Railway Trees

[Knapp]

Railway land comes under a special act of parliament and is exempt from usual rules of trees in conservation areas and TPO's. I wonder if the tree contractors also, do not have to abide by the usual standards of arboriculture?

 

Track side clearance is done via the tape measure, which often means one half the tree is shaved of all growth and the other side untouched. Or tall trees left with no growth on of any sort. It's an education to look at some of the results and how the trees respond.

[nepia]

Hadn't thought of embankments in that way before - good for you. Any pics of those reactions would be good. Trees of course don't know about looking balanced or pretty; they just react. I like the positive thinking; looking for benefit from apparent butchery.

[Knapp]

No pictures yet, hope to get some. Lime tree left as a lonely, totally shaved 50 foot

stick 2 years ago has now new growth all down the trunk and a new crown is forming.

 

Copper beech next to it is still just half a tree with large branches away from railway and nothing on t'other side.

[john dawson]

hiya! in my experience, railwork is basicaly the same as elecy line clearences. the trees are only cut back to provide minimum clearances for safety reasons against the overhead lines. the standards of the work should still be up to spec, ie target pruning and no spikes. even tho the end result does require some head scratching!! the companies always try to remove all of the trees, but are met with opposition from third parties such as conservationists, neighbouring landowners and people who generaly want the trees to stay, so all the companies can do is to trim back to give a minimum clearance. the trees will mostly survive anyway

[combined tree services]

hiya! in my experience, railwork is basicaly the same as elecy line clearences. the trees are only cut back to provide minimum clearances for safety reasons against the overhead lines. the standards of the work should still be up to spec, ie target pruning and no spikes. even tho the end result does require some head scratching!! the companies always try to remove all of the trees, but are met with opposition from third parties such as conservationists, neighbouring landowners and people who generaly want the trees to stay, so all the companies can do is to trim back to give a minimum clearance. the trees will mostly survive anyway

 

Speaking from experience the clearence of trees from proximity to powerlines should where ever possible should be carried out to comply with BS3998 , there is not case of only getting the minimum clearence because of public outcry in conservation or tpo areas its in fact down to the company carrying out the work , the intrest of the serveyor and the skill of the climber carrying out the work to the tree . BUT some companies are not willing to spend time working to BS3998 and that is when you get the L shaped trees etc but what also needs to be taken into account is the utiilittys act which in fact allowes a powerline clearence contractor to cut any tree that is touching powerlines and could result in electrocution or death to gain a 1 meter clearence without having to ask the LA's permision ,however this act IMO is obused and used far to easily . as for cutting one side off of a tree to gain a clearence is still not acceptable and the company that has done the work could be liable should the tree or assosiated trees fail or become dangerous . Basicly there is still no need for trees to be butchered for the sake of powerlines . as for the railway im not at all sure how there rules and regs work

[dangerous brian]

We could do with someone from say( till hill )etc coming on here and giving us their perspective on rail way cutting,so come on lads .

[combined tree services]

We could do with someone from say( till hill )etc coming on here and giving us their perspective on rail way cutting,so come on lads .

 

Where is geordy boy ????

[Mozza]

Spike up it and get the clearence, Thats what my 18 months on the railway consisted of, Not saying its right BUT all they wanted to know was how much you got done day in day out!!

[Mesterh]

The other way to look at it is would it be better to fell every tree within the falling distance?

 

I myself think not so a one sided tree is better than none.

 

Theres still no excuse for spikes,tears poor pruning cuts etc but L and V shaped trees are what is required sometimes.

[Leyburn Lad]

Spike up it and get the clearence, Thats what my 18 months on the railway consisted of, Not saying its right BUT all they wanted to know was how much you got done day in day out!!

 

I have worked in Utility work for the past 15yrs, this has been on Powerlines,Railways and on the highways.

There appears to be some confusion around TPO's and the like. All trees and vegetation are treat the same as if it were in a Park or garden, street etc, if they have restictions then the appropriate channels must be used regardless, ie there is no special rules for utilities, the exception to the rule is in an emergancy situation ie trees blocking rail lines or powerlines been infringed causing danger to the network or general public.

 

As for spiking trees, yes it was the norm many years ago but is now slowly starting to fade out, although " and this will open a tin of worms" there are times when a tree has been cut so severly in the past to gain a clearance that the only safe option would be to climb with spikes on, ie if the main anchor points are removed and there are issues of branch security as you climb.

 

The trees left behind after a clearance on either rail site or powerlines are not always to every ones taste, but there is usualy a reason for what is left and it is not always money orientated, a lot of sided trees left on rail land are left in situ to leave a screen to hide the railway, this is also the same with powerlines.

 

Utility Arboriculture has come a long way from the early days when just any tom dick and harry was at it, it still has a long way to go but it does appear to be going in the right direction now, electric and rail companies are now starting to look into there contracts now and not just ask for a blanket clearance regardless of tree species etc, they now understand that if you have a mature oak 2m from an lv line then that is safe even though the contract for that line states 5m, previoiusly this would of been a contract failling.

 

Sorry if i have gone on a bit but some of us are quite passionate regarding doing a decent job in a challanging enviroment that some times requires making a silk purse out of a sows ear.