Case Studies - Railway Weed Control
Railway Vegetation Control
The main lines and “cess” (the area of ballast and open ground up to 3 metres from the running lines) on the UK main line railways are kept clear of weed growth by a regular programme of applications of total herbicides using specialist rail vehicles, known as Multi-Purpose Vehicles (MPV’s).
This still leaves a problem in many places with larger vegetation – trees, bushes and scrub – growing too close to the line and causing problems due to obscuring sight lines to signals, preventing access for maintenance teams and potential damage to rolling stock and overhead lines. The object here is not to reduce everything to bare earth, which as well as impacting on biodiversity and aesthetic value would increase the risk of soil erosion in cuttings and on embankments, but to maintain a grassy strip with no large trees or bushes within 5-6 metres of the line (known as the “flail strip”).
Works Infrastructure, based in Rotherham, are currently engaged to Network Rail in the Yorkshire and Lincolnshire area for an extensive rolling programme of vegetation control over hundreds of miles of main line track.
In the winter of 2007-2008 Weedfree Limited worked as a sub-contractor to Works Infrastructure, providing teams of rail-qualified operators including chainsaw, strimmer and chipper operators as well as specialist tree climbers and rail protection staff to clear the “flail strip” vegetation on a large section of line near Immingham. The before and after pictures on this page give an idea of the scale and quality of the work carried out.For further details of the services we can offer, please contact us.