Lighting on station access roads

[TUC]

I recently travelled to Hollingbourne, arriving around 2000. I had seen from Google Maps that the station was around an 8 minute walk from the station. What I was unprepared for was just how dark the long station access road is, which goes through countryside and is remote from housing. There are only intermittent street lights that are motion-sensitive and so only light as you approach them, with long periods of total darkness inbetween. I certainly did not feel particularly safe, and was left concerned about the general safety of the route for other passengers at night.

It was not clear whether the access road is owned Network Rail or by the local authority, but it did leave me wondering whether NR has minimum lighting standards for the access roads it owns, and whether it also seeks to influence other authorities with these standards where access roads are under their control?

 

[Annetts key]

Rather confusingly, ownership does not always correspond with who controls the lighting.

It could be a local authority road. Or a Network Rail road. If it’s a Network Rail road, the responsibility could be with the TOC. It may even be a road owned by another organisation.

Regardless of who owns it, the lighting may be provided by someone else.

For example, I know of a station owned by Network Rail (and operated by the TOC) which includes the “public” road that passes in front of the station. The road being Network Rail land. But it looks exactly like a normal road and has exactly the same type of street lights as the part of the road owned by the local authority further on which is not owned by the railway…

I suggest you enquire with the local authority, the TOC and Network Rail…

 

[Llanigraham]

Blimey!!
Welcome to rural Britain, where street lighting is an unusual luxury.

 

[TUC]

Blimey!!
Welcome to rural Britain, where street lighting is an unusual luxury.

I live in at least semi-rural Britain so I'm well used to unlit country roads. What I wasn't expecting was an access road between a station and the town/village it serves to be so poorly lit.

 

[Ken H]

Try Giggleswick unlit car park then cross an unlit major road, then down a largely unlit country lane till you get to 4 lane ends where there is some street lighting. Clapham will be worse.
Buy a torch. Headtorch is good.

 

[Dr Hoo]

I live in at least semi-rural Britain so I'm well used to unlit country roads. What I wasn't expecting was an access road between a station and the town/village it serves to be so poorly lit.

Hope (Derbyshire) station to Hope village is another example. Good lighting on the station approach but none on the main road. As @Llanigraham said. ‘Welcome to rurality’.

 

[telstarbox]

That looks like it is owned by the railway rather than KCC there.

 

[zwk500]

It being a rural area, there are probably complaints about light pollution if the lights are left on all night for a passenger count that fits on the fingers of one hand. Given torches are now nearly universal amongst people's phones, streetlighting probably is a luxury rather than necessity.
If the safety concern is being attacked, then motion-sensitive lighting is a pretty good confirmation if anybody else is about. If the concern is about tripping and falling on a bad quality path, then the solution is to maintain the path properly rather than install lighting.

 

[Scott1]

Use a torch? It seems very wasteful to have the lights on all the time.

 

[Bikeman78]

I recently travelled to Hollingbourne, arriving around 2000. I had seen from Google Maps that the station was around an 8 minute walk from the station. What I was unprepared for was just how dark the long station access road is, which goes through countryside and is remote from housing. There are only intermittent street lights that are motion-sensitive and so only light as you approach them, with long periods of total darkness inbetween. I certainly did not feel particularly safe, and was left concerned about the general safety of the route for other passengers at night.

It was not clear whether the access road is owned Network Rail or by the local authority, but it did leave me wondering whether NR has minimum lighting standards for the access roads it owns, and whether it also seeks to influence other authorities with these standards where access roads are under their control?

There must be loads of stations like this. For example, White Notley and Cressing. They have limited or no parking and access is via narrow country lanes with no pavement. Small wonder that hardly anyone uses them. I'd expect many stations on the Heart of Wales line to be similar.

 

[Basil Jet]

Use a torch? It seems very wasteful to have the lights on all the time.

At the risk of stating the obvious, most phones have a torch feature.

 

[TUC]

Use a torch? It seems very wasteful to have the lights on all the time.

Wasteful'? What else are street lights for except to aid pedestrians when it is dark?

It being a rural area, there are probably complaints about light pollution if the lights are left on all night for a passenger count that fits on the fingers of one hand. Given torches are now nearly universal amongst people's phones, streetlighting probably is a luxury rather than necessity.
If the safety concern is being attacked, then motion-sensitive lighting is a pretty good confirmation if anybody else is about.

Not when there are large gaps between the streetlights when none are lit.

Hope (Derbyshire) station to Hope village is another example. Good lighting on the station approach but none on the main road.

The issue in this case is the long station approach road. Moreover, the only purpose of the road seems to be for access to the station.

 

[Scott1]

Wasteful'? What else are street lights for except to aid pedestrians when it is dark?


Not when there are large gaps between the streetlights when none are lit.

Its a rural area, its normal to have limited lighting operation and then either they are turned off or on a motion sensor. With the cost of electricity I'd expect to see more of this. Indeed I'd prefer more of this than my Council Tax going up.

 

[TUC]

Its a rural area, its normal to have limited lighting operation and then either they are turned off or on a motion sensor. With the cost of electricity I'd expect to see more of this. Indeed I'd prefer more of this than my Council Tax going up.

No problem with motion sensitive lights, as long as they are close enough together so they you come into the range of the next light straight after leaving the range of the last one.

 

[BingMan]

Its a rural area, its normal to have limited lighting operation and then either they are turned off or on a motion sensor. With the cost of electricity I'd expect to see more of this. Indeed I'd prefer more of this than my Council Tax going up.

I would rather pay a few pennies more on my tax to avoid been run down by a speeding motor car.

Artound here the lights are on sensors. When it falls dark the lights are switched off and at dawn they are switched off again.

 

[zwk500]

I would rather pay a few pennies more on my tax to avoid been run down by a speeding motor car.

The motor car is responsible for staying on the road, and a streetlight makes no difference to whether or not it does. If the issue is the lack of a proper path, then the solution is to provide a proper path.

 

[Basil Jet]

Something I've seen leading to a few stations is LED dots marking out the edge of a path. I guess that uses less electricity than lampposts. Chappel & Wakes Colne and Thorpe-Le-Soken are a few examples, but I'm sure I've seen more.

 

[Annetts key]

The motor car is responsible for staying on the road, and a streetlight makes no difference to whether or not it does. If the issue is the lack of a proper path, then the solution is to provide a proper path.

Funny, I thought navigation and control of a motor car was the responsibility of the human driver. And unfortunately drivers self-regulate themselves with regards to informing the DVLA if they have eyesight problems.

If a driver does have eyesight problems, generally speaking, their eyesight is worse during darkness or low light conditions.

Therefore street lighting or the lack thereof, can make a difference in respect of the possibility of an accident between a motor vehicle and a pedestrian.

 

[zwk500]

Funny, I thought navigation and control of a motor car was the responsibility of the human driver. And unfortunately drivers self-regulate themselves with regards to informing the DVLA if they have eyesight problems.

If a driver does have eyesight problems, generally speaking, their eyesight is worse during darkness or low light conditions.

Therefore street lighting or the lack thereof, can make a difference in respect of the possibility of an accident between a motor vehicle and a pedestrian.

Well, until Elon Musk gets his way...

Seriously, yes it's the driver not the car, but any driver who can't stay on the road with the light provided by their headlights is in no condition to be driving.