Compulsory heat treatment for railway sleepers
31 August 2013
Heat treatment is now compulsory for railway sleepers in New Zealand. It has just been announced by the New Zealand Ministry for Primary Industries that all new and used railway sleepers imported into the country must be heat treated before entry. The heat treatment required is more than 4 hours at a minimum continuous core temperature of 70°C.
This follows several incidents in the last year where discoveries of exotic, regulated or unwanted organisms in imported railway sleepers have been found. This may push up the prices of imported wooden new & used railway sleepers even further.
It is less likely that such treatment will be introduced into Europe, despite discoveries of various ants, spiders and exotic creatures in containers of new railway sleepers coming from Africa or South America.