Evergreen 3 Project could be cancelled - Batty!

[route:oxford]

From the Oxford Times...

http://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/9368010.Wildlife_could_halt___130m_Oxford_train_link/

 

[Buttsy]

We could always hire someone to blow up the tunnel so it becomes a cutting, though I know this would cause grief to Woodstock Road roundabout!!!!

NB: Just in case anyone thinks I might be serious, I'M JOKING!

 

[TDK]

From the Oxford Times...

http://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/9368010.Wildlife_could_halt___130m_Oxford_train_link/

They eat bats in France, says it all really, OK, so they are animals however how about the sheep legging it from an express and braking it's leg, or the red kites that are hit bay trains? Absolute pathetic England strikes again.

 

[Lampshade]

Completely bats decision.

 

[Speedbird2639]

Hopefully there will be some bats/ newts on the route of the HSR2 vanity project - though I suspect it wld all be hushed up if that was the case!

 

[wintonian]

The inspector said the bats also used the tunnel for roosts, commuting and foraging.

Build them a station - simples.

 

[Drimnagh Road]

The tunnel was there before the bats.

If humans were occupying a disused tunnel we would be labled "trespassers" and served with eviction notices. If vermin occupy a disused tunnel they are labled "endagered species".

Fumigate the buggers out.

 

[DarloRich]

From the Oxford Times...

http://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/9368010.Wildlife_could_halt___130m_Oxford_train_link/

sorry but that is very poor reporting - the project will not be scrapped

the key point in all of that was lack of a mitigation plan. You work with english nature, your enviironmet consultants,. Your designers and engineers and come up with a srensible mitiagtion plan. What the report suggests is simply tosh

 

[MidnightFlyer]

Bats commute according to the article - is that true? hock:

 

[anthony263]

Bats commute according to the article - is that true? hock:

I can just image seeing a class 168 with a load of bats on the roof

 

[sprinterguy]

Bats commute according to the article - is that true? hock:

I to am quite bemused by the notion of bats "commuting". Has anyone actually tried to ask the bats' opinion on all this? Surely they will welcome Evergreen 3, as the faster, more frequent train service will be of great benefit to their regular commutes.

 

[Squaddie]

If humans were occupying a disused tunnel we would be labled "trespassers" and served with eviction notices. If vermin occupy a disused tunnel they are labled "endagered species".

That's because humans have an awareness of what is right and what is wrong, whereas animals don't.

Bats are not vermin (unless you are using the term loosely to describe any small, dumb living creature).

 

[swt_passenger]

A few months ago I read the Supreme Court judgement about the Fareham Gosport BRT, and its effect on the local bats.

It showed IIRC that the idea that bats 'cannot be disturbed at all' is not actually the intention of the EU protection, which is to do with protecting bats at the level of the whole species, not the habitats of individual bats.

ISTM that the easiest thing for an inspector to do is to give in to the bats lobby and then the case can go on to an appeal...

 

[OxtedL]

Bats and animals can commute, in the sense that they may need to travel to and fro to do stuff. Anyone who owns a cat will know that they may well go off scavenging from neighbours now and again, and if it's regular then I see no problem with calling it "commuting" . And odd choice of wording though, I wonder if it is deliberate...

As I understand it from another source (somewhere in the dark depths of the internet, I cannot recall now...) it was simply a case of a plan being needed to do something to mitigate the effect on the bats, as DarloRich has said. Some newts elsewhere on the route are also involved, I think.

EDIT: The other place I have seen it is of course here: http://www.railforums.co.uk/showthread.php?t=55470 . Doh.

 

[YorkshireBear]

Removing bats is easy enough... wont bring the project down just need a plan with environment agency consent and it will be easily sorted.

 

[swt_passenger]

Removing bats is easy enough... wont bring the project down just need a plan with environment agency consent and it will be easily sorted.

The decision maker is 'Natural England', I guess they are an EA sponsored quango?

The actual TWA website has all the details, which aren't anything like as negative or emotive as the local headlines...

http://www.dft.gov.uk/publications/twa-10-app-01/

 

[YorkshireBear]

The decision maker is 'Natural England', I guess they are an EA sponsored quango?

The actual TWA website has all the details, which aren't anything like as negative or emotive as the local headlines...

http://www.dft.gov.uk/publications/twa-10-app-01/

As far as i am aware (and was told) when we had bats on the KWVR it was the environment agency but like you say i think they may be related so they probably just put it all under a single umberalla. Its easy enough dealt with we just havent yet on the bridge they live in as it is non vital work at the moment.

 

[yorksrob]

I'm sure there are ways to mitigate any problems with bats. If they can't be relocated, perhaps they could include a short single track section through the tunnel to keep plenty of distance between the trains and the walls. The mainline to Hastings seems to manage with several of these without too much difficulty (albeit not bat related).

I'm not sure about the Newts, but I've heard of colonies of various living things being re-located.

I'm more surprised about the local residents. They've been living next to a working railway line up until now, surely they're used to trains ?

 

[The Planner]

It is probably the step increase in frequency and the fact they will be going quicker aswell.

 

[Buttsy]

At the moment, there is a lot of jointed track on that section (if memory serves me correctly). I suspect that the improvements will be CWR and so reducing the wheel/track interface noise.

Easiest way to get rid of bats is to know their UK natural predator and put loads of them in that area! A lot of cats would be a start...
NB: Joking again.