The Metro Trains Melbourne consortium is valuing the biosites that exist around its rail corridors and is taking a proactive role in supporting the success of these areas.
The Metro Trains Melbourne (MTM) consortium made up of MTR Corporation, John Holland and UGL is taking its role seriously when it comes to the management of biosites and the protection of the native flora and fauna.
The land next to Metro’s hundreds of kilometres of train tracks is teeming with life, ranging from the smallest of insects to significant plants and animals.
Some of the endangered species that call Metro’s biosites home include the Southern Brown Bandicoot, Golden Sun Moth, Growling Grass Frog, Spiny Rice-flower, Tall Leek-orchid, Button Wrinklewort and Matted Flax-lily.
Metro Trains’ Biodiversity Manager Ben Roberts touched on the importance of caring for these sites.
“Metro is custodian of these significant pockets of biodiversity across our network,” Roberts said. “By protecting and managing these sites, we continue to preserve these important areas for our community and future generations. “
Metro’s specialist Biodiversity team manages 49 biosites across the metropolitan network, home to many rare and threatened flora, fauna, and plant communities.
Metro Trains Melbourne chairman and MTR Australia Chief Executive Officer Raymond Yuen praised the work being done.
“We are incredibly proud of our Biodiversity team, whose knowledge and expertise are paving the way for other organisations around Australia,” he said.
Metro Trains Chief Executive Officer Raymond O’Flaherty is responsible for running Melbourne’s expansive city network, but understands the importance of caring for the areas around the track. He said sustainability is a big focus for Metro.
Metro’s rail reserves provide uninterrupted pathways for native vegetation to thrive and for endangered animals to travel between other habitats across Melbourne, such as adjoining nature reserves and waterways.
“Our Biodiversity team is helping to protect threatened plants and wildlife across metropolitan Melbourne, with our biosites reporting a 314 per cent increase in the abundance of threatened plant species since 2018,” O’Flaherty said..
Metro undertakes up to 10 ecological burns every autumn to help restore and protect these biosites and their inhabitants from threats such as invasive species. These types of burns help maintain a balance of plant diversity and animal habitat and provide an opportunity to control invasive weeds.
Ecological burns occur in Metro’s grassland and grassy woodland biosites on the Sunbury, Craigieburn, Pakenham and Stony Point lines using the best practice program of mosaic burning. Metro conducts most of its burns on the Sunbury line, where some of the best remaining native grasslands occur.
Mosaic burns are planned low-intensity fires that vary in scale within a broader landscape to create patches (a mosaic) of burnt and unburnt areas that change over time.
This pattern provides a refuge area for animals during the burns and to ensure they have somewhere to live until new plants grow.
The Metro burning program’s primary objective is improving or maintaining the ecological condition of the grassland and grassy woodland biosites.
The program also has the added advantage of efficiently managing grass fire risk within the rail reserve.
“Ecological burns help to maintain a balance of plant diversity and animal habitat as well as providing an opportunity to control threats such as invasive weeds,” said Roberts.
“They are essential to improving and maintaining the condition of grassland and grassy woodland ecosystems.”
He said that as Melbourne increasingly urbanises and spreads into new biodiverse areas, these programs will become even more critical for Metro.
“Many of the Metro biosites are located in the outer parts of the Metro network,” Roberts said.
“These sites were typically interfaced with rural or semi-rural properties. However, most of these areas have been developed into residential or industrial estates, particularly since the Metro franchise commenced operating in 2017.
“The increased rate of urbanisation on the outskirts of Melbourne has put pressure on some of the last remaining areas of biodiversity within these outer growth areas. The continuation of the ecological burning program is essential for maintaining the condition of these significant biodiversity areas within the Metro network.”
Preparing a robust Biodiversity Management Plan at the commencement of the program has been a key reason for the biosite program’s success. The management plan sets out information on the baseline condition of each of the biosites and outlines clear targets and objectives for each site so that performance can be measured at a site and program level.
Roberts explained that at the start of the Metro Franchise, the organisation worked with experienced ecologists to develop a Biodiversity Management Plan.
“That plan sought to provide expert and detailed guidance for the ongoing management and monitoring of the biosites across the Metro network,” he said. “We continue to prepare site-based management plans as new biosites are identified and established.”
Roberts believes having several expert ecological restoration contractors on hand is vital for developing and delivering the biosite management program.
“We also participate in several threatened species recovery groups for which the Metro rail corridors provide important habitat,” he said. “We’ve built strong relationships with research ecologists from the University of Melbourne and La Trobe University. They provide ongoing technical support and advice. One strength is their collective knowledge around native grassland management and restoration.”
This research includes a recent two-year partnership with the University of Melbourne. The project will test the effectiveness of native grassland direct seeding methods to restore native grasslands in an operating rail environment.
The ecological burns and recovery groups form just part of Metro’s efforts to improve biodiversity around train lines and stations within its network. Metro has seen a significant increase in the number of biosites it manages, from 30 to 49.
“Metro has recently engaged an expert urban and transport ecologist to undertake a biodiversity connectivity opportunity study,” Roberts said. “The goal is to identify priority locations where small interventions could be implemented to improve biodiversity connectivity across the greater Melbourne landscape.”
It is well noted the essential function that rural and urban rail networks fulfil in facilitating biodiversity connectivity across the landscape. It is also accepted that transport networks can act as a barrier to biodiversity movement.
Roberts said Metro is interested in understanding priority actions that could be taken to maintain or improve biodiversity movement across the landscape in which it operates.
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