Railway Trees

[Mozza]

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.

 

 

 

Cracking post mate

[john dawson]

example; the elecy company wants to fell a tree near a line, the landowner says no just trim it, in order to get the required clearance. this end in a poorly shaped tree because the climber can only do as he's told. and before anyone argues, ive spent years doing elecy and rail works. im not happy about some of the work ive done, but all i did was whats required, and i have been given a lot of crap from management for protesting!

its no different to any line of work, ie the owner wants "this" doing to his(or her) tree, and it dont matter how much you say its a bad idea, thats what they want. either you do it or someone else will.

[Nick D]

well said (and better than I could put it) from someone who also tries to make a difference.