Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessments Network Rail carry out to classify a lineside tree as safety critical.

Network Rail’s lineside engineers and surveyors consider a range of factors as part of their routine assessment of lineside trees, and whether these are considered safety critical or not. In the last year, there were more than a thousand incidents where trees caused disruption to the network, which in some cases resulted in injuries among train drivers and members of the public. Factors include the condition of the trees themselves, any identifiable hazards to oncoming trains and the safety risks associated with leaves on the line. This is in accordance with Network Rail’s own standards for vegetation management, which is based on existing forestry and environmental legislation.