“I was shocked,” says a resident of Leemkuijlen in Geldrop who could not believe her eyes. Rail infrastructure manager ProRail has ‘suddenly’ cut down almost all the trees and bushes next to a section of the track. The neighbourhood is upset, because the greenery was actually obscuring the view of the speeding trains.
Tanja Weijers doesn’t understand it at all. And with her a number of concerned residents who also come to take a look. “To our great surprise and anger, ProRail has started a clear-cutting”, says the resident.
Since Tuesday morning she has been sitting on a chair, ‘guarding’ a piece of greenery that is still on the list to be tackled. “They have simply completely cleared it. Bush by bush, the entire side is simply gone down to the ground. And there are also trees that have been half cut down.”
Bare
At the edge of the footpath along the railway, the pruned branches and tree stumps are piled up in heaps. Ready to be removed. “It is completely bare now. The covering of the view of the railway has disappeared. And not unimportant: the biodiversity. There are many birds and squirrels here. They also have their habitat here. I understand if the trees pose a danger to the railway, but I don’t think that is the case here.”
Not the first time
The action of ProRail is remarkable. Thirteen years ago, almost the same thing happened at the same location in Geldrop. At that time, ProRail cut down several trees along the track. Two action committees protested at the time. Successfully: the felling was halted. At the time, agreements were made between ProRail, the municipality and local residents about a number of trees that would be allowed to remain. Some shrubs were only pruned. The railway manager also promised to fill in bare spots.
“Those topped shrubs would have been back to their original height after a year. Well, it took eight years for everything to grow back completely. It’s all gone now. I thought on Monday: here we go again. We fought so hard for this with the entire neighbourhood at the time. It makes you very sad when you see it like this. Now we can start all over again.”
Ditch
ProRail is responsible for the railway embankments and ditches. The railway manager stated in a response that maintenance is being carried out because the ditch next to the track is said to be overgrown. A culvert (pipe under the ground) is also said to be blocked. “Pruning work is necessary to be able to reach the ditch properly and to be able to carry out the work. The explicit intention is that only that which is necessary to be able to reach the railway ditch properly for maintenance is pruned.”
According to the rail manager, it was not necessary to announce the work in advance, since the cutting was done on ProRail land. The rail manager thinks differently about this in the second instance. “ProRail acknowledges that communication about the work, also in view of the history, should have taken place with the environment. Unfortunately, this did not happen.”
Shut down
The cutting and pruning activities were immediately halted on Tuesday morning after reports from the neighbourhood. The railway manager will now first investigate what agreements were made at the time. “These activities will only be resumed once it has been investigated what, but especially whether the pruning activities were not carried out according to agreements.”
Source: Studio040
For Eindhoven News: Lila Mehrez
