Worst Level Crossings for Traffic

[DanTrain]

I was at Wool station earlier on the Weymouth line and the level crossing there seems to be causing traffic chaos. It’s placed on a major A-road and at a junction and it’s next to the station so has to wait for trains slowing down (and stopping and dispatching towards Weymouth). This can take several minutes, even longer if two arrive at once as happened when I was there and the traffic quickly builds up significantly.

There must be others like this, I was wondering which ones seem ‘worst’ and what could be done about them (obviously a bridge/tunnel would be nice but isn’t always possible/financially feasible)?

 

[kevconnor]

The two on Navigation Road and Deansgate Lane in Altrincham can get quite bad traffic as they are used by both national rail and Metrolink.

 

[Ianno87]

Foxton.

 

[trainmania100]

Newhaven town is terrible. Loads of lorries. Only yesterday evening, driving home from work did I see, a maniac lorry driver wait in a traffic queue...on the level crossing...

 

[NoMorePacers]

Spring Bank West crossing in Hull causes big jams, especially since about 10/20m away from it on one side is a 3-way junction and traffic light system.

 

[DanTrain]

Newhaven town is terrible. Loads of lorries. Only yesterday evening, driving home from work did I see, a maniac lorry driver wait in a traffic queue...on the level crossing...

Some people just don’t think. Shame when they also happen to be in charge of several ton lorries .

Foxton.

A10 if I remember rightly, if so I can imagine that causes problems!

Poole and Lincoln (now resolved by bridge) are interesting in that they lead to queues of pedestrians waitng to cross!

 

[aleggatta]

West Worthing! The crossing seems to spend so much extra time down with stopping services terminating/restarting, coupled with road traffic control linked to the crossing, not a fun time at Rush Hour with the extra rail and road traffic!

 

[hexagon789]

Tallington? I think the barriers can often be down for 40 minutes in an hour at peak times.

 

[AM9]

From when I lived in the town, Colchester East Gates was always a problem. Not only did the tail back block the lower end of Ipswich Road, but it sometimes would interfere with the A133/A137 roundabouts.
As with most busy rail crossings, the rail traffic precedes the increase in road traffic which is why the railway has grandfather rights. In some places, the potential of getting stopped at crossings acts as a deterrent to traffic taking the route so in some ways not a bad thing.

 

[Islineclear3_1]

St Dunstans, Canterbury West.

St Dunstans Street is busy enough and Canterbury City Council have tried various initiatives to keep traffic out of the town in an attempt to cut pollution in what is a mixed residental/small business area. With lots of listed buildings, a bridge/tunnel is out of the question

 

[markem41]

Nothing compared to when you had to wait for a ship to crawl past at Barton Swing Bridge!

 

[Alfie1014]

From when I lived in the town, Colchester East Gates was always a problem. Not only did the tail back block the lower end of Ipswich Road, but it sometimes would interfere with the A133/A137 roundabouts.
As with most busy rail crossings, the rail traffic precedes the increase in road traffic which is why the railway has grandfather rights. In some places, the potential of getting stopped at crossings acts as a deterrent to traffic taking the route so in some ways not a bad thing.

It’s particularly bad at the moment as Ipswich Road is closed for the next four months due to roadworks at the A133/A137 roundabout so all traffic is via the Harwich Road, took 15 minutes to cross over yesterday lunchtime.

 

[Mintona]

Horton Road, Gloucester. Right next to the station and most trains reverse in the platform so have to pass over it twice in quick succession.

It’s also around 45 seconds by road away from Gloucestershire Royal Hospital, so very regularly see ambulances stuck waiting to cross.

 

[TrainBoy98]

West Worthing! The crossing seems to spend so much extra time down with stopping services terminating/restarting, coupled with road traffic control linked to the crossing, not a fun time at Rush Hour with the extra rail and road traffic!

Is the road traffic control that well linked though? Green light to turn right (ie Over the crossing) when the barriers are down a lot of the time. Annoys the bus drivers as by the time the crossings back up, the lights are red again. Sat many a times for 15-20minutes waiting for level crossing to match up with the green light

 

[50039]

Datchet with 2 crossings close together - whole town jams up at rush hour

 

[Speedbird96]

Bulwell Forest Level Crossing springs to mind as it shares both the Robin Hood Line and NET tram which are every ten minutes in each direction plus two trains per hour in each direction. Often seen traffic pile up in what is usually a residential area, not helped by the tram stop and retail park right next door.

Colwick Level Crossing often remember fondly for being hugely unreliable, usually broken down. Not helped that the level crossing sees six trains per hour plus freight traffic to and from Immingham and Lindsay/Humber Oil Refineries, is located in Sneinton and is right next door to the A612 and Colwick Racecourse.

Poole and Lincoln (now resolved by bridge) are interesting in that they lead to queues of pedestrians waitng to cross!

Lincoln is still no better today as many people still tend to wait than use the footbridge and traffic still regularly piles up.

