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The new eyes in the sky policing Manchester from 200 miles away in London

'It is a new and modern way to help us prevent criminality on the railway'

Sitting on the platform of a railway station in Manchester, police officers move in to speak to a vulnerable woman after reports of concerns for her welfare.

She's safe and is offered help and support at Ashburys railway station in Openshaw.

Her exact location, however, was detected thanks to the skill of a police team more than 200 miles away in central London - and a state-of-the-art new drone system.

Just over a year since the launch by British Transport Police (BTP) of a pioneering new drone project in Leeds, the crime-fighting, eye-in-the- sky technology has now been unveiled in Greater Manchester - and it's proving to be an immediate success.

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Seven so-called 'Drone in a Box' sites are now operational, with Manchester's base at Network Rail's Rail Operating Centre in Wolverton Street the latest to go live.

Two drones, each capable of flying for around 25 minutes, can be deployed from the roof of the building within seconds. They emerge from, and are flown back into, special boxes and are controlled by drone pilots at a flight operations centre based in the capital.

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Drone footage capatures the moment passengers are helped from a broken-down train(Image: BTP)

What the drone sees, the pilots see, with the information and visuals instantly relayed to responding officers on the ground.

The location of the vulnerable lady - revealed in footage released by BTP on Tuesday to illustrate the new capability - is just one of around 20 incidents the Manchester drones have assisted with since their launch in early April.

One of the drones was also deployed to monitor the scene as passengers were taken off a broken-down train by Network Rail staff on the tracks in central Manchester. Both incidents happened in August.

The force said the drones 'further strengthen our ability to locate trespassers and respond to emergency incidents on the railways'.

Live aerial intelligence is able to be passed on to officers and Network Rail staff on the ground in seconds.

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One of the two drones in flight(Image: Kenny Brown | Manchester Evening News)

As well as Leeds and Manchester, bases are located at Hither Green, Selhurst, Chislehurst, Lewisham and Leicester - all chosen as they are known trespass hot-spots.

The drones can also respond to incidents including searches for missing people, major incidents such as train derailments or collisions and serious crimes like assault, as well as trackside obstructions.

Whizzing through the air, they can reach sites far more quickly than a police vehicle on the roads can.

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The woman at Ashburys railway station(Image: BTP)

The Manchester site is the second busiest out of the seven locations, BTP said, and Manchester is a known hot-spot for trespass incidents on the railway.

BTP Chief Constable Lucy D'Orsi was in Manchester to see the drones in operation.

She said: "It is my ambition that we make trespass on the railway network socially unacceptable. The drones are allowing us to capture issues on the railway live as they occur.

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Chief Constable Lucy D'Orsi with the drones(Image: Kenny Brown | Manchester Evening News)

"We are enabled by the technology to make decisions on the ground and take images. The drones are an early first responder. It is a new and modern way to help us prevent criminality on the railway and to keep the railway moving."

The use of the drones, added the Chief Constable, is giving officers on the ground key 'situational awareness'.

They are able to zoom in to assess whether any suspect is carrying a weapon - and can even reveal a person's demeanour and stance from the skies above.

Chief Constable D'Orsi said the force hoped to increase the number of drones and sites at which they are based in the future.

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