Why removal of lineside vegetation works

I totally agree with the driver from a freight operating company (RAIL 951). The only way to manage the risk of wheel slide is to eliminate the cause - remove the leaf mulch from the railhead.

But why waste money on daily railhead treatment when you can use the money to remove the problem instantly, by removing the tree!

As Permanent Way Manager on the Swanage Railway, I recently came in for some stick regarding the clearing of the trees and vegetation in and around the area of the Viaduct at Corfe Castle.

The email I received was rather heavily stacked on the side of how I had decimated the whole area, by the removal of all the vegetation and trees.

I responded with the reasons as to why this had to be done. Firstly, the trees were removed because they were self-seeded and not planted for purpose and were invasive. Secondly, because of the leaf fall and contamination of the railhead on the approach to the stop signal for Corfe Castle station. And thirdly, the viaduct and embankments were due a bi-annual structural examination by the County Council Bridge Engineers.

Rightly or wrongly (in some people’s eyes), I made the decision to remove these trees from inside our boundary fence to safeguard the passage of trains on our railway.

As we recovered from Storm Eunice, we had to deal with two trees that had fallen across the track either side of the old Furzebrook Oil Terminal. At least these two trees won’t be causing any more problems with leaf mulch on the railhead.

Barry Light, Permanent Way Manager, Swanage Railway