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Trains forced into emergency stop for men cutting down trees...

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Birmingham Updates said:
Train forced into an emergency stop after two men were spotted cutting down trees in Shirley.

Sergeant Andy Roberts, from British Transport Police West Midlands, is*asking for the public’s help to identify two men who forced a train into an emergency stop after the driver spotted them cutting down trees last month.*

http://birminghamupdates.com/post/121113682573/train-forced-into-an-emergency-stop-after-two-men

What's that all about then? Just gathering firewood? Beggars belief...
 
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Mojo

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Apparently the BTP are stumped, but I've heard from other sources that they have been barking up the wrong tree with their investigations.

Lucky the incident occured on a relatively low-speed branch rather than on a trunk route, still, what a pair of saps!
 
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Given that the trees were on railway property, could we say that the trains were delayed by "Tea leaves on the line". :roll:

(Sorry)
 

GodAtum

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They are wearing eye defenders but forgot the hi-vis!

tumblr_npoqteTxrr1s7ai3ao1_1280.png
 

Mojo

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I wonder if they were actually wearing Hi-vis, whether they would have been spotted and reported as phoney tree surgeons? As the picture shows them as dangling some of the foliage over the running lines, probably the driver would have stopped and reported it?
 

backontrack

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It's weird. Trees are stopping trains and it's not actually 'leaves on the line'. :razz:
 

sprinterguy

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This isn't the first time that such occurences have been recorded in the West Midlands area of London Midland. Previously there has been at least one case of local residents coming round to the Network Rail side of the boundary fence to deal with overhanging trees encroaching on their gardens that Network Rail weren't inclined to do anything about.

On other occasions you do hear of people going lineside to "recover" branches and timber for reasons best known to themselves. This looks more like one of the latter.
 

SpacePhoenix

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I don't think they'd twigged onto the fact they shouldn't be there. Does NR have a module for their MPVs for cutting trees and vegetation (blade(s) on an articulated hydraulic arm)?
 

Peter Mugridge

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This is nesting season anyway so no trees should be being cut at the moment unless they are a safety hazard anyway.

Clearly this pair thought the rules didn't apply to them.

They must be Batman and Robin.
 

DaveNewcastle

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This is nesting season anyway so no trees should be being cut at the moment unless they are a safety hazard anyway.
Yes. That was one feature that I recognised straight away, but I'm sorry to see that some qualified and experienced tree surgeons have been felling and destroying habitats this spring, (contrary to the provisions of the 1981 Wildlife and Countryside Act).

This is also the time of year to see the depressing spread of the persistent Japanese Knotweed along our railway enbankments. It is not often reported that much of this almost-indestructable invasive plant was deliberately introduced by Network Rail's prior incarnations. As it spreads under and through roads and buildings, it would be hard to demonstrate any culpability by NR (hence, perhaps, the silence).
 

DynamicSpirit

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It's weird. Trees are stopping trains and it's not actually 'leaves on the line'. :razz:

Actually, judging from the photo that GodAtum posted, there definitely were leaves on the line. It's just that the leaves were still attached to the branches.

Presumably that means they were wrong kind of leaves...
 

deltic1989

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Out of the vast myriad of railway by-laws that seem to cover any eventuality known to mankind, what particular ones would be most applicable to the two men who were performing the task that was stated?

I stand to be corrected here, but I would imagine that Byelaw 13 (1):

(1) No person shall enter or remain on any part of the railway where there is a
notice:
(i) prohibiting access; or
(ii) indicating that it is reserved or provided for a specified
category of person only, except where he belongs to that
specified category.

Would cover it.

Also looking at the photo they appear to be on the railway side of the fence.
Since (AIUI) anything within the fence is classified as 'The Railway', would Byelaw 6 (5) Apply?

(5) No person shall damage or detach any part of the railway.
 
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