In a groundbreaking new trial, solar panels will be placed onto railway tracks in Switzerland next spring.

There have been many delays in the process of getting this world-first development to happen, but it looks like progress is finally being made.

Swiss start-up company Sun-Ways has been given the green light for a three-year pilot project in the western canton of Neuchâtel, with work to begin in spring 2025, reports Euro News.

It comes as a reaction to climate change and the need for energy efficiency.

Many places are beginning to look to solar power as an energy source with reservoirs, farms and companies testing out the panels.

Sun-Ways is the first to patent a removable system, with the help of EPFL, the Swiss federal technology institute in Lausanne.

It will be the first time that solar panels have been used under passing trains and the design is removable which is important as maintenance works will need to be carried out on the tracks occasionally.

The panels will be installed on the tracks and Sun-Ways say the process works “like an unrolling carpet”.

Although the plans will be going ahead, not everyone was happy about it. The Federal Office of Transport rejected the request last year as a precautionary measure, but after ten months of building and testing prototypes, Sun-Ways has secured a permit to begin applying the tech to an open line in Neuchâtel.

The test phase will last for three years and the electricity created by the panels will feed into the power grid.

Sun-Ways is involved in other energy conservation projects in Spain, Romania and South Korea.

If the trial is successful, it could mean that solar panels will be added to more railway tracks across the world.

This development comes after debates over solar panel use in the UK have seen a divided response. Many are asking for domestic solar panel use rather than the creation of solar panel farms.

How to best use solar power and generate more eco-friendly energy remains a key area of climate crisis debates.