2.5K trees on 8km stretch to be transplanted

AHMEDABAD : To save the full grown trees on the Mumbai-ahmedabad bullet train route, the National High Speed Rail Corporation Limited (NHSRCL) has planned to transplant around 2,500 trees on the 8-km stretch between Sabarmati and Gandhidham, using hydraulic transplantation machine on pilot basis.

NHSRCL has already started

transplanting trees with a Us-made machine, Big John, at Sabarmati-based scrape yard and store depot of Western Rail-

way, which is the maintenance facility for the bullet train. The plot has dense vegetation and is inhabited by several birds, including peacocks.

The machine, with four mechanical spade-like arms, uproots the trees, before relocating and transplanting it. The process of transplanting trees using hydraulic machine is fast, easy, safe, inexpensive and time saving. It however is not capable of relocating big trees.

If successful, this procedure could be used to transplant trees on the rest of the route too. However, experts will do so only after checking the feasibility of the procedure on the basis of the survival of trees and cost effectiveness.

“We will examine the cost and survival rate of the trees before engaging the contractor for transplanting the trees with hydraulic machine on the entire stretch,” said Dhananjay Kumar, public relations officer of NHSRCL.

NHSRCL claimed that the survival rate of the transplanted trees with this machine is around 70%.