Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether her Department has had recent discussions with Network Rail on the potential merits of (a) reducing and (b) eliminating the use of glyphosate herbicides on railway property.

Network Rail uses glyphosate to control the growth of vegetation in places where it may cause problems for trains or colleagues working alongside the track. This helps to maintain the safe operation of the railway and avoid key parts of the railway being covered by vegetation. Network Rail has been reducing the amount of chemicals it uses on the network over the last couple of decades. Applications are targeted at the plants to ensure that the volume used is as low as possible. There is not currently a chemical alternative to glyphosate that gives Network Rail the same control of vegetation. Non-chemical approaches are available and used by Network Rail in other locations, but they are not viable for use on the operational railway.