Safe Rail Vibrations

The project aims to develop a new warning system for front line workers on the operational railway that will be;

* Fail safe to ensure workers are automatically warned of approaching trains / loss of safe working environment in real time.

* Light weight and quick to set up (plug and play) in the area of work when accessing the railway (not a long way down the track like a treadle).

* A local and independent warning system that alerts to the presence of an approaching train, by using mechanical vibration propagating along rails. These three features form the key innovation for the project.

The feasibility study will provide a prototype that demonstrate a fail safe warning system that alerts workers when triggered by a train approaching the sensing system and working area.

If successful, the subsequent stages of the project will demonstrate full fail safe operation of the warning system ensuring that workers are able to reach positions of safety within acceptably safe timeframes and then return to a working in a safe environment.