Environmental survey work under way at Rother Valley

THE Rother Valley Railway’s reinstatement as a heritage line of the missing rail link between Bodiam and Robertsbridge Junction continues to progress.

The extensive environmental survey of the yet to be built two-mile-long ‘missing link’ central section of the line – namely from Northbridge Street to Udiam, formerly the site of Junction Road Halt – is now under way. As previously reported, the environmental investigation, along with the arising mitigations, must be in place before physical construction work can get under way.

“The habitat survey involves looking at the length of the line, classifying the habitats and recording in detail all the plant species we can identify,” explained Giles Coe, RVR’s environmental expert.

“This enables us to place an independent value on the nature conservation of what is here – and from there to assess the impact of the scheme. We can then design a mitigation, compensation and enhancement package.

“We will also be creating and implementing landscape ecological management plans. Monitoring is a crucial element of what we will do – both monitoring for habitats and checking how the various species are doing so we can see what effect the work has had on them.”

At Robertsbridge station, the ground on the North Bank has been raised and levelled using recycled infill to specification and signed off by the RVR. In due course, this will be the site of the engine shed and sidings. The ground will be allowed to settle over the next couple of years. The ground will then be stabilised and on top of that will be the crushed concrete base, followed by ballast upon which the track will be laid.