.uk

I would have thought finding it isn't the issue so much as being able to collect it. Cetainly in urban areas like London, thousands of tons of scrap rail alone can be seen along almost all routes, in the four, six and ten foot areas.

 

[The exile]

There is vastly more stuff littering the railway than the roads. It is a major problem, because 'time is money' and clearing up always suffers. It can easily become a safety issue when walking routes are fouled with old rails, sleepers, etc., not to mention the waste and scrap value foregone, plus the general feeling of an environment out of control.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 22 Jun 2023 ==

Agree 100% - but the original comment was that it was a problem unique to the railway. For that to be true, there cannot be a single piece of detritus, abandoned equipment anywhere at the side of any road anywhere in the country. That’s what unique means.

 

[Deepgreen]

Agree 100% - but the original comment was that it was a problem unique to the railway. For that to be true, there cannot be a single piece of detritus, abandoned equipment anywhere at the side of any road anywhere in the country. That’s what unique means.

Indeed, but it could also be argued that the scale of the problem is one that is unique to the railways.