Would compressed air jets blowing directly onto the rails just ahead of the train not help aleviate this problem?
For car and truck drivers yes leaves can be an issue, country routes especially, rural laybys are especially prone so always worth knocking some speed off before entering the layby.
This problem is worse than it used to be because in the days when steam locos were used, lineside vegetation was cut back to reduce the risk of fires triggered by sparks.
Small saplings which would have been cut have now grown into major trees, so shedding more leaves, tree preservation is now preferred to felling. Having said that, our local line is having vegetation trimmed in preparation for upgrading the Trans-Pennine route.
Typical axle weight of steam locos was 15 to 20 tons, so 7.5 to 10 tons per wheel. Present multi unit coaches spread a weight of up to 48 tons over two four wheel bogies, so weight per wheel is only 6 tons or less.
I understand that once crushed by traffic, leaves form a very adhesive 'goo' which can only be removed by high pressure liquid sprays from the special units Engineer Andy mentions.
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