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Electronic 'ears' have been installed along one of Scotland's most landslide prone train lines, in a UK first.

Bosses are hoping the newly installed fibre-optic cables will protect rail tracks, passengers and roads across the country.

The pioneering project is being tested on the route below Ben Cruachan, where in 2010 a ScotRail train nearly plunged down a 50ft embankment after hitting a fallen boulder. It involves cables being buried just below the surface on either side of the single-track line for six miles between near Falls of Cruachan and Loch Awe stations.

The 'ears' are set to be trialled on the line that saw the Falls of Cruachan derailment back in 2010

Derailed: The accident was caused when a train hit a boulder on the track

Network Scotland said the 'distributed acoustic sensing' (Das) scheme can warn of trees falling on tracks, and landslides on roads. And the system is sensitive enough to distinguish between obstacles falling and on the line and other noises such as trains, deers and hailstones.

Alan Ross, director of route asset management said: 'Rockfalls and landslips are one of the railway's longest standing risks and we are always looking at ways we can use technology.

'The new acoustic monitoring technology on trial offers us a potential solution to a problem which has affected the West Highland lines since they were built by the Victorians.

'If successful, this new system will help us provide an even safer and more reliable railway on a line vital to both local communities it serves and to Scotland's tourist trade.'

They are a modern-day replacement for a Victorian rockfall warning system in the steep-sided Pass of Brander on the Glasgow Oban line. A tripwire system built by engineer John Anderson in 1882, in which falling rocks trigger line-slide signals, failed to detect the boulder which derailed a train in 2010.

In 2012, a ScotRail train hit debris from a nearby landslide, one of two incidents in Scotland the same day. Three weeks prior to that, a freight locomotive crashed down a hillside near Corrour in the Highlands after hitting landslide debris.

Hopeful: Bosses are hoping the newly installed fibre-optic cables will protect rail tracks, passengers and roads across the country

Painful memory: It is hoped the technology can bring even more piece of mind to commuters

A ScotRail spokeswoman said: 'We are aware Network Rail has begun trials of a new acoustic system.

'We welcome this initiative as, if successful, it will aid in the delivery of a more reliable, consistent and safe railway.'

The Office of Rail Regulation has previously instructed Network Rail to improve its assessment of landslide risks to speed up its response to incidents.

A spokesman for the watchdog said: 'The regulator supports Network Rail's work to develop, and introduce, new technology for monitoring the condition of its infrastructure.

'That is why we approved £95 million for the implementation of remote condition testing for earthworks, signalling equipment, level crossings and other assets over the next five years.' Network Rail Scotland hopes the new technology will offer a cheaper alternative to maintaining the tripwire system and other anti-landslide measures such as netting slopes and removing rocks, which often require line closures.