Network Rail has closed Long Eaton’s Barton Road crossing to protect public safety.
Two areas of concern have been highlighted by Network Rail, which has forced the temporary closure.
Network Rail has seen an increase in vulnerable people using the crossing who may struggle to cross in a reasonable time, including elderly people and those with bikes.
It has also been found that the sighting from the vantage point is obscured by vegetation.
Urgent vegetation management work will take place during the closure to allow users to see if a train is approaching.
Whilst Barton Road crossing is closed, the public should use Meadow Lane crossing.
“Given our understanding of the risk at this crossing, we feel an emergency closure is the only safe option. We‘re sorry for the disruption this will cause to the local community.
“We‘ll urgently carry out vegetation work in the coming days to make sure users can see clearly if a train is approaching. This should enable us to reopen the crossing for public use.“
Richard Tew, Network Rail head of health, safety and environment
Responses
So Network Rail has apparently discovered that: “Sighting from the vantage point is obscured by vegetation”. So I think the key question has to be who is actually responsible for management of the vegetarian? And I think it’s the infrastructure maintainer / owner “Network Rail”. So it appears as if “Network Rail” had admitted their failure in management of vegitation. Was this a deliberate ploy to try and get this crossing closed ? Will it re-open again? Or are Network Rail going to now try and claim no users ?