Leaves on the line

Each autumn, thousands of tonnes of leaves fall on the railway.

Leaves on the line are more serious than you may think - as the leaves get crushed down on the tracks it causes layers of mulch making it harder for trains to grip the tracks and brake - essentially it’s the black ice of the railway. Leaves, especially in wet weather, can also affect some of the equipment which controls the signals. Teams across the railway including industry partners all work hard to keep trains moving safely during the autumn.

Keeping you moving in Autumn - here’s how we do it:

• Our drivers are trained to brake and accelerate more gently
• Network rail have a fleet of leaf-busting trains which use powerful water jets to clean the rails
• We’re working with industry partners to develop new innovative technologies which are attached to our trains which work in a similar way to the leaf-busting trains from Network rail but using dry ice
• With Network Rail we monitor leaf fall each day and looking ahead at weather forecasts to predict leaf fall
• Adjust timetables, to allow for the slower approaches and starting to/from stations on routes which are impacted the most by leaf fall. Routes which will see changes from 7 October are:
  • Sunderland and Newcastle to Hexham and Carlisle
  • York, Leeds and Colne to Preston and Blackpool 
  • Manchester to Blackburn and Clitheroe
  • Manchester to Hazel Grove and Buxton
  • Sheffield to Huddersfield

Find out more about how autumn leaves affect the railway here.