Asked by: Stephen Morgan (Labour - Portsmouth South)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to page 90 of the Williams-Shapps plan for rail, what progress his Department has made towards (a) tree planting and (b) introducing other (i) green initiatives and (ii) energy efficiency measures across the rail estate.
Answered by Huw Merriman - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
To maintain operational safety on the railways, Network Rail does not intend to plant more trees on the rail estate. Instead Network Rail has been working with the Tree Council to plant around 250,000 trees in communities over the past three years. Network Rail is also working with its neighbours, supported by Defra Nature for Climate funding, to encourage tree planting at a suitable distance away from the railway. Network Rail has committed to no net loss of biodiversity on the rail estate by 2024 and net gain by 2035.
Network Rail and all Department for Transport (DfT) contracted Train Operating Companies (TOCs) are required to set out their decarbonisation strategies and produce validated Science Based Targets, setting out clear and deliverable pathways to Net Zero 2050. Network Rail and the DfT TOCs are all delivering energy efficiency measures across the rail estate to achieve their decarbonisation commitments. Progress against commitments is monitored by DfT.
Network Rail is also pursuing other green initiatives, including supporting new renewable energy projects in the UK for energy use on the rail estate.
Asked by: Baroness Randerson (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of whether National Highways’ management of Historical Railways estate structures is in accordance with the best practice principles set out in the Conservation of Highways Structures standard; and what assessment they have made of the environmental impacts of infilling when selecting the preferred asset management option for each structure.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Conservation of Highways Structures standard applies to listed or designated heritage assets.
Although this standard does not apply to much of the Historical Railways Estate, National Highways does manage the structures in accordance with the best practice principles set out in the standard.
National Highways is conducting heritage assessments on each of the Historical Railways Estate structures.
Management of the Estate is kept under constant review and there is an independent quarterly audit. National Highways undertakes repairs to hundreds of structures every year including works to listed structures. Infilling and demolition is a very small proportion (less than 5%) of the work that it does.
National Highways considers environmental issues, relating to ecology and biodiversity, when considering their asset management approach at any given structure. In many cases, National Highways will incorporate ecological features into the structure as part of the scheme e.g. bat hotels. National Highways removes invasive species and leave piles of clippings from trees and shrubs for use by mammals and reptiles.
Asked by: John Spellar (Labour - Warley)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the English Tree Strategy consultation, what discussions officials in his Department have had with officials from the Department of Transport on trees along railway lines.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra has been working closely with other departments, including the Department for Transport (DfT), to develop the England Tree Strategy consultation.
The consultation will consider the role that all trees and woodland can play in delivering the 25 Year Environment Plan. In this way it echoes and aligns with DfT’s work to establish a clear position with Network Rail on the role of rail infrastructure in supporting the delivery of the 25 Year Environment Plan. Network Rail is responsible for 20,000km of track and around 6.3 million trees with the potential to support biodiversity around the country. DfT has therefore asked Network Rail to achieve no net loss in biodiversity on its existing lineside estate by 2024 and to achieve biodiversity net gain on each route by 2040.
Asked by: Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru - Ceredigion)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many trees have been felled by Network Rail as part its lineside tree felling programme to date.
Answered by Andrew Jones
Network Rail does not have a lineside tree felling programme, however Network Rail does have a statutory duty to ensure that the railways remain safe and reliable for the millions of people who use the network every day. In the last year, there were more than a thousand incidents where trees caused disruption to the network, which in some cases resulted in injuries among train drivers and members of the public.
Asked by: Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru - Ceredigion)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the independent review of Network Rail’s lineside vegetation management, published in November 2018, for what reasons Network Rail has felled trees during the nesting season.
Answered by Andrew Jones
Network Rail has a statutory duty to ensure that the railways remain safe throughout the year, and are therefore expected to intervene to address imminent safety risks or hazards that present themselves at the lineside, whenever this may be the case. As part of fulfilling this duty, Network Rail work with independent ecologists and arborists to identify nesting birds and protected species before commissioning any devegetation work, so that appropriate mitigation can be put in place to protect them and minimise disturbance.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the independent report to his Department on Network Rail’s approach to vegetation management, published on 28 November 2018, whether he has plans to (a) respond to that report and (b) use enforcement powers to implement the recommendations of that report.
