You have probably seen them in the overhead wires above the railway somewhere in the Netherlands, stork nests. With spring just around the corner, we'll be seeing this again in many places soon. It is of course wonderful to see how a pair of storks start a family in such a large round nest on the overhead wires of the trains. But is this really as beautiful and fun as we think? ProRail clearly thinks differently about this, because it is not without danger and there are all kinds of risks associated with it. Such a large nest is largely made of branches and easily weighs hundreds of kilos.
This can create safety risks on and around the track. Branches can fall from the nests in the overhead wires. Those branches can cause damage to overhead wires, these branches can also fall into track switches or fall on passing trains. This then causes malfunctions to the points and if there is damage to the overhead wires, it must be repaired again. Not to mention what kind of damage is caused to trains if branches from the nest end up on the train.
All this causes extra work for ProRail. The storks themselves are also at risk, there are many more collisions with storks in the vicinity where there are nests. The storks can also easily be electrocuted because there is 1500 volts on the overhead wires. And with 1500 volts on the overhead wires, the nests can easily catch fire, causing considerable damage to the overhead wires. Ultimately, these repairs or malfunctions cause delays on the track.
Because storks are a protected species, ProRail is not allowed to remove the nests just like that, they need an exemption for this and the nests may only be removed when they are completely empty. Also must PRORAIL provide replacement nests for the storks. Storks are lured to other locations with sufficient distance from the track by placing nesting posts and topping trees around the track. Attracting storks to another location is a tedious process because they are quite homey.
Photo above and below: Ronald Wilfred Jansen / Shutterstock.com
