Esch is one of the forty locations in the Netherlands where badgers live near the railway. Sandy railway embankments in quiet rural areas are certainly an attraction for these animals. ProRail tries to lure them away with various measures, but it is difficult.
What is going on?
Like the mole, the badger mainly lives underground. They only become active at night. The badgers dig long tunnels underground, also called badger pipes. Together, all those pipes form a castle. There is nothing wrong with such a castle in nature, but on the railway it can cause everything to collapse and the rails to sag. Then the train can derail.
In Friesland, train traffic is also hampered by badgers, as is the case between Boxtel and Den Bosch. Does this happen often?
According to Das and Boom, it is a coincidence that there are two incidents in a short time. It has been years since train traffic came to a standstill because of the badger. However, ProRail already knew that badgers lived in both places. However, intervention is very difficult due to strict legislation. The badger has a protected status.
What does that mean?
Badgers have been protected by law since 2017, so they must not be disturbed and their habitat must not be affected. ProRail has need a waiver of the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO) before the badgers can be moved. In order to obtain this exemption, the interests of ProRail (passenger transport and freight transport) and the importance of the badger must be substantiated in detail. There must be a plan that takes everything into account. Making such a plan takes a lot of time, because it also has to be substantiated with field observations that have been made over months, if not years. This is specialist work for which ProRail deploys experts from ecological consultancy firms.
How does ProRail discourage the arrival of badgers?
The fewer bushes, the fewer badgers. They then lack shelter, which reduces the chance that they will dig a castle. If there are digging activities by badgers, ProRail is not allowed to simply remove bushes. However, if there are no animals, the escape pipes may be filled with sand. There are also badger grids that the animals cannot dig under. However, placing those grids everywhere is a costly operation.
An art castle is being built in Friesland, what is that?
That is a mountain of land near the original castle with corridors (pipes) and badger rooms where the animals can dig without any problems. Sometimes an artificial castle is already provided with shrubs to make the new house as attractive as possible. In any case, there must always be an alternative residential location before the badger can be removed from its current burrow.
Can’t those badgers just be shot?
First of all, that is not allowed, because they are protected animals. But according to the Das en Boom Foundation, shooting them doesn’t make sense either. Through long-term traces of scent, new badgers will eventually enter the area and reoccupy the territories that have become vacant. Badger populations are naturally stable; open spaces are filled again.
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