The Department for Transport has been advised to pinpoint the severity of delays to traffic caused by level crossings, and explore ways of providing national funding for closing them.
However, researchers at TRL, asked by the DfT to identify potential solutions for reducing delays caused to traffic at more than 5,000 level crossings in Britain, also cautioned that level crossings were ‘sometimes made into a scapegoat for general traffic problems in a town’.
TRL recommended that consideration should also be given to highways or traffic management improvements, in order to tackle unacceptable queuing at level crossings, such as upgrading junctions.
The researchers could not find any information on the economic cost of delays caused by level crossings, nor a definition of what constituted a significant delay at a level crossing. Some cited that the problem affected most crossings, others suggested 10 to 20%.
Senior highways officials have welcomed Network Rail’s willingness to consider road congestion when deciding whether to invest in level crossing improvements. Brian Thompson, Lincolnshire divisional highways manager, has said that ‘at long last, traffic delay is now considered’ with Network Rail’s new AXIAT, ‘Assessment of level crossing investment alternatives’ model.
But highays authorities were unable to give TRL more than anecdotal evidence on the extent of delays. It was suggested that the extent of risky ‘zig-zagging’ through automatic half barriers was one indicator of delays.
Network Rail said this week that there were more than 3,400 incidents of level crossing misuse last year – a five-year high.
TRL suggested the AXIAT model, entailing a partnership between road and rail authorities to investigate the case for closing level crossings, had been ‘effective at establishing which crossings would lead to greatest financial benefit’. However, without any funding in place, AXIAT pilots were unlikely to be implemented, it warned.
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