Media centre

Thursday 23 Dec 2021

Overnight tree cutting on railway line between Innerwick and Penmanshiel

Region & Route:

Scotland’s Railway: Scotland

Network Rail will be carrying out tree and vegetation management from the start of January to the end of February the East Coast Mainline between Innerwick and Penmanshiel.

The work is needed to help keep passengers safe and trains punctual by reducing vegetation along the railway line.

From January 8 for approximately eight weeks, all woody vegetation within a minimum of 6-metres of the track will be cleared.  Any noxious and invasive non-native weeds within the railway boundary will also be cleared.

Other trees within falling distance of the railway will also be selectively felled or cut-back to leave a well-balanced tree canopy. Heritage, landscape specimen trees will be looked at on a case-by-case basis and will be retained where it is safe to do so

Ahead of the work, environmental surveys have been carried out. We have also worked with our ecologists to minimise the impact of the work on the environment.

Those living closest to the line have been advised about the work in advance.

Kirsty Armstrong, Project Manager for the vegetation clearance work, said: “We manage thousands of railway embankments and constantly work to manage trees and vegetation so that everything which grows lineside is safe and does not cause delays to trains. This keeps passengers safe and reduces risk for neighbours.

“To keep trains running during the day, much of this work is unavoidably carried out at night for safety reasons.  Our teams are always mindful of the impact their work can have on lineside neighbours and do what they can to minimise this.  We want to apologise in advance if anyone is disturbed by the work.”

If anyone has any questions or concerns about this work they can contact Network Rail’s 24hr National helpline on 03457 11 41 41.