Beavers who shut down train traffic without a trace: ‘They are well hidden’ | Inland

“Because of all the work and attention they have hidden well. The situation around the railway will be closely monitored in the coming period. Beavers are home-steady, so it may well be that they will soon be spotted along the track again,” says Nick Kouwenhoven of ProRail.

Ultimately, it is the intention that the insects are caught and released elsewhere, says Kouwenhoven. Beavers are a threat to the railways, because their digging can endanger train traffic. For example, the beaver burrows can cause subsidence of the track and there is a risk of falling trees. On Saturday morning, the trains were running as scheduled again.

The beaver corridor had already partially collapsed. The corridor was discovered after an ecologist pointed out that there is a beaver castle near the Taarlo. That happened on Wednesday during a beaver symposium in Ravenstein (North Brabant). ProRail is looking for solutions to protect some seven thousand kilometers of track in the Netherlands against beavers, for example by using wire mesh in the ground to prevent animals from digging tunnels in the embankments. “We see the beaver more often. Beavers are particularly threatening to the track, as they dig large burrows from the water. The burrows are very difficult to find, but in the worst cases can lead to sudden subsidence of the orbital body and derailment. In addition, there is the risk of falling trees due to gnawing and an increase in the water level, which in turn can lead to runway instability.”

Protected animal

The beaver is a protected species and the population has been growing since its reintroduction in 1988. There are now about 3500 beavers in the Netherlands. This is good for nature, but the animal also causes a lot of damage to, for example, dikes and therefore also railways.

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