Herbie - State of the Art Report of Weed Control and Management for Railways (Part A-B-C) (including Guidelines and Integrated Assessment)

Within the framework of the Herbie project, a detailed survey on the state of the art of vegetation control and management of European Railways has been performed in 2017. The survey is more detailed and has a better coverage than the first survey performed in 2012. The feedback to the Herbie survey was very good: 15 European railway companies have sent detailed filled out questionnaires.

The main objectives of the Herbie project and this report are to

• Present the current state of the art of vegetation control and management at European railway companies (Part A)
• Provide up-to date guidelines for vegetation control and management of railways (Part B)
• Assess a wide range of current and upcoming methods for vegetation control with regard to technical, economic, environmental and social performance; Identify the most promising upcoming and future methods for integrated vegetation control (Part C),
• Provide an outlook on the future perspectives of chemical and non- chemical methods of weed control for railways and define the outline of a roadmap for this important area (Part C)