Answered by Andrew Jones
I have set out my response to John Varley’s independent review on GOV.UK. In this I confirm that I have accepted the recommendation directed at Government and expect Network Rail to rise to the challenge of those within their area of competence.
We will now work with Network Rail and the Office of Rail and Road to agree how these recommendations can be embedded into Network Rail’s performance management arrangements, and in accordance with their own statutory responsibilities for the railways.
Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds North West)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions he has had with (a) Network Rail and (b) the Secretary of State for Transport on Network Rail's programme to target all leaf fall trees for removal alongside its tracks.
Answered by Thérèse Coffey
The Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs met the Chief Executive of Network Rail and the Minister of State for Transport on 9 May. Following this discussion the Department for Transport commissioned an independent review to look at Network Rail’s vegetation management regime.
The Government’s Tree Champion will discuss this review with the Minister of State for Transport in due course.
Asked by: Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru - Ceredigion)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, under what conditions trees on Network Rail land can still be felled.
Answered by Lord Johnson of Marylebone
Network Rail published its own position statement on the 11th May 2018, outlining the conditions where tree felling may continue, in accordance with Network Rail’s statutory responsibility to ensure the safe operation of the railways. This guidance states that all tree felling activity in England and Wales must cease, except where the work is safety critical.
Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds North West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many trees have been felled alongside rail lines since June 2017.
Answered by Lord Johnson of Marylebone
With 20,000 miles of track and millions of trees along the railway, ensuring vegetation is managed and the railway continues to be safe and reliable for the millions of people who use the network every day is a full time job for Network Rail. In the last year, there were more than a thousand incidents where trees caused disruption to the network as a result of storms, rain and wind. Network Rail estimate that around 50,000 trees a year are felled to ensure the safe and reliable running of the railway. This equates to 0.8% of the 6.2 million trees on the Network Rail estate. However, we do recognise that there are concerns which is why I recently announced a review into Network Rail’s vegetation management, which will including looking at whether Network Rail has the capacity and capability to manage vegetation in a way that minimises harm to wildlife.
Asked by: David Drew (Labour (Co-op) - Stroud)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many train journeys have been delayed because of fallen trees or leaves on the line by train operating company in the most recent year for which figures are available.
Answered by Lord Johnson of Marylebone
Britain has the safest railway in Europe and proactive vegetation management has reduced the number of incidents of large trees falling on the railway by 50% over the last four years.
However, last year there were more than 1,200 times when trees or large branches caused disruption to the railway network. Network Rail recorded a total of 41,144 delay minutes as a result of fallen / encroaching vegetation in 2017/18. A breakdown of these minutes by Train Operating Company can be seen below.
Operator - Affected | Grand Total |
TPE | 1266 |
Greater Anglia | 585 |
Grand Central | 8 |
Northern | 5213 |
GWR | 2181 |
Cross Country | 1311 |
West Midlands Trains | 979 |
London Overground | 709 |
EMT | 1037 |
Caledonian Sleeper | 1202 |
GTW | 4246 |
TfL Rail | 10 |
ScotRail | 1489 |
Virgin Trains East Coast | 56 |
Merseyrail | 241 |
Virgin Trains West Coast | 2238 |
Arriva Trains Wales | 1339 |
Heathrow Express | 25 |
Chiltern | 807 |
c2c | 79 |
Southeastern | 3033 |
South Western Railway | 13090 |
Hull Trains | 0 |
Grand Total | 41144 |
Network Rail recorded a total of 195,400 delay minutes caused by leaves impacting the performance of trains and the wider network in 2017/18. A breakdown of these minutes by Train Operating Company can be seen below.
Operator - Affected | Grand Total |
TPE | 5152.5 |
Greater Anglia | 6178 |
Grand Central | 284 |
Northern | 32277 |
GWR | 27680 |
Cross Country | 9716 |
West Midlands Trains | 10524 |
London Overground | 2270 |
EMT | 5810 |
Caledonian Sleeper | 328 |
GTW | 20101 |
TfL Rail | 1258 |
ScotRail | 10999 |
Virgin Trains East Coast | 2284 |
Merseyrail | 1643 |
Virgin Trains West Coast | 2919 |
Arriva Trains Wales | 5731 |
Heathrow Express | 653 |
Chiltern | 4986 |
c2c | 61 |
Southeastern | 16815 |
South Western Railway | 27649 |
Hull Trains | 79 |
Grand Total | 195399 |