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Possibility of overhead power line arcing to nearby tree and electricuting the old folk!
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Posted By L.Hayes
Garden in sheltered accommodation was taken out of commission earlier this year by a consultant as it was viewed that the tree was too near the overhead power-lines. Garden backs onto mainline rail tracks into London which will need to be closed to remove the tree.
Consultant only gave verbal instruction and has since moved on. Monkey is now firmly attached to the new girls back!
I'm going to view it tomorrow,
Can anyone recommend any good sites that I can use for reference, or has dealt with this issue themselves?
Thanks in advance........
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Posted By Adrian Clifton Take a look at www.eon-uk.com/about/863.aspx and then ring them for further advice/help on minimum clearances as I believe it may vary according to the voltage in the cables. Adrian
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Posted By Ron Hunter Try the helpline at the bottom of this link page? http://www.networkrail.co.uk/aspx/1034.aspxNetwork Rail have full-time arboriculturists. If, in truth, the overhead line is a problem for you, then equally, the tree should perhaps be of concern to them?
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Posted By holmezy
Hi All,
looking for a bit of education here,,,,,I'm certainly not an expert in Hi voltage electrics but am struggling to get my head round the scenario described. I accept that trees are a hazard to the continued operation of the railway, when they are too close to power lines and may cause lines to be damaged, dragged down, branches fall onto lines etc but I'm not comfortable with the thought of the electrcity arcing over to the tree, the tree then conducting electricity into the graden, then the electricity presumably arcing to a person. Just doesnt seem right to me. Surely the tree is earthed and is a poor conductor? Is it realy a significant risk? If so we'd better start cutting down trees all over the place!
Please educate me?
All togged up with suitable PPE, fully trained and have chainsaw at the ready.... just let me at them!!
Might have some fire wood for sale!
Holmezy
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Posted By L.Hayes
Hi all,
Thanks for your comments. After visiting the unit today I have more than the trees to contend with! They rest on the main railway overhead girders and power cables (voltage unknown) to the extent that you cannot see all of theframe work as it is buried in branches. The trunks are black in places that look to my eye as burnt - I can't imagine one of my old dears trying to etch thier name with a cigarrette butt so I can only assume the worst!
I appreciate the comment on cutting down all the trees and putting them in a tree museum ( to plagerise a good tune). I tend to adopt the would I be happy to let me Nan live here approach and on ths occassion the answer is no until we sort out a few things.
thank again
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Posted By Tabs
A call to the train operator / line operator will see a quick response. They are very touchy about these things just now I would guess...
Sadly, thousands of commuters (if it is a commuter line) will be mouthing nasty curses to whoever places the call LOL.
(Hope it's not my line ... oh dear ...)
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Posted By G M
The main concerns with branches in proximity to overhead lines is that someone will climb the tree and touch the conductor (line) or that the tree will come down and bring the line with it.
The heat of the conductor stops the branch physically touching it and is probably what has caused the apparent blackening.
As per the previous post, if you notify the rail operator they should sort it out. They have the legal responsibility if someone touches the line, or the hassle if the line gets pulled down.
They will either take the tree down, or cut it back, usually they aim to cut back far enough so that after around five years growth the branches are still outwith the clearance zone from the conductor. The exact amount depends on the tree (i.e. rate of growth).
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Posted By David A Cooper
How can this happen. I thought, from reading reports into Grayrigg, that there should be regular patrols on the railway line.
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Posted By TBC
In France the power company(EDF) come around every year and trim any trees they guess might be too close to touching the lines for domestic use and it's free of charge. I would imagine that the railways would do a similar operation in the UK to safeguard the supply and keep the trains running.
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Posted By G M
Ideally they will inspect all the lines, if not every year certaianly every couple of years. The problem is that a power company can have over 100,000 km of line to look after (I doubt rail companies have all that much less). Factor in the growth rate of some species of trees, say 15 feet a year or so, and you can see how the odd tree or two can be missed!
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Possibility of overhead power line arcing to nearby tree and electricuting the old folk!
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