AUTUMN LEAF DELAYS FALL IN SCOTLAND

Tuesday 15 Feb 2005

AUTUMN LEAF DELAYS FALL IN SCOTLAND

Region & Route:: Scotland’s Railway: Scotland

Train delays due to leaves on the line fell by a significant 15% in Scotland last autumn. Due to quicker response times in dealing with leaf contamination, 77% fewer trains ran at caution during the difficult autumn months. Ron McAulay, Route Director, Scotland said: “The improvements are due to careful planning and thorough preparation. This has also enabled us to reduce leaf contamination incidents by almost a third which demonstrates the success of our vegetation management policy.” “The investment put into combating this annual problem allowed us to introduce additional treatment trains and equipment which together with our leaf-busting teams has contributed to these welcome improvements.” £3.5 million was invested in Scotland to combat the problems of leaf fall in 2004 to ensure the smooth running of trains across the network. Five treatment trains, twelve leaf busting teams and a great deal of equipment was used to tackle this problem across the country.

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