What is contaminated land?

Contaminated land refers to land that has substances in, on, or under it, which could cause significant harm to people and protected species, or pollution to surface and groundwater.

Much of our land surrounding the railway has historically been used for things like freight storage and refuelling, which means there is a chance it is now contaminated. We may also have bought land which is contaminated or our tenants may have caused contamination, such as historic landfill sites.

Why is contaminated land important to Network Rail?

The nature of our work means that our operations can pose a high risk for the environment. If we do not manage our works appropriately on a designated contaminated land site, there is a risk we may open a contaminant pathway and cause harm to the environment and/or human health. It is also important that we manage our works appropriately to not create any new sites of contaminated land.

What is Network Rail’s approach to contaminated land?

When planning works, the designated person will need to check and determine whether the land for the proposed works is classified as contaminated. This assessment will determine what action we need to take and will take the form of a desktop review in the first instance. If the contamination is not moving or causing harm, we may not need to do anything, however we will need to ensure that our works are not going to open up a pathway for movement. We understand these risks by looking at pollution linkages through the Source-Pathway-Receptor Model (further details can be found on the NR/GN/ESD037 Contaminated Land Guidance Note).

Records of contaminated land are primarily available on Geo-RINM Viewer (Network Rail access only), but other potential sources should be consulted, including the local authority’s contaminated land registers. Where the reason for the contaminated land record is not given, tests may be necessary to determine what the land is contaminated with. We have contractors who can carry this out and, depending on the type and level of contamination found, we may need to make changes to budgets and timelines.

We have to take extra care with proposed works on contaminated land, as there could be associated risks to our employees, and the possibility that our intervention could cause the contamination to spread.  First we’d need to make sure we know what the land is contaminated with and what we can do to prevent the contamination spreading.  Without improving or fixing contamination on a site, the activities that we can undertake may be restricted.

We rely on good record keeping and need to have up-to-date information on our sites. If you have been working on contaminated land, you will need records for any close-out licences and consents at the end of the project.  Even if you have not carried out your planned work because you have identified contaminated land, make sure databases are updated with the new records.

Further information

• For further guidance on how to prevent causing contamination please see the
  Prevention of Pollution to Land and Water NR/L2/ENV/123 standard.
• You can find further information on contaminated land and undertaking contaminated land risk assessments in the ESD037 Guidance Note and the Contaminated Land Technical Manual on the Guidance notes page.

Can’t access the link to a Network Rail standard?

If you’re an external contractor, please use the supplier portal to access Network Rail Standards. If you do not have an account you can request this using the Network Rail Standards Account Request form.