Network Rail trialing BVLOS drone asset inspections as government invests £20M in research

Published on April 3, 2025

Network Rail has initiated trials for “beyond visual line of sight” (BVLOS) drone asset inspections, while the government has pledged over £20M for “new flight technologies”.

Network Rail trials

The Network Rail trials, in collaboration with Drone Major and Dronecloud, are particularly pertinent as disruptions caused by trespass incidents have dramatically impacted service efficiency, accumulating over 1.5M minutes of delays since April 2024.

Unlike traditional drones that require operators to maintain visual contact, BVLOS drones are designed to cover larger expanses of railway tracks, acting as a middle ground between conventional drones and the more costly helicopter inspections typically employed by Network Rail. The adoption of drones is expected to expedite the response to incidents and facilitate quicker identification and resolution of potential track faults, potentially diminishing the risk faced by maintenance teams who currently have to traverse long distances on foot.

Read the full article here.

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