Network Rail Scotland attended the 200th Royal Highland Show from 23rd to 25th June 2022.
The show at Ingliston near Edinburgh offered an opportunity to engage with our lineside neighbours and stakeholders and to explain the challenges and risks that they can inadvertently import onto the railway. It was also a chance to share the fantastic work that we are doing to protect and encourage sustainable diversity of our lineside environment.
The Royal Highland Show also gave us a chance to speak to elected members and key stakeholder groups who were also in attendance and Rachel Louise Long, Regional Asset Manager for lineside and drainage, spoke at Thursday’s Scottish Land & Estates(SLE) Members' Reception sponsored by Network Rail.
Rachel highlighted to SLE’s members several reasons how they may come into contact with the railway or why the railway may contact them. She also spoke about the growing threat of ash dieback, boundary repairs and renewals, animal incursions and the problems associated with climate change.
The Show afforded the opportunity to engage with the public, informing them of our tree and vegetation management work, our favourite ecology stories and what we are doing to promote sustainability.
It was also great to speak to a host of elected members to inform them about our work including MSPs Willie Rennie, Douglas Ross, Rachael Hamilton, Miles Briggs and Finlay Carson.
Alan Ross, Director of Engineering and Asset Management said:
“Attending the Show was a fantastic opportunity to engage with our wider lineside stakeholders and neighbours and to share with them the challenges and risks that we must collectively manage.
“We received a very positive response from the many hundreds of people who stopped to talk to us and this opportunity to reach a far greater audience has been enabled by being a member of Scottish Land and Estates and our relationship with them continues to go from strength to strength.”