Trivia: Level crossings that are unlikely to ever be removed

[Alex365Dash]

Cosham - the level crossing is located in the middle of a high street.

Theoretically, you could attempt to close it if you pedestrianised the area immediately south of the crossing up to the junction with Windsor Road and redirected vehicles to the bridge on Northern Road, but with the amount of traffic and the diversion they’d have to take to get around the railway (there is a bridge closeby but getting to it from the south side of Cosham LC is quite a detour for the otherwise short distance) it’s not really feasible.

 

[ANDREW_D_WEBB]

Likely to get busier with the improvements to the "Joint" line - not least the Wennington diveunder. But mainly freight, so no direct benefit to the city's travelling public. With hindsight, closure in the 1980s of the "avoiding" line, which crossed the city using a series of bridges, was a mistake, but the formation has now been built on so there seems little likelihood of re-opening.
Concentrating services at Central station in 1985 actually made matters worse, as the majority of trains from the Newark direction terminate at Lincoln and now have to cross the High Street level crossing to reach Central station, where before they would terminate short of the High Street at St Marks station. (I don't know if consideration was given to closing Central instead, but St Marks was very run-down, less central (!), and probably too small anyway to cope with all the traffic).

Even today, only four bridges cross the railway through Lincoln, built between 1958 (Pelham Bridge, replacing the notorious "Durham Ox" three way level crossing - two railways and a road) and 2020 (the Eastern bypass)

Pelham Bridge is currently closed for roadworks, a project that is running behind schedule, so is creating even more limited options.

 

[Cricketer8for9]

Whyteleafe Station feels unlikely ever to close; a main road, no immediate road traffic crossings further north and the one further south is a level crossing as well. Potentially difficult ground conditions as well, esp in wet years when the Bourne Water rises.

 

[trainmania100]

Portslade station level crossing. Local businesses are in close proximity to the crossing, so is a subway under the level crossing itself, and the road is very busy. I guess it would be possible to build one but it's unlikely to ever happen

 

[rob.rjt]

Neither of the two crossings in Datchet are likely to be suitable for closure. Both are too close to road junctions and (on one side) the Thames. Any new bridge could only go to the East and would probably require too much land take.

 

[norbitonflyer]

Pelham Bridge is currently closed for roadworks, a project that is running behind schedule, so is creating even more limited options.

Thanks for the heads up - I'm driving to Lincoln next week. Looks like I'll be trying out the new eastern bypass then!

 

[Swanley 59]

Stannington in Northumberland on the ECML. It's a very busy crossing. As often as not, the barriers are down for upwards of 5 mins as both up and down trains pass; three trains are not uncommon. The site is very flat, with housing on both sides, and much of it new developments, so replacing the crossing with a bridge would seem very difficult and expensive option.

Reopening Stannington station seems more likely

 

[yorksrob]

I can't imagine the several on the Dungeness line going soon (unless the whole line goes off course).

 

[Taunton]

One of the issues that seems to have impacted crossings is the move to remote operation. There was a long-established crossing a mile west of Taunton, Silk Mills, over the onetime 4-track main line. When it had its own box they were past masters at minimal road closures without impacting the service, knowing just when to close to give a clear to passing trains at high speed.

Come 1986 and it was resignalled, with CCTV remote control from Exeter. Whereupon closure times for even a single train went way up. There were the inevitable complaints and I think Edward du Cann got involved in his last knockings as 30 years the Taunton MP, but to no avail. It actually made the road route sufficiently unreliable for journey time that people went back to going through town. There were comments that the signal team at Exeter had probably never even been to the crossing, and that the new track circuits had been designed with no regard to giving information in the box to minimising closure time.

Eventually, in 2006, a replacing road bridge was built alongside. It would always have been needed as traffic built up with the expansion of the town in this direction, but relieved 20 years of poor operation.

Video of its last months : SILK MILLS LEVEL CROSSING - YouTube

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Isn't the above post by @Taunton, effectively an example of a level crossing that has now been removed?

