The autumn is the most challenging time of year for the railway, so we spend the rest of the year preparing for it at our maintenance depot.
Millions of trees grow alongside the railway, dropping thousands of tonnes of leaves onto the tracks throughout the season.
线上的叶子会通过粘贴潮湿的轨道来引起延迟。将火车压缩在轨道上的薄，黑色的层中 - 就像道路上的黑色冰一样 - 影响制动和加速度。
这意味着火车司机必须较早减慢站点和信号，以避免过度处理它们。它们还必须更轻微加速以避免车轮旋转。这一切都可以增加旅程时间并导致乘客延误。
叶片覆盖的堆积也可以使我们的信令越难检测到火车的位置，导致后续列车无法继续延迟，直到前面的火车进一步移动线路。
Our leaf-busting trains clean the rails with jets of water and lay adhesion modifier – a mixture of suspension gel, sand and steel or iron shot – on the rails to aid traction and help trains run normally.
Holgate – our fleet maintenance depot
季节性轨道治疗是一个巨大的操作。这就是为什么我们在大多数年度维护我们的大型仓库队伍的叶子破坏列车，在约克的全身工程工作。
Holgate is our largest depot at 24 acres in total, including its 12-acre maintenance building. The vast facility houses equipment including track, workshops, sidings, cranes, and switches – the movable sections of track that guide trains from one track to another. Other trains we maintain here include rail delivery train and rail grinders.
我们准备61张专科秋季火车和车辆，以尽量减少叶坠落的影响。这些多用途车辆（MPV）和轨道处理火车（RHTT）在每次秋季后停用进行维护 - 所有水和粘合改性剂都被排出，除去管道工作，以便它们可以拆除。
The trains then get a full service at Holgate, where we wash them and replace any faulty parts. We then test the vehicles before they travel across Britain.
Click on the gallery to see Holgate and RHTTs at the depot preparing to travel across the network
做回合
Once deployed from Holgate for the season, MPVs operate out of nine locations across Britain and RHTTs from a further 15. Both types return to their base after each shift for maintenance and refilling, having travelled around much of their part of the rail network in one night.
Executing the vital work of driving the vehicles are leaf-busting teams who are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week during the autumn.
We inspect the vehicles daily to make sure they’re safe to operate before every night shift. Preparation includes replenishment of water, diesel and adhesion modifier.
我们的MPV和追踪治疗之一
Autumn treatment in numbers:
- 我们的铁路头部护理训练持有17,000升水 - 与200多个浴缸相同。
- 2017年，我们的时令舰队涵盖了约170万英里 - 相当于前往月球和后面的3.5倍。
- Our planned visits to sites on the railway requiring autumn treatment have doubled in a decade to almost 360,000.
- We lay two litres of adhesion modifier a minute at 60mph.
- An adhesion modifier tank holds about 1,000 litres – the same as the water in a small fire engine.