Former railway land site remediation

I'm doing a bit of work looking at pollution control and land remediation. One of the hypothetical sites was formerly a railway line, which has not been in use since the 1950s. The site is to be redeveloped into housing.

The only contaminants I can think of will be hydrocarbon based - coal and ash from the boilers and oils from lubrication etc. The site wasn't used for stabling locomotives but there would have been a coal storage area nearby.

Anyone have any past experience on remediation such as this, or can anyone think of any other contaminants/pollutants that would still persist in the soil after 50+ years?

Thanks in advance.

Some site woreks may be needed to check for any other pollutants from material carried in the wagoins and subsequent leaching due to rain or spiallages.

djw1981 said:

Some site woreks may be needed to check for any other pollutants from material carried in the wagoins and subsequent leaching due to rain or spiallages.

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There is likely to be other solid debris in the form of services (such as water, gas, sewerage and electricity - possibly disused, possibly still active) miscellaneous metal, cables and concrete and the like. (From experience of clearing former railway land around St Albans South signal box!)

Probably will discount whatever was in wagons travelling across the line as this could be thousands of things. Also assuming that all utilities will have been removed/disconnected.

142094 said:

Probably will discount whatever was in wagons travelling across the line as this could be thousands of things. Also assuming that all utilities will have been removed/disconnected.

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Dont know if you can unless you define what sort of site yo uare looking at. If it was just a running railway from a-b and you too ka snap shot at point X along that line. I think in that case your assumptions would be correct, but if it was a goods yard/siding then you would need to consider what was stored,loaded,unloaded there along with any sort of manufacturing or distilling or refineing process undertaken there IMO

Just a normal railway line, with a possible siding for the coal yard. No other industry or processes, so all I can think of is coal/coke and ash.

There is a Department of the Environment profile for the sorts of contaminants that can be anticipated on railway land. It was published in 1995 but still quite useful.

You might also expect to find heavy metals, possibly some of the older herbicides, creosote residues, lubricating oils and greases, sulphates and possibly asbestos fibres.

You would expect any contaminants to be irregularly dispersed across the land but with some correlation to the former track plan.

Don't forget to consider groundwater, either on-site or potentially migrating off site.

There are a number of sites around the country that do have significant amounts of asbestos buried.
In York it is understood that the area of the former BREL works carpark alongside Poppleton Rd was 1 burial site. This are has now been built on.
I believe another site is on the Tyne + Wear metro at its depot.
Holbeck shed site was put up on the market about 15 years back hoping for a large return due to proximity to Leeds centre hoping for a couple of million as a return.
Instead due to land contamination the offers received were in the 100s of thousands.


Another hazard that does come up occasionally is Archaeological.
In York throughout the station area is a recorded Roman cemetary.
This extends quite a way south and is reportedly one of the reasons why Holgate Bridge was raised when the ECML was electrified rather than having a cheaper track lowering due to the risk of encountering buried bodies.

Ty'n'wtre nr 2 said:

There is a Department of the Environment profile for the sorts of contaminants that can be anticipated on railway land. it was published in 1995 but still quite useful.

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That indeed sound useful, any chance you know where to find it. I'll have a look but I know documents like this can be hard to find archived on websites.

EDIT: Not something like the one here?

contact the contaminated land officer iof your local council, explaining why you want the info. they will direct you to the publications at any rate

Whilst you have covered most of it, my biggest concern would be that the ground could be classified as made ground due to the top soil having being used for ballast for the track. Creosote is definitely an issue worth considering. Another would be out of control weed growth. Whilst it might not be apparent now in Winter if you have undertaken site visits, some weeds are a real pain in the rear and love railway lines and their embankments.

Finally wildlife and any other uses that have occurred since the railway line closed.

Any coal facility might have had foundations, which would present a hazard.