 

[61653 HTAFC]

Silk Mills crossing has indeed gone, though IIRC (I lived in the town at the time the bridge was opened) there were objections from a nearby business (a garden centre/nursery) that delayed the closure.

There are also two AHB crossings just west of there (Victory and Bradford crossings) which might prove harder still to remove. As both are on very minor rural roads the usage probably doesn't make them a priority, but Bradford crossing in particular is probably quite a high-risk location. High hedges and verges reduce visibility, and due to the cant of the track the crossing is uneven. I don't think there is anything that would physically prevent a bridge being built, but doing so on such a minor road would be unfeasibly expensive. That said, closure without replacement would not cut anything off, just be a bit of an inconvenience.

 

[Taunton]

My comment was more about how road traffic delay has been increased by recent signalling, and may well contribute to more misuse. Paranoia about never letting any train even have sight of a double yellow to avoid getting charged for a delay has added further to the road traffic delay.

Victory Crossing and Bradford Crossing are indeed over minor lanes (although both lead to villages, and in the 1960s had a few country bus services per day, and may well still have school buses - they are not trivia), and in pre-resignalling days needed 24x7 shift coverage at their boxes. They went AHB at the same time as Silk Mills went CCTV, but their delay time was always minimal compared to CCTV - in fact, they were used for comparison. Because the AHB replaced a signalled crossing road traffic delay time actually went down.

Westbound at Silk Mills the linespeed was 90mph. But 95% of trains were starting from Taunton, and thus took double or more the time from the strike-in point to get to the crossing. The old manual signallers understood all this, just when to close the crossing to avoid any delay, dependent on train type. The new arrangement was "one size fits all".

 

[DJS76]

Enfield Lock on the WAML. No room for a bridge or underpass without destroying multiple properties and even then, there are residential streets very close to either side of the crossing. However, if CR2 does ever go ahead there must be a plan. If the road is blocked completely, there is quite a lengthy diversion to the north. To the south, there is the level crossing at Brimsdown which would also need to close for CR2.

 

[galwhv69]

Mitcham Eastfields - whilst it can be down for long periods of time, causing heavy traffic in the local area, there isn't space to put a bridge there, due to there being a roundabout immediately after on one side. Closest alternative is via Commonside, however that requires going through the already congested Mitcham Town Centre

 

[Paul’s]

Middlewood Crossing Disley line.

Woodsmoor Crossing Hazel grove line..

 

[py_megapixel]

Middlewood Crossing Disley line.
Woodsmoor Crossing Hazel grove line..

It actually surprises me that Woodsmoor LC hasn't already been closed. As mentioned earlier, the diversionary route is so close that many people use it anyway.

I wasn't aware there was a crossing at Middlewood, unless you mean Norbury Hollow (which is still manual gates)?

 

[Paul’s]

I wasn't aware there was a crossing at Middlewood, unless you mean Norbury Hollow (which is still manual gates)?
Yes ..

 

[sjm77]

Stannington in Northumberland on the ECML. It's a very busy crossing. As often as not, the barriers are down for upwards of 5 mins as both up and down trains pass; three trains are not uncommon. The site is very flat, with housing on both sides, and much of it new developments, so replacing the crossing with a bridge would seem very difficult and expensive option.

I am not familiar with this location, so had a look on Google Satellite and Street View.
It might be feasible to build a new road on the north side. You start 100-150 meters West of the LC, rise up on a curve to cross the ECML ~100 meters North of the LC. The road would then join the existing road around 200 metres East of the current LC. The existing road and new road would form the shape of a letter 'D' on it's side.

 

[colchesterken]

East Gates Colchester, blocks up traffic on the whole East of the town as the trains into Town station have a 15 MPH limit
Had the local MP and Network rail level crossing boss down there said, "nothing we can do"

 

[zwk500]

Newhaven Town - combination of awkward road junctions and the need to work within the limitations of the Port infrastructure mean it'll be a continual nuisance point as it stuffs up the A259/A26 junction if it closes at a busy time.

 

[High Dyke]

Crabley Creek. Because of the farmer.

