Trains and Reindeer Don’t Mix..

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Written by Philip Burgess

Friday, 29 January 2010 16:57

Ask reindeer herders in certain parts of Norway and they will tell you that trains and reindeer do not mix. In the Norwegian media, there have been a series of stories about a series of deadly interactions between reindeer. A total of 1877 reindeer were run over by train in 2008 in Norway, despite the goals [...]

Several measures have been evaluated to reduce the number of collisions, including fences along the most vulnerable routes, GPS monitoring, clearing of forests along the railway lines, lining the side valleys, and the use of reflectors to keep animals away from railway lines.

In 2009 it was scheduled to build a fence on a four-kilometer stretch between Semska and Sørelva and the Salt Mountain, which has been the site of numerous reindeer deaths.

1877 animals were run over by train in 2008 in Norway.

Rail Administration’s goal to reduce the number of animal collisions so that the number of run over animals is a maximum of 1400 in 2009. The goal involves approximately 25 percent reduction over 2003.

Over the last ten years, 2876 elk were hit by trains along the Nordland Line.

In the same period have been recorded around 1500 deer collisions on Nordlandsbanen.

In 2009 it was scheduled to build a fence on a four-kilometer stretch between Semska and Sørelva the Salt Mountain.

Meanwhile, in the largest area of reindeer husbandry in the world, the most northerly railway in the world has just opened for business. Linking the vast gas fields of Bovanenkovo in the middle of the Yamal Peninsula to the Russian railway network, this railway has been under construction for many years and from an engineering standpoint is marvel as it is almost entirely built on permafrost and crosses several large rivers, including a 4 km long bridge across the Yuribey River floodplain. The bridge is the world’s longest above the Arctic Circle. The railroad will be used for transport of equipment and materials for the development of the gas field and for construction of the Bovanenkovo-Ukhta pipeline across the Baydaratskaya Bay a press release from Gazprom reads. The Ob-Bovanenkovo railroad is also planned to be used for transport of gas condensate from the fields on the Yamal Peninsula. For reindeer herders, the railway bisects the migration routes of several reindeer herding brigades.

Arctic railway lines are all the rage in northern Europe with feasibility reports being commissioned on extending railway routes in Norway and Finland to the Arctic Ocean.

Posted: 2010-01-29 15:57:24

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