AS biodiversity loss and land degradation intensify, the railway sector stands at a crossroads. The World Wide Fund for Nature’s (WWF) Living Planet report shows a 69% decline in monitored wildlife populations since 1970, while the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) reports 32 million hectares of forest was lost between 2010 and 2015.

Beyond being the most sustainable mode of motorised transport, railways have vast potential to serve as catalysts for ecological regeneration. Stretching across diverse landscapes, thousands of kilometres of railway infrastructure can function as vital ecological corridors - reconnecting fragmented habitats, fostering biodiversity, and enabling large-scale conservation.

To move from fragmented compliance towards long-term ecological value, the railway sector needs to accelerate action in three critical areas:

  • ecological risk mitigation: proactive measures to prevent collisions with animals and birds, wildfire ignition and habitat fragmentation are essential, not only for biodiversity, but also to ensure operational safety and infrastructure resilience
  • delivering biodiversity net gain: with biodiversity targets embedded in regulations such as the EU Nature Restoration Law and the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), railways need to adopt standardised biodiversity indicators, ecosystem valuation approaches and tools, and impact-driven strategies that align with evolving regulatory frameworks, and
  • vegetation management: traditional vegetation control methods relying on harmful chemicals are no longer viable. The sector must urgently transition to innovative, climate-resilient, nature-based solutions that integrate ecological assets, engineered structures, and digital systems across green, grey, and blue infrastructure. These integrated approaches enhance asset management, improve slope stability, control invasive species, reduce long-term costs, and promote multifunctional land use. Proactive action enables railways to shape practical policies instead of reacting to restrictive regulations.

UIC’s sustainable land use initiatives are transforming how the rail industry sees land, not just as a green space to maintain, but as nature to protect.

By embracing coordinated, forward-thinking action, the rail sector can lead a global movement toward biodiversity-positive infrastructure, transforming challenges into opportunities for innovation, resilience, and lasting environmental impact. Integrating biodiversity-positive strategies across the full infrastructure lifecycle, from planning and construction to operation and decommissioning, is no longer optional; it is imperative for the sector’s environmental, regulatory, and operational future.

To advance ecological sustainability across the rail sector, UIC has partnered with the Infrastructure and Ecology Network Europe (IENE) and ISO TC/331 group, establishing a framework for long-term collaboration to embed ecological sustainability throughout linear infrastructure development on railways.

Rethinking railway land

UIC’s sustainable land use initiatives are transforming how the rail industry sees land, not just as a green space to maintain, but as nature to protect, restore, and value via its dedicated sustainability platform. Through a trio of groundbreaking projects, UIC is leading the shift to sustainable, biodiversity-positive railways:

  • Transition Strategy on Vegetation Management (Tristram) was the starting point, addressing the urgent need to shift away from harmful herbicides. This initiative empowered infrastructure managers to implement integrated vegetation management with a multi-method-based approach, combining field-tested alternative methods, digital monitoring, and data-driven performance tracking. Tristram laid the groundwork for greener, safer railways that balance operational efficiency with ecological integrity.
  • Ecological Effects of Railways on Wildlife (Reverse) went beyond vegetation control to examine the broader impact of railways on biodiversity. It delivered a comprehensive habitat management strategy, revealing how green and blue infrastructure can be integrated into linear assets such as track, power lines, and drainage systems, to transform traditional grey infrastructure into ecological corridors. This was a turning point: railway land is no longer just infrastructure - it is essential ecological infrastructure.
  • Ecosystem Valuation for Railways (EcoV4R) represents the next leap forward. This flagship initiative is building a robust, audit-ready framework to identify, quantify, and value ecosystem services like carbon sequestration, flood mitigation, and pollination across newly designed and constructed railway infrastructure. It supports infrastructure managers, consultants, investors, and policymakers in embedding natural capital into planning, reporting, and investment decisions, aligning with local, national and wider standards.

As the rail sector shifts from compliance-driven mitigation to proactive restoration and climate resilience, EcoV4R is leading the charge. The project equips infrastructure managers, planners, and decision-makers with a robust framework to systematically assess, quantify, and value the ecosystem services provided by railway land. Capturing both the benefits and pressures linked to infrastructure, EcoV4R places particular emphasis on the role of the soft estate, such as vegetated verges, embankments, and surrounding land, in delivering natural solutions such as carbon storage, flood mitigation, and biodiversity enhancement.

Developed in partnership with 11 UIC members and technical experts from AtkinsRéalis, the framework is a practical response to a growing demand: to integrate ecosystem thinking into infrastructure decision-making, systematically, credibly, and at scale. Ecov4R is being piloted in two key locations:

  • Britain - Network Rail Cotswold Line: testing nature-based interventions for flood risk reduction, biodiversity, and carbon benefits at catchment scale along the River Evenlode between Oxford and Worcester. The pilot highlights how railway corridors can act as vital green infrastructure, benefiting not only the railway but also neighbouring communities and landowners.
  • Spain - Adif high-speed line between Valladolid and León: the pilot applies EcoV4R retrospectively to a 16km section of high-speed line, evaluating the value of mitigation measures such as afforestation and the creation of temporary wetlands. It shows how the framework can strengthen traditional environmental impact assessments by capturing long-term ecosystem benefits.

By 2026, EcoV4R will deliver the first comprehensive guidance on ecosystem services tailored to the global railway sector. It will equip practitioners with a clear, consistent, and audit-ready framework to measure the value of nature across railway land, strengthening land management, justifying green and blue investment, and aligning with long-term goals. The message is simple: build railways that work with nature, not against it.

Global coordination

To maintain momentum into the future, UIC has developed the Alliance for Connecting Railways and Restoring Nature (Acorn) as a long-term initiative to encourage mainstream nature-positive action across the global railway sector. It provides a structured, collaborative platform for members to deliver ecological outcomes while staying aligned with evolving policy and regulatory frameworks. Acorn takes a system-level approach that:

  • integrates safety and ecology: wildlife-vehicle collisions are addressed as both operational risks and biodiversity challenges, enabling cross-disciplinary solutions that connect engineering with environmental stewardship
  • drives climate-resilient land strategies: in partnership with the Resilient Railways (RERA) network, Acorn promotes adaptive land strategies, such as innovative vegetation management and slope stabilisation, to mitigate the growing risks posed by extreme weather and climate change
  • strengthens regulatory readiness: UIC helps members navigate and stay ahead of evolving legislation, including the CSRD, EU Nature Restoration Law, and international ISO standards, through alignment with institutions like the Community of European Railway and Infrastructure Companies (CER) and the European Union Agency for Railways (ERA), and
  • advances harmonised reporting: by developing key performance indicators and harmonised data protocols, the framework empowers railways to report on biodiversity and sustainability performance more consistently and credibly across borders.

Acorn acts as a central ecosystem for knowledge exchange, technical guidance, and innovation. By uniting railways globally, this initiative strengthens biodiversity and ecological resilience at the heart of rail infrastructure for a sustainable future.

*Pinar Yilmazer is head of the sustainability programme at the International Union of Railways (UIC). Lorenzo Franzoni is a sustainability advisor at UIC.