A pioneering project taking place in Scotland could protect railways across the country from landslides and rockfalls.

Electronic 'ears' have been installed along a section of track which is particularly vulnerable to rockfalls on the route below Ben Cruachan, The Scotsman reports.

The fibre-optic cables are intended as a replacement for a Victorian 'tripwire' system that failed to detect a rockfall in 2010 which derailed a train and almost caused it to plunge 50 ft down an embankment.

Cables are buried beneath the surface on either side of the track for six miles between near Falls of Cruachan and Loch Awe ­stations. A signalling centre monitors data relayed from the cables and can distinguish between obstacles falling on the line and other noises such as trains, deer and hailstones.

According to Network Rail Scotland, the distributed acoustic sensing scheme could also be deployed to warn of trees falling on tracks, and landslides on roads such as the A83 in ­Argyll.