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INSIDE TRACK: SCRAP METAL
Over the years, track maintenance gangs have left their mark alongside Britain’s railway. Moves are now afoot to clear it all up, in the name of safety and economy
Keeping Britain Tidy
(or the railway at least!)
T
he railway is so much more than just a mode of transport, it’s an experience. Just a few metres the other side of the carriage window, beyond the railway fence, passengers can see everything from spectacular scenery to rolling farmland and even suburban back gardens. Closer to the train are bushes and trees and other vegetation that makes the railway corridor such an important area for wildlife. Network Rail owns 52,000 hectares (129,000 acres) of land around the railway where, due to it being relatively undisturbed thanks to a lack of public access, common lizards, grass snakes, deer and water vole make their homes close to the railway in East Anglia, while slow worms have been spotted in the south-west of England. Pipistrelle bats also often live on the railway, roosting in trees, tunnels and bridges.
But all is not idyllic. Closer still to the train, so that passengers may have to crane their necks to look down, they can see lengths of steel rail, half-empty bags of ballast, concrete and wooden sleepers, and other detritus left over from railway work over the years. This is not just unsightly, it is also dangerous. People who work on the track, often on the hours of darkness, can easily trip over a length of rail lying in the grass. This in itself can result in a sprained or broken ankle, or, if they happen to fall on more rail or a pile of rail clips, can cause even more serious injuries.
Keeping staff safe Martyn Shaftoe is the health and safety advisor for Network Rail’s Wessex route. He has been analysing staff accidents across the route over the last seven
years. Slips, trips and falls are by far the largest causes of injury, and much of that can be put down to scrap material left alongside the line. “Whenever people go out on site, they are told not to have a slip, trip or fall. One of the biggest hazards is lineside scrap – old rail, discarded ballast bags, sleepers, you name it. But there is no science behind it, we don’t know where these hazards are and there is no central repository of what’s out there.” When planning any work, safety teams have to check the site in advance, making sure that there are safe walking routes and that workers aren’t being sent to areas where an injury is statistically more likely. Little wonder then that there is a push to clean up the railway and the debris left alongside it. There is even a financial incentive – Network Rail delivery units that weigh-in scrap material can use the money for other projects.
June 2023
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21/06/2023 13:11