Ickleton TSR - only in one direction?

[jfowkes]

Hi all,

On a foot crossing on the WAML near me (https://www.openstreetmap.org/#map=18/52.07448/0.18277), there is currently a TSR of 70mph in place. On the Up line there is a TSR speed board just south of the Ickleton Road LC, and a termination board immediately south of the foot crossing.

What I can't see is the equivalent for the Down direction. There's no termination board to the north of the foot crossing as far as I can tell. There's nowhere south of the crossing where I might be able to see a start board, so I can't look for that.

Does anyone have any information? Is the TSR in one direction only, or can I just not see the boards in the other direction?

 

[O L Leigh]

The restriction is only on the Up line. I presume that it’s due to level crossing sighting issues which only affect the crossing when approached on the Up, probably due to the M11 link road overbridge.

 

[jfowkes]

Cheers, that makes sense!

 

[Class 170101]

The line is also not bi-directional so no need to put out a speed board for wrong direction moves.

 

[pdeaves]

In the general case, a TSR might be in place because of a damaged rail or such. Clearly, the unaffected line does not need a restriction.

 

[Bald Rick]

Hi all,

On a foot crossing on the WAML near me (https://www.openstreetmap.org/#map=18/52.07448/0.18277), there is currently a TSR of 70mph in place. On the Up line there is a TSR speed board just south of the Ickleton Road LC, and a termination board immediately south of the foot crossing.

What I can't see is the equivalent for the Down direction. There's no termination board to the north of the foot crossing as far as I can tell. There's nowhere south of the crossing where I might be able to see a start board, so I can't look for that.

Does anyone have any information? Is the TSR in one direction only, or can I just not see the boards in the other direction?

The restriction is only on the Up line. I presume that it’s due to level crossing sighting issues which only affect the crossing when approached on the Up, probably due to the M11 link road overbridge.

I might be confused, but Ickleton Rd LX is south of the point linked to on the map - it is the LX just north of Gt Chesterford station. Therefore if the TSR C board is South of that crossing on the up, the restriction would be towards Gt Chesterford station.

Did you mean Hinxton LC (the Auto half barrier, which is located where Ickleton Rd becomes Brookhampton St?)

If so, it could well be in for sighting (70TSRs are rarely for anything else), although I’d expect the down line to have worse sighting.

 

[jfowkes]

I might be confused, but Ickleton Rd LX is south of the point linked to on the map - it is the KX just north of Gt Chesterford station. Therefore if the TSR C board is South of that crossing on the up, the restriction would be towards Gt Chesterford station.

Did you mean Hinxton LC (the Auto half barrier, which is located where Ickleton Rd becomes Brookhampton St?)

Yes, I meant all of that. Didn't realise there were two Ickleton Roads (the road going into Great Chesterford is Frogge Street is far as I'm concerned).

Sorry for the confusion! The sighting reason does make sense. From the foot crossing you can see the M11 overbridge to the south, but not round the bend to the Hinxton LC to the north.

 

[BigB]

Can I ask why this is a TSR?
The crossing is permenant as is the M11 overbridge, so why is this not a reduced line speed rather than temporary?
I'm not being pedantic, just interested to know why TSRs are applied to such long term issues.

 

[Bald Rick]

Can I ask why this is a TSR?
The crossing is permenant as is the M11 overbridge, so why is this not a reduced line speed rather than temporary?
I'm not being pedantic, just interested to know why TSRs are applied to such long term issues.

It could be pending some work to improve sighting times.

 

[Duxford]

As someone who uses the foot crossing daily for dog walks I was miffed when nearly 2 weeks ago the crossing was suddenly shut. On its reopening I spoke to the Network Rail Crossing Safety Manager who told me that they had carried out a video survey and observed that the footfall had increased during lock down and the user profile had changed from predominantly workers at the Sanger Centre to family groups often with pushchairs, cyclists and joggers often wearing headphones. These users were taking longer to clear the crossing and was a potential safety problem. To reopen the crossing, a temporary speed restriction was applied to the upline and extensive vegetation clearance was carried out on the down line to improve sight lines and give a longer stopping distance, I asked what was the permanent solution would be not wanting the crossing shut. He said that further investigation would be carried out but light controlled gates was probably prohibitively expensive and anyway they didn't prevent a fatality in Bishop's Stortford a few years ago.

 

[Class 170101]

NR have also become much more cautious after various visits to Court in recent years due to incidents at Level Crossings including Elsenham just up the Line.