Network Rail has announced a new series of contracts with several freight operators to clear leaves from the railway and deal with icy winter weather.

Leaves are crushed by train wheels and form a hard coating which has the effect of black ice on roads, causing flats on wheels and sometimes damaging motors.

The new contracts, which start in August and run until 2030 at least, will be worth around £850 million altogether. They will also cover weed killing as well as leaf-blasting, ice removal and snow plough trains.

The contracts include the introduction of six rebuilt Multi-Purpose Vehicles. They use new water jets to clean leaf mulch from rails and apply adhesion modifier in autumn, which is a mixture of sand, metal particles and water, apply anti-ice fluid in winter and also spray herbicide.

GB Railfreight will run the MPVs in the north of the country, and Balfour Beatty will do the same in the south, and more MPVs could be added during the life of the contracts. Colas and GB Railfreight will operate locomotive-hauled Rail Head Treatment Trains, equipped with water jets which can make longer runs than the MPVs, and also snow and ice treatment trains, which include two snow blowers as well as snow ploughs.

Altogether Network Rail has 32 MPVs and 29 RHTTs.

Network Rail’s supply chain delivery director Adam Southern said: ‘Running trains reliably and safely in autumn and winter is a tough challenge and we rely heavily on specialist operators and equipment. Leaves on the line get crushed under train wheels and can cause signals to fail and trains to slide. Ice on live rails can cause trains to stall and we all know the disruption that heavy snow can cause.

‘These contracts with established hauliers see our fleet of treatment trains maintained and run well for the next five years at least, providing passengers and freight customers with a reliable service whatever the weather.’

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