 

[geoffk]

Before it was replaced by an underpass, Tipton was one of the worst. Smithy Bridge is getting worse, with the increase in rail traffic, both passenger and freight. No real solution as the canal passes under the road a bit higher up.

 

[nlogax]

On weekdays I'd suggest the double crossings on Vine Road in SW13. Turn off the South Circular, hit the first crossing where you'll be waiting to cross the Putney to Richmond line. 50 meters down the road you'll reach the second which means you'll have to wait for Hounslow loop trains to clear. As a 'shortcut to Barnes' it's best to entirely avoid it but an awful lot of traffic still uses the route anyway.

 

[30907]

Crosshills on the A629/650/6068 (can't remember which). Cononley may be closed for longer but the road is much quieter.

Incidentally, Wool only has 4 train movements an hour which mitigates things.

 

[tranzitjim]

While not in the UK, I see the same thing in Melbourne Australia, although it is just a suburban train service stopping to take on passengers. The problem here is, when you are on a railway of which also has express trains, and, so as to avoid slowing down the express trains, the wig wags are always set off as though the train is an express service.

The solution must be, to have some kind of a tracking system, of which tracks the movement of trains, and, will know which are express and which are local. That way, you get a delayed trigger when the train is going to stop at that location.

 

[alangla]

The solution must be, to have some kind of a tracking system, of which tracks the movement of trains, and, will know which are express and which are local. That way, you get a delayed trigger when the train is going to stop at that location.

Network Rail have that at some locations- Kirknewton was one I think, but not sure if it still is. Basically the route is set across the crossing but the signal doesn’t clear, on stopping, the driver gets out & presses a button to activate the crossing and clear the signal. If a fast train is approaching, there’s a button for the signaller to press that activates the crossing as normal.

As an aside- are there many crossings with barriers and inter connected traffic lights, but no flashing red lights? Logan’s Road in Motherwell is like this as the crossing is part of a T junction

 

[sw1ller]

Wem is pretty poor. It’s probably not the worst but it causes HUGE traffic jams in the relatively small town. If you get stoppers in both directions, which you often do, they can be down for a very long time. There’s also no footbridge, so you can turn up to the station 5 minutes before your trains due and still miss it as you can’t physically get to the platform you want. I’ve never timed it mind, but plodding up to the stop on green signals in a 153 knowing that the other train has already passed you, means that the barriers must be down for an awful long time.

 

[Mikey C]

I was at Wool station earlier on the Weymouth line and the level crossing there seems to be causing traffic chaos. It’s placed on a major A-road and at a junction and it’s next to the station so has to wait for trains slowing down (and stopping and dispatching towards Weymouth). This can take several minutes, even longer if two arrive at once as happened when I was there and the traffic quickly builds up significantly.

There must be others like this, I was wondering which ones seem ‘worst’ and what could be done about them (obviously a bridge/tunnel would be nice but isn’t always possible/financially feasible)?

That reminds me of an incident over 30 years ago where there was a dispute between the guard and an aggressive passenger, where both ended up outside. Obviously a nasty incident, but as a result the train was stuck blocking the level crossing for what must have seemed like an eternity...

 

[SWTCommuter]

Mount Pleasant crossing in Southampton may be a contender. The RTT page for nearby St Denys gives an idea of the level of rail traffic.
http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/search/advanced/SDN?stp=WVS&show=all&order=wtt

 

[swt_passenger]

Mount Pleasant crossing in Southampton may be a contender. The RTT page for nearby St Denys gives an idea of the level of rail traffic.
http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/search/advanced/SDN?stp=WVS&show=all&order=wtt

It was definitely the busiest when Network rail published a spreadsheet about this in 2018, and for public road crossings it had the highest average number of trains per working day, 479, where the assessed period is 0600 - 2400:

I found the above number in the SABRE roads forum, but the NR link is dead.

 

[Meerkat]

I am still amazed we have level crossings on 125mph lines, such as Tallington (which looks feasible to remove given the money for a bypass).
But there are so many where I just can’t see a solution.
Somewhere like West Worthing would need a big redevelopment scheme with a lot of compulsory purchase. Even if the money and will were there you can imagine there being a significant protest campaign by affected residents that would be politically awkward.
Reigate is a real pain, and that would need real co ordination and a big council lead redevelopment- could cover its costs if it enabled significant housing/offices but the locals will want the good stuff without the building work....

 

[Dren Ahmeti]

Surprised no-one’s mentioned Sunningdale LC on the Waterloo-Reading line - crosses over the A30 and requires the siggie in Feltham box to put it down as late as possible, as if it’s left down for too long, the traffic jams start to become measured in miles!

 

[scott118]

Brandon, Suffolk.

 

[Islineclear3_1]

It was definitely the busiest when Network rail published a spreadsheet about this in 2018, and for public road crossings it had the highest average number of trains per working day, 479, where the assessed period is 0600 - 2400:

I found the above number in the SABRE roads forum, but the NR link is dead.

Is it busier than Hampden Park in Sussex?

 

[LewFinnis]

Surprised Langley Green hasn't had a mention. Always busy and at least 12 trains an hour during the working day.