Chapter 15
Railway Ecology—Experiences
and Examples in the Czech Republic
Z. Keken and T. Kušta
Abstract The range of direct and indirect effects of railway transport on animals,
plants, ecological processes and the actual ecosystems vary considerably. Railway
transport operations and infrastructure building lead to environmental pollution,
loss or conversion of habitats, landscape fragmentation and, last but not least, to
animal mortality caused by collisions with passing trains. The impact of railways is
determined by the nature of railway infrastructure, which is not as significant in the
Czech Republic as road infrastructure, yet it is one of the densest in Europe. An
important feature is relatively low electrification (about 33% of the lines) and the
length of multi-track lines (about 20%). In the coming years, we can expect massive
investments in revitalization, optimization and modernization of the railways in the
Czech Republic, and eventually their electrification. To connect the crucial
trans-European lines and all regions it will be necessary to complete the basic
network of high-speed railways. Based on these facts we can say that the significance of railway ecology in the Czech Republic will grow with the amount of
investment activities implemented in the railway network. In the past, similar
development took place with road infrastructure, and therefore there is an opportunity to learn from it. To mitigate the direct effects of railways on wildlife, on the
basis of previous experience in the Czech Republic we recommend working primarily with management measures. These are both in terms of wildlife management
and the management of habitats in the area of transport infrastructure.
Keywords Habitat fragmentation Á Train accident Á Traffic mortality Á
Wildlife-train collision Á Wildlife-vehicle collision
Z. Keken (&)
Department of Applied Ecology, Faculty of Environmental Sciences, Czech University of
Life Sciences Prague, Kamýcká 129, 165 21 Praha 6, Suchdol, Czech Republic
e-mail: keken@knc.czu.cz
T. Kušta
Department of Game Management and Wildlife Biology, Faculty of Forestry and Wood
Sciences, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Kamýcká 129, 165 21 Praha 6, Suchdol,
Czech Republic
© The Author(s) 2017
L. Borda-de-Água et al. (eds.), Railway Ecology,
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-57496-7_15
247
Railway Ecology—Experiences
and Examples in the Czech Republic
Z. Keken and T. Kušta
Abstract The range of direct and indirect effects of railway transport on animals,
plants, ecological processes and the actual ecosystems vary considerably. Railway
transport operations and infrastructure building lead to environmental pollution,
loss or conversion of habitats, landscape fragmentation and, last but not least, to
animal mortality caused by collisions with passing trains. The impact of railways is
determined by the nature of railway infrastructure, which is not as significant in the
Czech Republic as road infrastructure, yet it is one of the densest in Europe. An
important feature is relatively low electrification (about 33% of the lines) and the
length of multi-track lines (about 20%). In the coming years, we can expect massive
investments in revitalization, optimization and modernization of the railways in the
Czech Republic, and eventually their electrification. To connect the crucial
trans-European lines and all regions it will be necessary to complete the basic
network of high-speed railways. Based on these facts we can say that the significance of railway ecology in the Czech Republic will grow with the amount of
investment activities implemented in the railway network. In the past, similar
development took place with road infrastructure, and therefore there is an opportunity to learn from it. To mitigate the direct effects of railways on wildlife, on the
basis of previous experience in the Czech Republic we recommend working primarily with management measures. These are both in terms of wildlife management
and the management of habitats in the area of transport infrastructure.
Keywords Habitat fragmentation Á Train accident Á Traffic mortality Á
Wildlife-train collision Á Wildlife-vehicle collision
Z. Keken (&)
Department of Applied Ecology, Faculty of Environmental Sciences, Czech University of
Life Sciences Prague, Kamýcká 129, 165 21 Praha 6, Suchdol, Czech Republic
e-mail: keken@knc.czu.cz
T. Kušta
Department of Game Management and Wildlife Biology, Faculty of Forestry and Wood
Sciences, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Kamýcká 129, 165 21 Praha 6, Suchdol,
Czech Republic
© The Author(s) 2017
L. Borda-de-Água et al. (eds.), Railway Ecology,
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-57496-7_15
247