On World Earth Day, we must shine a spotlight on biodiversity in rail

Credit: GTR

The theme of World Earth Day 2022 (22 April 2022) is ‘Invest in our Planet’, focusing on how we all need to come together – from big businesses to the individual – to create a partnership and help protect our planet. And while many will focus on the climate crisis and decarbonisation, in my opinion it is just as critical to also put emphasis on the ecological crisis and how we’re going to tackle that head on.

Globally, and in the UK, we’re seeing a huge natural decline – from flora and fauna. In fact, a UN report in 2019 found that one million animal and plant species are now threatened with extinction, many within decades, more than ever before in human history.

Greener railways

Across our expansive railway lines, we have huge issues with the likes of Ash Dieback, Dutch Elm Disease, and invasive species – all destroying our native trees and plants. While we don’t use these to calculate and offset our carbon footprint as many do, for us it is imperative that we create partnerships with local communities, individuals, trusts and organisations, alongside Network Rail, in order to encourage more biodiverse, native wildlife back to the railway.

Part of our partnership with Network Rail includes working with their team as they develop new methods of managing trees and vegetation to provide habitats for wildlife in a way which still maintains safety for our passengers.

We actively support the wider initiatives to remove non-native species to give native trees the space to grow and thrive, at a safe distance from the tracks. Those trees which are felled are not wasted but used to create hibernacula for all sorts of creatures and life. Special cuts are made to allow water and fungi to enter the main trunk creating an environment for natural decay, while the trunks also make nesting cavities for birds, bats and insects, all with the hope of encouraging biodiversity.

Alongside this, troughs and pipes are positioned to create homes for smaller creatures such as hedgehogs. It’s a mosaic of habitats – benefiting our passengers, who have unique and interesting scenery to enjoy on their journeys, and nature. It’s a tangible and important step to re-wilding the railways, and by being part of the process we can join up the green corridors to tackle the issue head on.

It’s not just along the tracks that we’re focusing our efforts, but at our stations too which have an important role to play in our journey towards increased biodiversity. At many of our stations, we’re incredibly fortunate to have a network of local volunteers who help maintain and nurture areas created with the likes of The Bee Friendly Trust, who create incredible spaces for both the bees and wider wildlife, with great successes. In fact, we have now worked with The Bee Friendly Trust at four of our stations, implementing ‘organised chaos’ from sensory gardens to art installations.

It’s all about the partnerships forged with our local communities and working hand-in-hand with community groups to ensure they have access and the educational tools to learn skills in order to make their own positive change. They are the lifeblood keeping these initiatives alive and thriving.

However, not all of our stations are able to call on the local communities, which is why we’re implementing ‘re-wilding’ schemes to encourage biodiversity through plants that can flourish with limited maintenance.

We have been on a huge learning curve – one that we hope to take our customers on too. Plants often in the past seen as weeds, such as dandelions and nettles, are hugely important to encouraging biodiversity and should not destroyed. It’s all about education and taking areas that are seen as ‘dead’ spaces and transforming them into an area which brings nature back to the stations. Working in partnership with our contractors and teams at the stations, we want to evaluate everything from the plants themselves to the chemicals used, or hopefully not used in the future, and ensuring enhancing biodiversity is at the core of every decision we make.

To conclude

As a species, humans are fantastic at undervaluing the importance of nature. People and nature are often seen as two separate entities, when in reality we’re one and the same, and we need each other in order to survive. Creating these re-wilding spaces at our stations and along our lines will not only hugely helps local biodiversity, but will also have a wonderful impact on our customers, staff, and communities. It’s up to us to come together and, where possible, make small changes that will hugely impact our planet, together.