Over the past week we’ve had SG Elite on our line tackling long-overdue lineside overgrowth, and they’ve made a huge difference, completely knocking the socks off our volunteer team.
For years, trees had been steadily encroaching and overhanging the line, branches were scraping carriages, and recent storms had brought down even more dead and diseased trees. In truth, we don’t think our railway has had received a serious “haircut” since the line closed in the 1950s.
While it may have looked green, this wasn’t wildlife-friendly habitat. It had become dense scrub dominated by brambles, ivy, gorse and dead or dying trees. This offers little diversity. It also creates safety and visibility issues. By cutting it back, we’ve opened the area up to species that struggle in heavy shade and dense thickets. We are also improving sight lines for our drivers and farm crossing users – and giving passengers a much better view of the countryside.
We discussed this project with SG Elite. SG Elite are a specialist ground engineering and vegetation management contractor based right here in Northern Ireland. The company operates right across the UK and Ireland. They work across the rail and infrastructure sector tackling work in restricted access sites. Examples of these include steep slopes, embankments. Basically, they cover live mainline rail environments where conventional plant can’t easily reach. Their team and walking excavator fleet support everything from vegetation clearance and ash dieback removal to slope and embankment work and other civil engineering tasks, often for major clients and frameworks on both mainline and specialist contracts.
There’s simply no way our little hedge flail and clippers could have achieved this scale of work. A huge thank you to Gerard Kelly, Adrian McLoughlin and the entire team for their support of our wee line.
This week, they focused on the North Line. We ccurrently use this route for passenger services. Repairs continue to bridges and track on the South Line following flooding. SG Elite promised they’ll be back to tame those lines too.
Now that light and space have been reintroduced, we want to help natural diversity along where appropriate. If anyone has an interest in helping re-establish native, slow-growing species in the cleared areas – but far from the tracks (such as rowan and similar), we’d love to hear from you. These plants are not only great for wildlife but will also add seasonal colour and interest for visitors.
As ever, this work is about careful management, not clearance for the sake of it – improving safety, resilience and the long-term health of our lineside environment.
