Vegetation growing out of control?

[londonmidland]

Today, I noticed just how much vegetation we have growing across the rail network.

Well used lines have grass and weeds growing through the ballast. I noticed on several journeys I took today, bushes were scraping against the side of the train in multiple locations. These being around Manchester and Nottingham, some of several locations recorded which has this issue.

We’ve had above average rainfall for several months now, as well as a mild winter, which have no doubt contributed to the early and rapid growth of vegetation and foliage.

What can Network Rail do to mitigate this problem? I understand there are strict rules and regulations in regard to which chemicals are allowed to be used, due to environmental concerns. This will have an impact on effectiveness when tackling weeds and vegetation.

 

[Western 52]

I've seen the weedkiller train go past here twice this year already, so they are trying to control the weeds. Still plenty growing though, so yes, maybe modern chemicals are not very effective.

 

[Belperpete]

The rainfall may also have washed the weedkiller away.

 

[GRALISTAIR]

Yes, there is another thread on this too.

Mind the gap errm I mean...Plant. At what point does the railway decide it's time for a trim of the plant growth on the line?

Today at Guildford platform 6, plenty of commuters almost tripping over the shrubbery growth getting off one of the strike day services. (I decided to personally board at the next set of doors which I quickly regretted when a member of staff yelled at me for daring to get in his way despite...

www.railforums.co.uk

 

[CharlieSpotted]

I noticed yesterday that there's a great deal of what looks like heather growing between the tracks at Birmingham New Street, of all places!

 

[Peter Sarf]

I have noticed for years Buddlea growing out of railway brickwork. The longer it is left then the harder it is to remove because the roots are bigger and deeper into the masonry and also the roots have prised open bigger gaps for other weeds to get established. There is also quite simply the damage done to the brickwork.

This year the amount of growth out of the ballast has become very noticeable. In the end pulling a small weed out becomes a task requiring the weed to be pulled out. A very young tree six inches high can be pulled out, much bigger and it is a far bigger task.

I have a few times noticed weeds in the gap between platform edge and train.

These really are cases where the old adage "a stitch in time saves nine" needs to be heeded.

 

[faltskog36abba]

The rainfall may also have washed the weedkiller away.

Surely network rail would check the weather report before spraying weeds?.

 

[D6130]

I've seen the weedkiller train go past here twice this year already, so they are trying to control the weeds. Still plenty growing though, so yes, maybe modern chemicals are not very effective.

The problem is that, due to environmental regulations, Network Rail are no longer permitted to use the powerful chemical weedkillers of yesteryear. Older readers may remember the Chipman's and Fison's weedkiller trains which used to tour the network every Spring....with special instructions for on-track staff to stand well clear and turn their faces away when the trains passed. Those chemicals could kill just everything in sight - animal, vegetable or mineral - and are now quite rightly banned. There were - and still are in places - signs instructing the weedkiller crews to stop spraying when passing through sites of special scientific or environmental interest, such as the rare orchid site just South of Ribblehead.

 

[Magicake]

I was mildly concerned by the amount of vegetation growing out of the viaduct in Stockport the other day. Has anyone seen it? I know it's fairly inaccessible but it looked to my untrained eye like exactly the sort of thing that is going to cause more problems down the line.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

I was mildly concerned by the amount of vegetation growing out of the viaduct in Stockport the other day. Has anyone seen it? I know it's fairly inaccessible but it looked to my untrained eye like exactly the sort of thing that is going to cause more problems down the line.

Or even directly underneath that part of the viaduct!

 

[Trainman40083]

The problem is that, due to environmental regulations, Network Rail are no longer permitted to use the powerful chemical weedkillers of yesteryear. Older readers may remember the Chipman's and Fison's weedkiller trains which used to tour the network every Spring....with special instructions for on-track staff to stand well clear and turn their faces away when the trains passed. Those chemicals could kill just everything in sight - animal, vegetable or mineral - and are now quite rightly banned. There were - and still are in places - signs instructing the weedkiller crews to stop spraying when passing through sites of special scientific or environmental interest, such as the rare orchid site just South of Ribblehead.

Yes, I remember those weedkillers. 2-4-5T, Arsenal, paraquat. If used at home, you could kill everything in your garden for a good six months. Then the Environment department got rightly concerned as to how much was being used, and getting into water courses. They thought babies could be born deformed, or have three arms, so over time, lesser products were used. Indeed, it is the same with weedkillers used at home..Far weaker.

 

[LUYMun]

A Tweet I saw this morning showing the great lengths some vegetation have grown in the six-foot at the Alexandra Palace area, with one becoming a tree!

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PB Photography #FBPE @PaulMBigland
One for @25kV, @NoelDolphin and @LordPeterHendy. This tree is growing between the OLE at Ally Pally. I hope it's earthed!

 

[zwk500]

Surely network rail would check the weather report before spraying weeds?.

There's only so many times you'd be able to rewirte the weedkiller trains duty cycle.
Mind you as I write this I'm passing some very well established shrubs in the 10 ft at Windmill Bridge Jn!

A Tweet I saw this morning showing the great lengths some vegetation have grown in the six-foot at the Alexandra Palace area, with one becoming a tree!

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That will need to be dealt with soon enough due to the threat to the OLE I'd have thought. Also the Bush in the foreground may be obscuring the 25mph sign.

 

[D6130]

There's only so many times you'd be able to rewirte the weedkiller trains duty cycle.
Mind you as I write this I'm passing some very well established shrubs in the 10 ft at Windmill Bridge Jn!

That will need to be dealt with soon enough due to the threat to the OLE I'd have thought. Also the Bush in the foreground may be obscuring the 25mph sign.

