As biodiversity loss and land degradation intensify, the railway sector stands at a strategic crossroads. WWF’s Living Planet report shows a 69% decline in monitored wildlife populations since 1970 , while IPBES reports 32 million hectares of forest lost between 2010 and 2015 .
Article by:
Pınar Yılmazer, UIC Head of Sustainability Programme – yilmazer@uic.org
Lorenzo Franzoni, UIC Sustainability Advisor – franzoni@uic.org
Beyond being the most sustainable motorised transport mode, railways have vast potential to serve as catalysts for ecological regeneration. Thousands of kilometres of railway infrastructure can function as vital ecological corridors—reconnecting fragmented habitats, fostering biodiversity, and enabling large-scale conservation. To move from fragmented compliance toward long-term ecological value, the railway sector shall accelerate action in three critical areas:
1. Ecological Risk Mitigation: Proactive measures to prevent the wildlife/animal collisions, bird mortality, wildfire ignition, and habitat fragmentation.
2. Delivering Net Biodiversity Gain: With biodiversity targets embedded in regulations such as the EU Nature Restoration Law and the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), railways shall adopt standardised biodiversity indicators, ecosystem valuation approaches and tools, and impact-driven strategies that align with evolving regulatory frameworks.
3. Vegetation Management: Traditional vegetation control methods relying on harmful chemicals are longer viable. The sector must urgently transition to innovative, climate-resilient, nature-based solutions that integrate ecological assets, engineered structures, and digital systems across green, grey, and blue infrastructure. These integrated approaches enhance asset management, improve slope stability, control invasive species, reduce long-term costs, and promote multifunctional land use.
Take part in the survey: Railway-Animal Collision IENE Survey
Case Study on wildlife on the Line: From Risk to Resilience Wildlife–train collisions pose growing safety, operational, and ecological risks. Railways like SNCF Réseau are shifting from reactive responses to proactive, integrated strategies. When collisions occur, trains are inspected on- site, and rolling stock is now reinforced with modular parts and impact-resistant features to minimize downtime.
On the infrastructure side, fencing, wildlife passageways, acoustic deterrents, and innovations like Faun’Trap®, Sanglipass®, and Strail Grid® help prevent animals from entering tracks.
Emerging solutions include biomimetic sound systems to scare animals away before impact and drone monitoring to track wildlife movement. Collaboration with local stakeholders—like farmers and hunters—ensures tailored, landscape-specific actions.
International Partnership Driving Nature-Positive Railways
UIC has partnered with the Infrastructure and Ecology Network Europe (IENE), establishing a framework for long-term collaboration to embed ecological sustainability throughout linear infrasturucture development on railways. UIC plays an active role in Safer Railways for Wildlife (SR4W) Working Group, led by Andreas Seiler from Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU). SR4W is launching a global survey to gather insights from rail and ecology professionals. The goal: assess the scale of wildlife collisions, evaluate current monitoring practices, and identify effective, scalable solutions for railways.
Rethinking Railway Land: From Vegetation Control to Valuing Natural Capital
The UIC Sustainable Land Use Sector under the Sustainability Platform is transforming how the rail sector sees land, not just as a green space to maintain, but as nature to protect, restore, and value. Through a trio of groundbreaking projects, UIC is leading the shift to sustainable, biodiversity-positive railways:
• TRISTRAM (Transition Strategy on Vegetation Management) was the starting point, addressing the urgent need to shift away from harmful herbicides.
• REVERSE (Ecological Effects of Railways on Wildlife) went beyond vegetation control to examine the broader impact of railways on biodiversity. It delivered a comprehensive habitat management strategy, revealing how green and blue infrastructure can be integrated into linear assets such as tracks, power lines, and drainage systems, to transform traditional grey infrastructure into ecological corridors.
• Ecosystem Valuation for Railways (ECOV4R) represents the next leap forward. This flagship action is building a robust, audit-ready framework to identify, quantify, and value ecosystem services like carbon sequestration, flood mitigation, and pollination across newly designed and constructed railway lands.
From Field Practices to Ecosystem Valuation
As the rail sector shifts from compliance-driven mitigation to proactive restoration and climate resilience, ECOV4R is leading the charge. The project offers equips railway operators, planners, and decision-makers with a robust framework to systematically assess, quantify, and value the ecosystem services provided by railway land. Capturing both the benefits and pressures linked to infrastructure, ECOV4R places particular emphasis on the role of the ‘soft estate’—vegetated verges, embankments, and surrounding land—in delivering natural solutions such as carbon storage, flood mitigation, and biodiversity enhancement. ECOV4R is being piloted in two key locations :
• United Kingdom – Network Rail Cotswold Line: Testing nature-based interventions for flood risk reduction, biodiversity, and carbon benefits at a catchment scale. The pilot highlights how railway corridors can act as vital green infrastructure.
• Spain – ADIF High-Speed Line between Valladolid and León: The pilot applies ECOV4R retrospectively to a 16 km section of high-speed rail, evaluating the value of mitigation measures like afforestation and wetlands. It shows how the framework can strengthen traditional environmental impact assessments by capturing long- term ecosystem benefits.
By 2026, ECOV4R will deliver the first comprehensive guidance on ecosystem services tailored to the international rail sector. It will equip practitioners with a clear, consistent, and audit-ready framework to measure nature’s value across railway land, strengthening land management and justifying green/blue investment.
What’s next? Global Coordination Through UIC ACORN
ACORN—the Alliance for Connecting Railways & Restoring Nature—is UIC’s long-term initiative to mainstream nature-positive action across the global rail sector. ACORN takes a system-level approach that:
• Integrating Safety and Ecology: Wildlife-vehicle collisions are addressed as both operational risks and biodiversity challenges, enabling cross-disciplinary solutions that connect engineering with environmental stewardship.
• Driving Climate-Resilient Land Strategies: In partnership with the RERA network, ACORN promotes adaptive land strategies, such as innovative vegetation management and slope stabilisation, to mitigate the growing risks posed by extreme weather and climate change.
• Strengthening Regulatory Readiness: UIC helps members navigate and stay ahead of evolving legislation, including the CSRD, EU Nature Restoration Law, and international ISO standards, through alignment with institutions like CER and ERA.
• Advancing Harmonised Reporting: UIC empowers railways to report on biodiversity and sustainability performance more consistently and credibly across borders.
By uniting railways globally, ACORN strengthens biodiversity and ecological resilience at the heart of rail infrastructure for a sustainable future. (landuse@uic.org)
Photo credit: AdobeStock
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