Leaf-busting Surrey train named Ctrl Alt Deleaf after public vote
Based at Effingham Junction, it blasts away mulch that can make tracks dangerously slippery and cause travel problems.
A leaf-removal train has been named Ctrl Alt Deleaf after a public vote.
Network Rail said the train is part of its fleet of "leaf-busters" which blast leaf mulch off rails.
Britain's railway network stretches for 20,000 miles and has to cope with about 500 billion leaves each year.
Ctrl Alt Deleaf - which is a pun on the computer keyboard command Control-Alt-Delete - will be deployed from a depot at Effingham Junction, Surrey, next week.
Leaves cause major disruption every autumn when they stick to damp rails and become compressed by train wheels.
This creates a thick, slippery layer similar to black ice on roads, which can reduce trains' grip and result in signallers being unable to detect when a train has entered a new section of track.
Speed restrictions are imposed in an attempt to reduce accidents such as the crash between two trains outside a tunnel near Salisbury, Wiltshire in October 2021 which left 13 passengers and one driver requiring hospital treatment.
Other shortlisted entries for the train's name were Leaf-Fall Weapon, Pulp Friction and The Autumn Avenger.