Quote:
Originally Posted by ianrail
Without trying to comment or speculate on the cause of this tragedy, because we don't yet have many facts, I agree that these accidents at half barrier level crossings are far too common. ....... I feel the only cure for this impatience is to install full barriers at every crossing. I'd have thought that the cost would be minimal but we'll no doubt we told it will cost a fortune - we can't afford it of course as there might not be enough money left for bonuses to fill the Directors' fat pockets.
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I fully agree with you that AHBs are dangerous and should be phased out. I see crossing abuse almost on a daily basis.
The big obstacle is that the
A in AHBs stands for automatic. IE, they're unmonitored and are usually operated by treadles or other sensors.
Full-barrier crossings by contrast have to be monitored because there's no escape route once the barriers come down. This is done either locally by a crossing keeper or box, or via CCTV cameras and the barriers are only allowed to go down if the crossing is clear.
To get an idea of the scale of the problem, there are 60 (!!) crossings between Cambridge and Kings Lynn. Most of those are currently unmonitored; being a mixture of AHBs, miniature R/G, and user-worked occupational crossings.
So as ever it comes down to money - and how much is a human life worth ?
The big problem is typically British. The road authorities see level crossings as the Railway's problem, and the Railway sees it as the road's issue.
Despite the fact that the DfT is responsible for both !
