RAILWAY EMBANKMENT BURROWING PREVENTION

The East West Rail Alliance (EWRA) is a large project which  plans to utilise the previously built and abandoned varsity   railway line to re-build an upgraded line that links Oxford   and Cambridge via Bicester, Milton Keynes and Bedford   avoiding London. 

The planned route covers an extensive distance consisting   of diverse environmental challenges. As you progress   through this countryside route, there is a variety of wildlife   including a large amount of Badgers. Badgers are fantastic   diggers and have many burrows at any given time. Occasionally badgers burrow underneath live rail   embankments which can lead to collapse and delays in the   line due to water ingress through the network of burrows   deep into the embankment. The solution was to use our   RenoMesh Mammal Anti-burrowing mesh.  

Maccaferri’s Anti-Burrowing Mesh has been proven to be a  strong rodent deterrent. Unlike any plastic grids or thin   rabbit nettings, Maccaferri’s mesh can prevent larger   rodents such as badgers and beavers from burrowing into   embankments, river banks and other surfaces. The mesh is   flexible woven ‘Double Twist’ mesh with a zinc-aluminium   heavy-duty galvanising coating. This mesh is additionally   coated with our advanced unique PoliMac® coating which is   far more resistant to UV, abrasion, and offers a longer   design life than traditional meshes. Maccaferri provided a   total of 17,500m2 of the badger netting across the site. 

Anti-burrowing mesh or more commonly known as Badger   netting is a slope protection system to prevent slope   deterioration from burrowing animals. Over the years   Maccaferri have completed numerous studies with   institutions that compared various anti-burrowing mesh   interventions. Our RenoMesh Anti-Burrowing Mesh is the   result of that research and provides environmentally friendly   active protection against large rodents. Its mesh apertures   were selected also to limit juvenile burrowing mammals. 

Roll sizes of 4m x 25m mean large areas can quickly be   covered with minimal jointing, speeding up installation time   and limiting working time adjacent to the railway.