Great Western Coffee Shop

Journey by Journey => Shorter journeys in South and West Wales => Topic started by: infoman on September 06, 2023, 05:39:54



Title: network rail fined for japanese knotweed
Post by: infoman on September 06, 2023, 05:39:54
https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/man-gets-10000-payout-after-27653642


Title: Re: network rail fined for japanese knotweed
Post by: Mark A on September 10, 2023, 13:38:37
It's a 'mare, and South Wales is more than a hotspot for japanese knotweed. Swansea, there's a huge outbreak of it, untreated, east of Cockett tunnel (which spreads well off railway land too):

https://www.google.com/maps/@51.6330416,-3.9648555,3a,60y,137.52h,83.62t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sGa_1iTvzV-FLpqqM6caX1A!2e0!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu (https://www.google.com/maps/@51.6330416,-3.9648555,3a,60y,137.52h,83.62t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sGa_1iTvzV-FLpqqM6caX1A!2e0!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu)

From a couple of trips up the Central Wales line last year, I'm wondering if it's able to spread when fragments stick to trains and later fall by the lineside - there's lineside outbreaks of it almost as far as Llandeilo. At Shrewsbury Station, there's an outbreak above the retaining wall on the Castle side of the station - I reported that to the local authority who responded that they weren't minded to do anything about that one, which was disappointing as it will now eat Network Rail's retaining wall.

And then there's buddleia, for which Network Rail will not be fined, but on the other hand it's set to eat every masonry and brick structure they have.

Mark


Title: Re: network rail fined for japanese knotweed
Post by: Marlburian on September 10, 2023, 15:10:50
...  I'm wondering if it's able to spread when fragments stick to trains and later fall by the lineside - there's lineside outbreaks of it almost as far as Llandeilo.

Ragwort spread rapidly from Oxford via the railway network. Learned article (https://www.researchgate.net/figure/The-spread-of-Senecio-squalidus-in-the-British-Isles-from-Oxford-where-it-was-first_fig1_47640936).

I wonder if that explains the presence of ragwort in Sulham Meadows (actually on the outskirts of Pangbourne) where volunteers clear it each year.



This page is printed from the "Coffee Shop" forum at http://gwr.passenger.chat which is provided by a customer of Great Western Railway. Views expressed are those of the individual posters concerned. Visit www.gwr.com for the official Great Western Railway website. Please contact the administrators of this site if you feel that content provided contravenes our posting rules ( see http://railcustomer.info/1761 ). The forum is hosted by Well House Consultants - http://www.wellho.net