Skidpan for 'slippery' trains

Arriva has taken on about 200 new drivers

Washing up liquid is being used as part of a training plan to help provide safer rail services for commuters.

Arriva Trains Northern is deliberately turning a section of track into a skidpan to show drivers how to handle commuter trains in icy weather or when there are leaves on the line.

They are making the trains skid with gallons of washing up liquid poured on to the tracks from nozzles mounted on the trains.

The company says the soapy mixture helps recreate conditions caused by ice or leaves.

Washing up liquid is sprayed onto wheels

The formation of slippery leaf mulch can cause locomotives to skid and overshoot signals and stations.

Railtrack says leaves on the line cause delays totaling more than 4,000 hours a year.

Chris Exley, training manager for Arriva, said: "We are using part of the North Yorkshire Moors line to simulate conditions which are caused by ice on the tracks as well as leaves.

"We have a lot of new drivers and this is part of their training that can't be simulated in any other way."

Railtrack has tried to combat the problem by using a cocktail of fruit-based treatments, claiming citric acid helps alleviate the problems.

Mr Exley said: "Rails suffer from bad conditions just like roads do.

"We're trying to get our drivers conditioned into learning how to handle a train in those conditions and stop the train when it needs to be stopped"