Not to mention the effects that the roots will have on the permanent way once they become fully established.

 

[Trainman40083]

There was a suggestion that homeowners could get a similar kill of weeds, by pouring boiling water on them.. I wouldn't trust many with boiling water though.

 

[Belperpete]

Surely network rail would check the weather report before spraying weeds?.

With the almost continuous wet weather we have had this spring, that would mean they wouldn't spray the weeds. Certainly I had been waiting until the recent dry spell to spray at home, with the result that weeds on my drive has grown quite large.

 

[Bald Rick]

A reminder to everyone - It’s the middle of May.

This is peak vegetation growth season. The teams who control vegetation can’t be everywhere at once. No one notices where the vegetation isn’t growing because it’s been dealt with.

 

[physics34]

Its a disgrace everywhere. Iam aware of the recent weedkiller restrictions though.... it can end up polluting our waterways. There must be another way. With regards to trees and buddlea and bushes, there are things avaliable called trimmer or chainsaws. Network Rail should try them sometime.

 

[Peter Sarf]

Not to mention the effects that the roots will have on the permanent way once now they become fully established.

There, corrected that for you.

As I gardener I resort to elbow grease. I don't use weedkiller. But if I let something get out of hand then its no longer something I can pull out - then secateurs (worse still a saw) and probably a dig out of the roots. Also happens with plants that have outgrown their space.

For a start weedkiller is unlikely to write of a very well established weed. In the permanent way I see bushes that are becoming the size of trains. I cannot see how these have grown up over one season.

How were weeds kept down or eradicated one hundred years ago on the railways ?.
I suspect the answer was more labour intensive means coupled with so much pollution making it harder for weeds to establish and of course the good old flame throwers (aka steam engines).

Now that things like Buddleia have been allowed to get a hold they are spreading lots of seed for new Buddleia. So it is a case of the UK railways have let it get out of hand and its now harder than it could have been. But try telling that to an accountant.

 

[Belperpete]

Its a disgrace everywhere. Iam aware of the recent weedkiller restrictions though.... it can end up polluting our waterways. There must be another way. With regards to trees and buddlea and bushes, there are things avaliable called trimmer or chainsaws. Network Rail should try them sometime.

Unfortunately if you prune buddlea, you just encourage it. It needs to be completely removed, or it will just grow back even stronger.

 

[Nicholas Lewis]

A reminder to everyone - It’s the middle of May.

This is peak vegetation growth season. The teams who control vegetation can’t be everywhere at once. No one notices where the vegetation isn’t growing because it’s been dealt with.

It is but this growth is an ongoing compounding of growth year after year from insufficient treatment in prior years. I've also never known so many locations where vegetation has intruded so much into the kinematic envelope that it scrapes along the sides of the trains. It probably doesn't help that its almost impossible to do anything on the infrastructure during traffic hours now but what i find particularly galling is when lines are closed all weekend there is no sign of anybody doing vegetation clearance which of course is beyond p.way staff these days now you need training and ticket to do anything.

 

[Craig1122]

The viaduct connecting the Windsor lines & District Line at Putney (Point Pleasant junction?) is so overgrown it looks disused. Enormous buddleia well established and rooted into the brickwork. Going to be incredibly expensive to sort. It's noticeable that the LU viaduct heading across to Putney bridge is free of vegetation growth so it can be done. Can't help thinking that sooner or later vegetation is going to cause failure of a structure somewhere with serious consequences if this continues unchecked.

 

[GRALISTAIR]

I have a horrible feeling that it will take an accident for minds to get more focused on the problem.

 

[Mugby]

Another unwanted consequence of bushes and trees scraping the sides of trains is the damage to vinyls which form part of many liveries.

With regard to Buddleia, if pruning is counter productive, would burning it of with a flame gun be an option? I'm thinking particularly of that which forces it way through walls and masonry?

 

[Sly Old Fox]

A Tweet I saw this morning showing the great lengths some vegetation have grown in the six-foot at the Alexandra Palace area, with one becoming a tree!

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View attachment 158666

That 25 sign is incredibly well sighted. I am aware of speed boards that can literally no longer be seen.

 

[Peter Sarf]

Another unwanted consequence of bushes and trees scraping the sides of trains is the damage to vinyls which form part of many liveries.

With regard to Buddleia, if pruning is counter productive, would burning it of with a flame gun be an option? I'm thinking particularly of that which forces it way through walls and masonry?

There is (was - maybe banned now) a weedkiller gel that could be put on the cut ends and then got absorbed into the base and roots of more established weeds (trees and bushes). But prevention is better than cure and the brickwork will still need to be dismantled, the roots taken out and the whole lot re-pointed to eliminate the gapes pry-zed open over a few years of neglect.

 

[Belperpete]

With regard to Buddleia, if pruning is counter productive, would burning it of with a flame gun be an option? I'm thinking particularly of that which forces it way through walls and masonry?

Only if you completely kill the plant, which is unlikely unless it is already under stress. If the root system survives then it will just sprout back from the base.

 

[Trestrol]

Its a disgrace everywhere. Iam aware of the recent weedkiller restrictions though.... it can end up polluting our waterways. There must be another way. With regards to trees and buddlea and bushes, there are things avaliable called trimmer or chainsaws. Network Rail should try them sometime.

And of course once the bird nesting season begins your stopped from cutting anything until it's over.

 

[Asmo]

Do continental railways suffer the same weed growth?

 

[Craig1122]

Do continental railways suffer the same weed growth?

On a recent trip I would say it varies from country to country as you might expect. Switzerland pretty much nothing, Italy closer to the UK but certainly not nearly as bad. In fact nowhere I went to in multiple countries was as bad as here.