Ctrl Alt Deleaf to Blow Away The Competition

The good news for British commuters is that they may be able to breathe a sigh of relief in the hope that Autumnal delays to rail services may be reduced.

Credit: Network Rail

It's every commuter's nightmare when the announcement comes: "Sorry for the delay. It's due to leaves on the line." The humble leaf, when acting together in their millions, is the source of the annual train delay fiasco. But the UK's Network Rail has a plan to deal with the damp foliage and it wants everybody to know about it.

In fact, for many years now, Network Rail has sought to remedy the problem by sending out a fleet of specialist trains to clear the tracks with high-pressure water jets. Now the public have voted to name one of the new specialist trains. The shortlist included Leaf-Fall Weapon, Pulp Friction and The Autumn Avenger. The winner? Ctrl Alt Deleaf. It's a pun on the computer keyboard command Control-Alt-Delete.

These specialist trains - which can run twice a day and cover 1.2 million miles of railway - are also capable of laying a sticky solution laced with sand to help train wheels grip the metal track. "It's a huge issue," said Tom Desmond from Network Rail. "It has become a joke, hasn't it? Calling it 'leaves on the line' and the reason we can delay trains. But for us, the reason it causes all these delays is because it makes the rails really slippery. All the leaf fall that comes down makes it a real challenge to run the railway on time."

Ctrl Alt Deleaf won with 50 percent of the public vote. It was unveiled before heading out to, hopefully, live up to its name with the autumn season now under way.