A new camera system is being tested on a Network Rail helicopter.

This system will allow the Air Operations team to detect faults in the surrounding landscape that could potentially disrupt train services, enabling them to address any issues before anything major happens.

The powerful Multi-Angle Camera System (MACS), which is attached below a Twin Squirrel helicopter, is equipped with a Hi-res camera capable of creating 3D maps, laser surveys and infrared images.

Capable of taking several images, the system can cover and analyse several miles of the railway network in a single shift.

The system is being tested at the Rail Innovation and Development Centre near Melton, which suffered a major landslip on the line over a year ago.

The helicopter has flown along the 13-mile route on several occasions while the camera system has sent back images to engineers, giving them a view of the route in increasable detail.

The Multi-Angle Camera System has been put through its paces. It has used the onboard laser to create a “point cloud” made up of 300 points per square metre, which can create a complete 3D model of the railway in incredible detail, including all structures from bridges, pylons, overhead wires and mileposts, through to the local terrain around the track sides.

This system can digitally remove trees and buildings from the images to give a better view of the surrounding landscape and to detect any failures that could eventually lead to potential disruption to rail services.

Three onboard RGB cameras can take 150-megapixel images, which are geometrically corrected (orthorectified). A fourth camera can take near-infrared images, which can detect the health of lineside trees and bushes.

The system links all images and onboard instruments to provide accurate real-time data.

The equipment will help Network Rail not only better understand the local geography around the rail network but use the equipment to upgrade the existing fleet of drones so they can produce the same quality images and 3D maps without using the helicopter.

Network Rail plans to roll out MACS nationwide; thus, all regions will be able to use this equipment.

“Passengers and freight customers deserve a reliable railway and the best way to provide that is to know as much about our network as we can, to spot problems before they happen and maintain it to the highest standards. We have brilliant colleagues who are able to work wonders but they can’t be everywhere on the 20,000 miles of track we look after. The MACS is one of the ways we can help them by giving them the best data we can.”

Sean Leahy, from Network Rail Air Ops