Hansford Sensors
Hansford Sensors is a British manufacturer of industrial accelerometers and vibration-monitoring equipment, headquartered in High Wycombe and supplying condition-monitoring instrumentation to rail and other heavy-industry sectors across Europe.
Chris Hansford founded the company in 2006, after two decades running an earlier sensor manufacturing business in the UK. He remains the only person with significant control recorded on the Companies House register, holding 75 per cent or more of both shares and voting rights, and the company’s design and production site is in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire.
Outside the UK, Hansford Sensors runs its own sales and service operations in the United States, Germany, Poland and India, with further Hansford-branded operations covering Brazil, South Africa and the Middle East.
Products for rail applications
The rail-facing range consists of voltage-output and 4-20mA loop-powered industrial accelerometers, vibration transmitters, switch enclosures and cable assemblies, all drawn from the same standard series the company sells into other heavy industries.
For rail, the company lists traction motors, gearboxes and drivetrains, axle bearings, cooling fans for traction equipment and HVAC, and trackside assets such as signalling equipment and point motors as its target applications. The sensors are used to pick up bearing wear, imbalance and misalignment while the asset is still in service.
Intrinsically safe variants of the accelerometers and transmitters carry ATEX and IECEx approval — the European and international certification schemes for equipment used in explosive atmospheres — covering both Group I mining equipment and Group II surface installations.
Alongside the accelerometer ranges, which run from 10 mV/g to 500 mV/g sensitivity, the catalogue includes stand-alone temperature sensors with PT100 outputs, multi-sensor connection and switch boxes, mounting hardware and cable assemblies.
Market position
The company puts its own distribution at more than 50 countries and its catalogue at over 100 different sensor types, sold through distributors, system builders and integrators, vibration analysts and consultants, and directly to industrial end users.
Outside rail its main sectors are power generation, oil and gas, marine, pulp and paper, metals, cement, mining and quarrying, wind, and food and drink processing. That places its rail work at the general-purpose end of sensors and measurement, where industrial instrumentation is adapted for rolling stock and trackside use rather than developed specifically for rail.
Hansford Sensors received a King’s Award for Enterprise in the International Trade category in 2024, a UK government recognition of export growth.
Current activity
As of 2026 the company’s US operation is registered in Louisville, Kentucky, and its published sales network covers North and South America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia-Pacific.
Several markets are served by third-party firms rather than Hansford-branded offices, among them Australia, Canada, China, South Korea, Taiwan and Spain.
