Adif is investing approximately 6.2 million euros in track-side vegetation control using herbicide-spraying railcars that identify existing vegetation and, based on the data collected, apply a targeted treatment, thereby conserving pesticides and water.
This technology is used to conduct a real-time environmental assessment based on a vegetation map of the area. This helps limit the spread of the herbicide into the environment, thereby preventing its impact on aquifers, crops, and particularly sensitive areas. Another key objective of this treatment is prevent fires forest fires that may occur in the vicinity of the infrastructure.
Typically, the maintenance train consists of railcars that were previously used for other purposes and have been refurbished to operate under full operating conditions. This train may consist of one or more herbicide cars as well as one or more tank cars. However, it most commonly consists of three herbicide cars, three tank cars, one laboratory car, one living quarters car, and one storage car.
Since April 6, this spray train has been operating on the tracks of the Spanish Railway Infrastructure Administrator (Adif), traveling on both high-speed and conventional lines. Another advantage of this type of rolling stock is that it can adapt to different track gauges: Iberian, international, and metric.
