Control of invasive plants in railway tracks

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Control of invasive plants and maintenance of greenery in railway tracks is a practice applied all over the world in order to:

Ensure safety of railway operations;
Ensure visibility of signals;
Reduce the risk of railway line interruption due to accidental fall of plants;
Ensure the railway staff a better use of the working areas and inspection zones;
Reduce maintenance costs of the infrastructures and their safeguarding and durability over time.
Reduce the risk of fire;
Maintain high-end aesthetics to railway environment

TECHNIQUES FOR THE CONTROL OF INVASIVE PLANTS

Techniques applied to the control of invasive plants are essentially divided into two methods, used both in railway and extra agricultural areas:

PHYSICAL METHODS

Manual ground clearance and mowing

Processing technique carried out with equipment and machinery given to our highly specialized staff. The manual ground clearance and mowing activities are required in those areas where mechanical self-propelled means used and dedicated to vegetation cutting cannot and must not be used for technical and/or operational reasons.

Mechanical ground clearance and mowing

Specific mechanical self-propelled means are used for this area of activity. Particularly, Soradis S.I.A. S.r.l. uses railway self-propelled works trucks with telescopic booms and flail mowers which ensure the activity along the railway line, along the trenches and embankments. In the railway sector, specific tractors and work equipment with road/rail system are used, allowing to work on rail tracks and roads, equipped with telescopic booms and flail mowers. In the other areas of activity, Soradis S.I.A. uses tractors equipped with side arms, self-propelled equipment with remote control and self-propelled equipment with traditional driving.

Felling & Pruning of Trees

Felling and Pruning of tall trees in rail or road traffic areas and in archeological or strategic areas require specific techniques called “Controlled felling of trees”. Soradis S.I.A. S.r.l. first makes an agronomic-phytosanitary recognition and tree stability assessment of the tree essences and then identifies, together with the client, the trees that present degraded health conditions, are unstable or dangerous in case of fall that could be risky for rail or road traffic and for people that frequent the intervention area. Felling and pruning in these areas are carried out with the “tree climbing” method. Soradis S.I.A. S.r.l. carries out this methodology with its highly qualified and authorized staff. Soradis S.I.A. S.r.l. has its own equipment that allows to work at height in compliance with the national safety at work regulations.

CHEMICAL METHODS

It is a complex practice which requires specific knowledge: the knowledge of the formulated products and the active principles which are used, the applicable regulations, the application procedures and related regulations.

In Soradis S.I.A. S.r.l. the staff has a highly professional profile and a long experience in the field. The Technical Management, the team leaders and the operators have all acquired the experience and professionality that guarantee the best result in terms of impact on the ecosystem.

All our staff continuously receives training and refresher courses in which they consult with scientific representatives from multinational companies of the agropharma sector and with professional experts in the application procedures and regulations.

Soradis S.I.A. S.r.l. is provided with specific railway equipment such as weed killing trains and road/rail means of transport with extemporary water/product self-mixing system and spreading of the resulting mixture; these means have a dedicated technology for the collection and control of data related to doses, quantity and place where to spread the weed killer mixture.

Soradis S.I.A. S.r.l. also uses dedicated equipment and formulated products in other areas such as roads, ditches, canals, archeologic and military areas.

Chemical weeding is subdivided into:

Total Chemical Weeding

This process is used for all the essences, both herbaceous and shrubby, and arboreal in specific areas. Soradis S.I.A. S.r.l. makes use of appropriate formulations once having identified the weeds that have to be eliminated. The company uses formulations that guarantee the elimination of weeds in particular areas and controls their quantity and growth over time. Such activity is carried out in most of the rail lines, roads, ditches and canals. Total chemical weeding allows considerable savings compared to mechanical ground clearance and mowing. It reduces the annual cutting activities and guarantees the perfect usability of the treated area at any time. The equipment is the same as the one described in chemical methods.
Selective Chemical Weeding

This technique uses selective formulations which control and devitalize only specific weeds, safeguarding and protecting autochthonous and useful small size essences. We use selective formulations particularly effective against unwanted essences such as broad leaf weeds, annuals and perennials, allergic weeds like: Pellitory, Ambrosia, Euphorbiaceae, Graminaceae, etc..For this particular technique, aimed at the partial removal of specific weeds, it is essential to have the agronomic knowledge of the target plants and the best active principles to be used. Soradis S.I.A. S.r.l. uses its own professional resources and the best equipment to guarantee the expected result.