Sutherland farmer slams Network Rail over stock deaths on far north line
ANOTHER Sutherland farmer has slammed Network Rail over the dilapidated state of fences and dykes bordering the Inverness to Wick railway line.
Michael Dudgeon (65) Crakaig Farm, said he was upset and fed-up at the number of his stock being mowed down by trains after wandering through the broken down barriers and onto the line.
He lost two cattle four years ago and four pure-bred tup lambs more recently.
He has waged a 15-year battle without success to try to get the company to replace the 100-year-old fencing and dykes separating his land from the rail track.
Mr Dudgeon said: “It isn’t just about the loss of the animals. It is the pain and suffering they go through if they are injured rather than killed outright.”
He is the second Sutherland farmer in the space of four months to publicly criticise Network Rail over its maintenance policy. The company owns all of Britain’s rail infrastructure, including tracks, signals, tunnels and level crossings.
In April, Fearn farmer John Scott, who leases a strip of land at West Garty, between Brora and Helmsdale, revealed he had lost 24 Cheviot ewes and two four-year-old Luing cows in calf on the rail line.
Mr Scott also voiced concerns that the safety of passengers was being put at risk.
And in 2014 Caithness farmer Robert Coghill, Clayock, called Network Rail’s maintenance policy “a shambles” after the failure of his repeated requests to have repairs carried out on a 250-metre section of fencing at Clayock which borders the track.
Mr Dudgeon has a 4000 acre holding at Crackaig and runs a 1000-strong sheep flock and 20 cattle. He also operates a popular seaside caravan and camping site.
The rail line runs through a two-mile stretch of his land with the sea on one side and the A9 on the other. On the shore side, Mr Dudgeon has 140 acres of links ground and on the road side 220 arable acres. The farm access to either side is by an underpass.
He said: “We’ve been complaining to the rail authority for at least 15 years that both sides of the line are not stock proof.
“The dykes have got holes in them and have collapsed completely at some points. A tree fell on top of a section of dyke years ago. It has never been removed and sheep can walk straight up the trunk and onto the track.
“The fences must be at least 100 years old. Network Rail have attempted some temporary repairs using bits of plastic and rylock but it is still not adequate.”
Mr Dudgeon said he was prohibited from carrying out any repairs himself and faced a £1000 fine if he or any farm workers ventured onto the line to retrieve stock.
He continued: “We call an emergency ScotRail (train operator) number in Glasgow at least once a week to report that there are sheep on the line.
“They give me a log-in number every time I phone and I now have a book full of log-in numbers.
According to Mr Dudgeon, ScotRail will not call out its local squad of workers to clear the line unless more than six sheep are reported to be on it.
He said: “ScotRail is keen to keep to a timetable and if there are less than six sheep on the line, they refuse to slow down the trains. Drivers are just instructed to toot in order to get the animals off the line.
“ScotRail will not slow down trains for cattle either, although it will if a horse is reported on the line.”
Mr Dudgeon said he is still battling for £6000 compensation for the four tup lambs he lost in 2012, although he was compensated for the two cattle killed in 2011.
He said: “ScotRail will not compensate for lost lambs and will only pay market value for ewes. We have been fighting to be compensated for the lambs which the lost ewes would have had over a five year period.”
He is also angry that Network Rail has apparently erected a four-mile stretch of new fencing at Glen Loth and also fencing at Altnaharra where he claims there is no problem with farm stock straying onto the line.
He said: “That is what annoys me more than anything else. There just seems to be some guy in an office in Glasgow who decides where new fencing should be erected by sticking a pin in a map.”
Mr Dudgeon said the situation was so bad that he had now decided that the ground beside the railway line could no longer be used for grazing stock.
“I can no longer use 140 acres which has lovely grass on it because it is simply too dangerous to graze stock there,” he said.
Network Rail was asked to comment but had not not responded by the time the Northern Times went to Press yesterday.
But a spokesman for the company said in April this year: “We have more than 2500 miles of line-side to inspect and maintain across Scotland and we dedicate significant resources to fencing referrals each year.
“We’re currently putting plans in place to upgrade fencing on the far north line around Helmsdale and expect those works to take place this summer.”
