Healy Mill Sidings, an important shunting yard in the United Kingdom, has six tracks used daily to safely park various trains – from freight to engineering and cargo trains.

For drivers and personnel, the yard must remain safely accessible even in the evening and under low-light conditions.

The existing lighting no longer met requirements: uneven light distribution, shadows on walkways, and limited visibility in operational areas increased the risk of incidents.

The goal of the upgrade was therefore clear: greater safety, improved usability, and a future-proof solution.

See The Railway Shop’s video showcasing the Healy Mill Sidings project

The solution: RailLight® mounted in the recess of the rail

For this project, RailLight® was deployed in collaboration with our UK partner The Railway Shop. Commissioned by Network Rail, a large-scale lighting project was launched in which civil and electrical disciplines worked closely together.

CRSA carried out the civil works, including the installation of cable routes and the construction of foundations.
The electrical installation was carried out in parallel by Ashby Electrical Limited in collaboration with specialist suppliers, allowing the project to be delivered efficiently and on schedule.

A first for the UK rail sector was the use of RailLight® by Triolight: LED strip lighting mounted directly onto the rail using fixture clips.
This configuration makes it possible to direct the light precisely onto the walking routes between the tracks, providing uniform and reliable illumination. In total, 1,028 RailLight® units were supplied by our UK partner The Railway Shop for 4 km of track.

The result: Perfect lighting and completed two weeks earlier than planned

Originally scheduled for 12 weeks, the project was successfully completed in just 10 weeks – entirely incident-free.

The benefits of RailLight® became clear during the project:

• Optimal safety – drivers and staff benefit from consistent light levels and excellent visibility when boarding, leaving, and inspecting trains, without bothersome shadowing from rolling stock. The light is directed exactly where it’s needed.
• Short installation time – the rail clip enables quick and reliable mounting without complex structural adjustments.
• No ground disturbance – with the RailLight® solution, extensive and costly excavation work is unnecessary.
• Low maintenance & sustainable – the highly energy-efficient RailLight® luminaires are designed for a long lifespan. At the end of their lifecycle, the units can be reused.
• Flexibility – thanks to the modular system, the lights can easily be disconnected and reused at another location, offering significant cost savings for changing operational needs.

The impact: A new era of rail yard lighting

With the completion of Healy Mill Sidings, an important step has been taken towards innovation in railway lighting in the United Kingdom. For the first time, RailLight® has been applied on a large scale in the UK, making Healy Mill a demonstration project for future TRU locations and other networks. The combination of safety, sustainability, and flexibility shows that RailLight® not only meets current requirements but also anticipates the challenges of tomorrow.