I was watching a YouTube video about that last week.

Hubberts Bridge. South Forty Foot drain, railway and road all parallel to one another and crossed by a busy B-road. Highways won't invest money for a Bridge nor traffic lights at the junction. Equally it's also the HGV route to/from North-east Lincolnshire and the A17 / A52.

Pelham Bridge is currently closed for roadworks, a project that is running behind schedule, so is creating even more limited options.

Reopened earlier this week.

 

[Tractor86]

I could see Bamber Bridge being a faff to get rid of. And possibly the hospital crossing a bit further down on Brindle Road, although not as much is in the way there.

 

[urbophile]

There are various crossings on Merseyrail, particularly the West Kirby and Southport lines, where the frequency of the service suggests that a bridge replacement would be a good idea. Most of them I suppose involve roads with comparatively little traffic, but I wonder if there are any plans to replace or close any of them?

 

[peteb]

Henwick, Worcester. Main road, no space for bridge or tunnel, listed building nearby......

 

[stuu]

Newhaven Town - combination of awkward road junctions and the need to work within the limitations of the Port infrastructure mean it'll be a continual nuisance point as it stuffs up the A259/A26 junction if it closes at a busy time.

And amazing that a flyover was built right next to it, but the crossing remained, although that's down to different priorities in the 1970s

 

[CyrusWuff]

Enfield Lock on the WAML. No room for a bridge or underpass without destroying multiple properties and even then, there are residential streets very close to either side of the crossing. However, if CR2 does ever go ahead there must be a plan. If the road is blocked completely, there is quite a lengthy diversion to the north. To the south, there is the level crossing at Brimsdown which would also need to close for CR2.

Given they've closed Northumberland Park crossing without replacement, which is basically the same situation as at Brimsdown and Enfield Lock (i.e. adjacent to the relevant station) I wouldn't bet on it! Similar applies to Lincoln Road crossing on the Enfield Town branch, though that's between Bush Hill Park and Enfield Town.

For Northumberland Park, it was ~380m from the Park Avenue Road/Willoughby Lane junction to the Marigold Road/Watermead Way junction via the level crossing. The diversion via Willoughby Lane, Leeside Road and Watermead Way is 1.6km!

Meanwhile, over in Enfield, it was ~295m from the Lincoln Road/Fotheringham Road junction to the Lincoln Road/Wellington Road junction via the (keeper operated) level crossing, with the diversion via Fotheringham Road, Southbury Road, Genotin Road, London Road and Lincoln Road being a full 2km.

 

[TheEdge]

Pretty much every crossing on the East Suffolk Line.

Gravel Pit, Victoria Road, Ingate Street, Grove Road, Brampton, Darsham, both at Saxmundham, every crossing between Melton and Woodbridge all fall under the built up or immediately adjacent a station issue. And pretty much all the remaining ones are either tiny country lanes with very low traffic or the topography of the line, adjacent land or roads themselves would require a massive structure to build a bridge. Even then most of them are only B roads. Maybe two are practically replaceable, Beccles Bypass and London Road (also Beccles) but only the Bypass would probably have a realistic (!) chance of being done.

 

[zwk500]

And amazing that a flyover was built right next to it, but the crossing remained, although that's down to different priorities in the 1970s

No, its down to the geography. The flyover is to take traffic above the east wharf, but traffic accessing the wharf wouldn't be able to deal with the gradient on/off the flyover that would be needed given the space available between the river and the railway.

 

[daodao]

Near me, Hale and Navigation Road level crossings are both in heavily built up locations and provide key local links. There isn't the space to build a flyover as was done many years ago at Altrincham.

 

[Tracked]

Bentley (South Yorkshire) - houses/businesses on both sides, and the A19 is nearby. It really could do with a footbridge though.

Arksey - houses/graveyard/pond/business around the side, being on the the Doncaster-York line it's a bit of a nightmare, I usually drive via Thorpe-in-Balne if going out that way as it has a bridge. There's crossings further out on the same line at Haywood and Moss that appear to have the space and could really do with a bridge.