Background

Railway corridors provide long stretches of continuous habitat that, aside from passing trains and occasional work projects, are rarely disturbed. Where vegetation is removed, there is always a change to the existing habitat in an area – this effect can be positive or negative depending on existing ecological conditions.

Many UK animals benefit from long unbroken corridors of scrub, woodland or heathland, while others such as certain rare butterflies find vegetation removal advantageous as it provides access to new areas of grassland and wildflowers they previously could not reach.

Some species have additional restrictions which protect them from disturbance. This requires deep consideration, as any introduction of noise, vibration, human presence or other change in conditions may infringe upon this protection. GeoAccess developed a comprehensive ecological management approach to enable earthwork examinations while minimising disturbance to wildlife across routes from West Wales to Kent.

Method

To cope with the logistical difficulty of providing ecological information for sites across such a broad area, GeoAccess utilised readily available GIS systems. This allowed rapid assessment of sites for ecological concerns and highlighted those of greatest risk to biodiversity in the process.

Once data was collected, ecological actions were quickly assigned, taking the form of toolbox talks, implementing precautionary method statements, and highlighting sites requiring further ecological consideration such as surveys.

Pre-works nesting bird checks became a mandatory requirement on all sites, carried out at all times of year to account for unseasonal conditions, late/early nesting species and rare or protected wintering birds. Teams were empowered to make compliant decisions on site, recognising that a lack of records can never guarantee the absence of a species.

Innovations & Solutions

• Digital document sharing platform deployed across all site teams, providing instant access to a growing library of ecological toolbox talks via phone or tablet with digital sign-off capability.
• Full library access for all teams, not just assigned briefings, enabling works to pause and consult guidance when encountering unexpected findings such as badger setts.
• Integration with App software developers to embed nesting bird checks into daily paperwork on the App, making checks routine while minimising form completion time.
• Precautionary method statements and daily ecology checklists stored on the platform, ensuring every team remained aware of the most common ecological concerns.

Results & Conclusion

Through ethical ecological management practices, GeoAccess achieved:

• Minimised disturbance to wildlife while maintaining examination schedules across all Network Rail routes.
• Empowered site teams with environmental awareness and resilience to safely work around ecological features.
• Compliant decision-making at site level through comprehensive baseline training and readily accessible guidance.
• Raised environmental awareness across the workforce, creating a culture of ecological responsibility.

This project demonstrates how GeoAccess’s commitment to ethical ecology provides Network Rail with reliable, compliant methods for railway earthwork inspections that protect UK biodiversity while delivering essential infrastructure examinations.