FREE TREES FROM NETWORK RAIL

Wednesday 10 Dec 2003

FREE TREES FROM NETWORK RAIL

Region & Route:: | Southern

Network Rail is to sponsor a scheme to provide free tress to the people of Kent. The free tree scheme will supply anyone owning land from gardens, schools to farmland with up to 25 trees free of charge. Network Rail has supported the planting of over 30,000 trees throughout South East over the past four years and is continuing to support this environmental initiative led by the North West Kent Countryside project. Trees are an integral part of the landscape and Network Rail wants to show its commitment to the environment. Network Rail has to actively manage the vegetation beside the railway line as trees and shrubbery can hinder the driver’s ability to see the signals and leaves on the line can cause loss of grip and wheel spin. Colinda Parsons vegetation manager said “I am delighted we at Network Rail are getting involved in this scheme, all to often we are critised for clearing areas beside the railway when these decisions are normally always based on safety issues. We do care about the environment and try to minimise the impact of our tree felling activities and with this scheme give back to the community a landscape that they can be proud of, while keeping the railway line safe”.

Contact information

Passengers / community members
Network Rail national helpline
03457 11 41 41

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Journalists
Network Rail press office - South East route
020 3357 7969
southeastroutecomms@networkrail.co.uk

About Network Rail

We own, operate and develop Britain's railway infrastructure; that's 20,000 miles of track, 30,000 bridges, tunnels and viaducts and the thousands of signals, level crossings and stations. We run 20 of the UK's largest stations while all the others, over 2,500, are run by the country's train operating companies.

Usually, there are almost five million journeys made in the UK and over 600 freight trains run on the network. People depend on Britain's railway for their daily commute, to visit friends and loved ones and to get them home safe every day. Our role is to deliver a safe and reliable railway, so we carefully manage and deliver thousands of projects every year that form part of the multi-billion pound Railway Upgrade Plan, to grow and expand the nation's railway network to respond to the tremendous growth and demand the railway has experienced - a doubling of passenger journeys over the past 20 years.

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