7th Stadtbahn Forum in Potsdam

The Green Track Network presented itself at the 7th Stadtbahn Forum of the enterprise Schreck-Mieves GmbH with a stand and a presentation. One of our objectives was to move transport companies to an input to our network by filling in our questionnaire. Furthermore, interest in green tracks should be raised. Horticultural problems when greening a track should be mediated to the participants with technical background. Plants have habitat requirements. With its relatively low substrate thickness and without irrigation a track is no optimal habitat for lawn under German climate conditions, if it is supposed to be permanently green. Moreover it needs regular maintenance. If the decision was made for a grass track, it should be considered which appearance is expected in the short and in the long term and which effort is needed to reach this aim. Those considerations need to be done in the run-up to the budgeting of the maintenance. Additionally one should be aware of the fact that not every location is suitable. It is an objective of the network to minimize this effort, by means of the site-dependent choice of plants, substrates and track design.

The presentation was part of a group of three which dealt with green tracks. The others were:

• Prof. Dr. Siegl, Hochschule Technik und Wirtschaft - Vegetationstechnik, Dresden: Green Tracks – Biologic Basics and its ecological context,
• Dr. Schade, Niedersächsische Rasenkultur NIRA GmbH & Co.KG, Groß Ippener (network member): Path to a permanently green track.