Level Crossings

 

The Rail Unions are agitating to remove all of the level crossings, except for very small private ones.

The main Newmarket-London road has a level crossing at Six Mile Bottom, which would be impossible to bypass, as it is surrounded by houses. There is also another a hundred metres or so away on a side road, that we use to get home.

The BBC quotes a million pounds a crossing. These two would cost several million each, as there would be a need to demolish some very expensive houses or build a full junction onto the A11.

This illustrates the problem of why we still have level crossings.

If we had to change these two, then the outcome would be that the authorities would replace the Cambridge-Ipswich rail line with buses, as these two are by no means the only expensive crossings on the line. I'd never use a bus to go to Cambridge or Ipswich, but I do use a train.

I'm sure that the Rail Unions would like the bus option, especially as both crossings have very good visibility on straight roads and could be protected by a better electronic warning system.

Interestingly some of the worst accidents involved road and rail in recent years have happened on private crossings or where a motorway crosses the railway on a bridge. Others are due to suicide or stupidity, both of which are impossible to guard against.