Drone safety and the law
Drones are becoming a common sight – they’re getting easier to obtain as they become cheaper and readily available on the high street.
They allow you to capture beautiful photography but even the cheapest, smallest model poses a risk to the railway, our passengers and staff.
Drones and the railway
It can be illegal to fly a drone on or near the railway. If in doubt please contact the Air Operations team via the Network Rail contact us process or email droneenquiries@networkrail.co.uk
If a train collided with a drone, it could cause a serious accident.
A drone could fly into and damage vital equipment – such as overhead wires or pylons – costing thousands to repair and causing hours of train delays. And a drone falling from the sky – malfunctioning or out of power – could hit a member of public or our staff, and cause serious injury or death.
Network Rail manages nearly 1000 drone flights over track per year. Network Rail needs to know what other flights there are near to our extremely hazardous environment. For that reason talk to us.
Various electrical powerplant that Network Rail use to propel the trains can give off an electrical magnetic pulse (EMP) that can affect the control of the drones, talk to us to manage that risk and gain advice on how close is safe.
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Leave it to the professionals
Only authorised Network Rail pilots and specialist approved contractors are permitted to fly drones near the railway (when conducting railway related drone surveys) having been granted a qualification from a training organisation approved by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA).
Our highly-trained pilots have gone through a meticulous training regime and operations are strictly in accordance with Network Rail’s standards including our Drone Operations Manual. We have a team of professional pilots who are certified to fly drones within 50 metres of our infrastructure.
Sometimes our team is needed at short notice. We have pilots based all across the country and they can reach emergency situations quickly if the helicopter is on other duties.