Badger damage repaired: Trains between Eindhoven & Den Bosch begin again tomorrow
Train traffic between Boxtel and Den Bosch is set to resume on Wednesday, said railroad infrastructure firm ProRail. The section of rail has been shut down for a week after the discovery of an extensive badger den underneath the tracks in Esch. While passenger trains will start running again on Wednesday morning, freight trains should be able to operate on the route the night before.
"The badgers have moved and the track has been restored," ProRail said in a statement released on Tuesday. Another den was also found along the same route in Vught. Repairs needed because of the damage caused by that den, also known as a sett, will be completed on Tuesday. Some of the burrowing in Vught was also carried out by beavers. Both animals are protected species in the Netherlands.
Shutting down that section of railroad meant there were no direct trains connecting Eindhoven and Den Bosch. Passengers traveling between the two Noord-Brabant cities had limited options to re-route via Tilburg, or to use a replacement bus service instead. The closure also cut down on accessibility between Eindhoven and Utrecht, and thus also to Amsterdam. Passengers traveling to Schiphol from Eindhoven could connect via Leiden as an alternative.
Workers and ecologists did not encounter any protected animals when examining the sett and handling repairs in Esch and Vught, ProRail said. "We can assume that they now live in a different place. On closer inspection in Vught, we saw that some of the corridors there had not been dug by the badger, but by the beaver."
Because the animals are protected, a more cautious and patient approach was required to repair the issues. Once given permission to tackle the problem, one-way gates were installed so that the animals could not return after leaving the den. In Esch, workers found that the sett contained 25 different corridors, ProRail told the Volkskrant this week.
"We are currently completing the work. For example, we are installing anti-digging mesh to prevent the badger from returning," ProRail continued in their statement on Tuesday. They will then strengthen up the trackbed by compressing down the ballast. The tracks were expected to be opened back up later in the day.
ProRail started the repairs in Esch on Friday after getting a go-ahead from the Netherlands Enterprise Agency. That was a necessary step to deal with any protected species found along the railroad. Additionally, workers could only do their job on the track during daylight hours, because badgers are nocturnal.
Rail traffic through Molkwerum in Friesland was also stopped because of burrowing badgers. The damage there is believed to be much more extensive, and requires weeks of repair work. ProRail began work to move the badgers away from the track, including the construction of an artificial sett, and expects to begin repair work at the beginning of next week. Train traffic there could begin on the Leeuwarden-Stavoren route by April 24.
