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Friday 24 May 2024

Railway balancing act provides wildlife havens and reliable journeys

Region & Route:

National

| North West & Central

| North West & Central: Central

Journeys along the Chiltern main line will be more reliable thanks to specialist environmental work to protect and manage lineside trees.

Network Rail arborists have been working between Beaconsfield and Marylebone to protect the railway from falling trees while protecting biodiversity, benefitting journeys between the West Midlands and London.  

While great for the environment, trees can cause disruption to passengers and freight if not managed properly. They can fall on to tracks in bad weather and bring trains to a stop, and when they drop leaves in autumn, cause problems for train wheels gripping the rails which affects acceleration and braking.

There are wider issues including blocking signals – the traffic lights of the railway – so they can’t be seen properly by train drivers, making it more difficult for people to safely use level crossings, and reducing track visibility for those working on the railway.

Balancing the environment with a safe railway is the work of Network Rail’s biodiversity team, which includes a dedicated arboriculturist based in Network Rail’s Central route.

Chris Callaghan, senior arboriculturist for Network Rail’s Central route, said: “We manage our railway so it can provide the best possible home for wildlife at the same time as safe and reliable journeys for passengers and freight.

“Where we clear trees from close to the tracks we can recreate features of older trees, known as ‘veteranising’, which includes faking lightning strikes by cutting cracks with chainsaws, drilling fake woodpecker holes, and putting bird and bat boxes up. We also cut away a ring of bark low down on the tree, which keeps the trunk standing, but stops it from growing above stump level. You’ll see lots of those along the Chiltern main line this summer.”

Network Rail has been working along the Chiltern main line cutting trees back from the railway’s edge – to the mandated seven metres – while arborists have been working with them to create dead hedges (intertwined tree branches), log piles and ‘veteran’ trees. Species which benefit from ‘veteranised’ trees include beetles, bats, woodpeckers and small birds.

Neil Strong, Network Rail’s biodiversity strategy manager, said: “Unmanaged woodland is great in some ways, but it’s just not suitable to run a railway through. So we manage our railway so it can provide the best possible home for species, and also be safe for trains. Our railway is often the perfect ‘edge’ between different habitats and we can help wildlife by using specialist techniques to ‘veteranise’ trees to make them safe and great homes for creatures.”

To find out more about Network Rail’s work to improve biodiversity on the railway, head to www.networkrail.co.uk/sustainability.

For the latest travel information, visit www.nationalrail.co.uk.