PAZ workshop

In springtime have started the railway stations arranging process within Bucharest Rail Region. Theoretically, for each station a horticulture engineer elaborates a project of landscape architecture, where there is necessary to take into consideration the earth quality and the field exposure in the area that is going to be arranged. In our country, in the railway stations, the most frequently used plants for the arrangement works are evergreen plants (that are maintained evergreen, as tuia, buxus, fir or evonimus).
In Bucharest Rail Region, PAA workshop (Plantations Arrangement Areas) has as objective the arrangement of the big railway stations, starting with the North Railway Station in our capital and continuing with Baneasa, Ploiesti, Sinaia, Snagov, Campina railway stations. Unfortunately, in accordance with Mrs. Adina Podut declaration, the Chief of Staff of PAA workshop, the existing dendrologic material is insufficient. The demands are quite a lot, but in the last 10 years there have been neglected the activities of production and multiplication of the necessary plants. In Chitila plant nursery, in the past two years, valuable plants were increased in number, on a very large scale, but for being ready to the plantation process need to have at least 5 years of development. Presently, there are seedlings of 1-2 years or very old specimens (15-20 years). The current year are made efforts to supplement the missing specimens by creating annual flowers rounds, which need to be taken care of more often, and of course, periodical watering.
On the first place in PAA attention is how to arrange Baneasa Railway Station and North Railway Station, where new arrangements works are tried, by refreshing the old generation of shrubs, and with flower arrangements in pots. Generally, the current year it is approached the idea of using suspended pots with annual plants, representing the advantage that are decorative and also cannot be destroyed by the passengers.
In 10 April -20 May there have been developed a weed killing process, activity that implies the treatment of the grass from the railway perimeter with a herbicide solution spayed by a train specially assigned to do the job. Weed killing was accomplished on the tracks of the railway stations that possess abundant vegetation, on about 800-km length. This process was needed because it has not been performed since 1998. This intervention is properly done if it is executed till summer time, because if the plants already reached the maturity stage won’t allow the penetration of the active substance through the leaves. This year, Bucharest Rail Region was supplied with 2,100 liters of Arsenal (total herbicide) and 2,000 liters Glyphos (selective herbicide), their conjugated action providing the maintenance of the rail tracks in the railway stations clean, without any herbs.
Another extremely necessary activity that provides the circulation safety is to maintain the plantations aside the rail tracks, which have the role to consolidate the railway embankment and to avoid the earth sliding. For this purpose there are used plants with very well developed, branched roots, which mobilize the field. We can also mention among the works and investments performed the current year cutting works (cutting the shrubs and of the trees to 15-20 cm), thus enhancing water drainage in the railway embankments area, hindering the sliding and erosion of the field.
For improving, increasing and effecting the activity at the Chitila Hothouses there will be extended intense cultivated areas, by creating some solaria. For the elimination of de error in the supplying process with CLU (liquid combustible) on the railway during the winter time there is a project to link Chitila Hothouses to the CLU pipe of the National Oil Company (NOC) that crosses the yard of the plant nursery. Between 1963 -1990 Chitila Hothouses have been once again linked to this pipe, but due to the fact that the consume was not controlled NOC ceased CLU supplying and disposed the welding of the pipe.
Another work that is considered the activity domain of PAA sector is called plantations against the snow deposit and consists in filling in the empty spaces with specimens with luxurious foliage (lilac, forsitia, mirobolam trees and so on) and periodical cleaning works. In the areas where there is the danger of snow storming in wintertime, these plantations have the role to hinder the snow deposition in large quantities on the rail tracks. Unfortunately, lack of seedlings is felt again in this case, too.
There is still a hope. In the last two years in Chitila Hothouses have been multiplied a large number of species, presently existing thousands of seedlings, especially ever green plants (buxus, evonimus, tuia, juniper tree and so on), which in a couple of years will be planted in the railway stations and rail embankments. Besides the renovation and modernization of the railway stations, another solution to project a better image of Romanian Railway Company is to constantly improve their aspect decorating them with ornamental plants.

Ileana Statie