Abstract

This report is a review of methods for vegetation control on railway embankments. Vegetation control along railways has for many years been dominated by the use of chemical herbicides. The chemical methods have been criticised because of its effects on the environment and the safety conditions for workers. It’s not allowed to use chemicals everywhere along the railway in Sweden and therefore satisfactory non-chemical methods must be developed. Methods of controlling growing weeds can be divided into constructional, biological, mechanical, chemical and thermal/electrical methods. Preventive methods that restrict the spread of plants should be defined at the planning stage; design, plant selection and installation methods must be chosen with the aim of restricting the opportunities for unwanted vegetation to spread. Biological methods include for example mowing and greening with special plants. Mechanical control, for example brushing, means that also the ballast material is being treated. Signals, poles, cables, switches etc. in the railway environment are obstacles and limitations to which new control methods must be adapted. Thermal/electrical control does not involve physical contact, that is, it can be carried out without any contact between machine and plant/embankment. When going over to new methods, it is important to know how these affect both the surrounding environment as well as the working environment for the employees who implement them. The working environment is to a large extent determined by the properties of the machines used and to a smaller extent by the control method. Since diesel is a common fuel, the emissions from the combustion engine represent a major influence on the environment. Improved purifying methods and, in the long run, the disuse of fossil fuels is a necessary development to reduce the burden on the environment. This study shows that for many methods there is not enough material to evaluate their practical usefulness. In other cases, the fundamental theoretical knowledge of the methods is fairly good, whereas the practical experience is inadequate as a basis for deciding to try them out on a large scale

Keywords

vegetationsbekämpning på banvallar

Published in

Rapport (Sveriges lantbruksuniversitet, Institutionen för landskaps- och trädgårdsteknik)
2004, number: 2004:5
Publisher: Institutionen för landskaps- och trädgårdsteknik

SLU Authors

• Björkholm, Anna-Mia

  • Department of Landscape Management and Horticultural Technology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

• Hansson, David

  • Department of Biosystems and Technology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

• Huisman, Mark

  • Department of Landscape Management and Horticultural Technology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

• Lundh, Jan-Erik

  • Department of Energy and Technology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

UKÄ Subject classification

Environmental Sciences related to Agriculture and Land-use


Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/3797