Spooner Row Message Board

yes, Network Rail have kept this very quiet, only sending letters to the 2 houses adjacent to the crossing. They are planning to put an unmanned, half crossing with a claxon instead of the manned signal box. This is part of a plan to replace 10 crossings between Colchester and Norwich, at a cost of £1million per crossing. We are hoping to start a petition for all who will be affected, especially from the safety aspect as so many children are up and down Station Road on their way to and from school and the park. It is also going to be a nightmare from the noise aspect for those houses within earshot. Local MP George Freeman has been informed and we are awaiting his investigation. The work is planned to start in the autumn.

Hi
I can see several issues with the proposed un manned barriers.

1.  Noise levels from the siren's as barriers come down 24 / 7 effecting most households within the village especially on quiet evenings .

2. Safety of children traveling to school and playing field ( some do this un attended ) Parents at presant feel happy for there children to go to school/playing  field because the crossing is manned but i would be suprised if parents would let there children anywhere near an un manned barrier.

3. Resale value of property would be effected I'm sure . It would also reduce the number of prospective buyers for properties.

4. The loss of 50 signalman jobs !

I enclose an e.mail address for the only contact I have . Simon Gilbey does not work for Network Rail but works for Brown & Co surveyors ( I had a letter from him last week ) Please send all e.mails of concern to him at simon.gilbey@brown-co.com

I'm afraid it is almost inevitable now. I used to work in Spooner Row box and Network Rail are pretty determined to do it by 2012. All of the signal boxes along the line are to close and all level crossings automated.

Hi How do you know time scales for new barriers ?

Hi there. I know the timescales as I was an ex NR employee at Spooner Row Signal box. The proposed barriers were at the time of my leaving going to be full barriers but controlled by a radar, the line through Spooner Row is being used to trial them. The plans may have changed but as far as I'm aware the crossing will be of this type and the resignalling and commissioning of the new crossing is scheduled for May 2012.

Today a leaflet came through my door from one of our councillors, Neil Ward who says that Network Rail is planning to fully automate the barriers at the level crossing; work starts in January 2012 and operational in July.  He has asked Network Rail to provide us with a public meeting to address any concerns and to contact him with any questions.

What a shame that this historic and quaint feature of our village has to go. I would have thought that the safety aspect for the local children going to/from school along Station Road would have favoured keeping the level crossing fully manned.

Having an unmanned level crossing means there will soon probably be accidents now with people jumping the lights.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1303877/Suffolk-train-crash-Tanker-driver-arrested-level-crossing-collision.html

The Town Council's Planning Lighting and Highways meeting on 16th August 2011 Agenda Item 9 was "Network Rail - Notification of level crossing works- Spooner Row."

I attended the Planning meeting and requested that Wymondham Town Council respond positively to NetworkRail's offer to "do a presentation of the proposed works to local parishoners and residents at a public meeting, in order to listen to any concerns that they may have and to answer questions put forward by the community."

I suggested that the meeting should be in Spooner Row Village hall and that all Spooner Row and Suton people  leafleted by NetworkRail - not just 2 or 3 houses in Station Road.

The letter expalined that,"NetworkRail is currently planning to undertake renewal and upgrade works on the railway line between Ely and Norwich.As part of this project significant changes to Spooner Row crosssing will be undertaken.

The proposed work will result in the existing gated crossing being converted to a fully barriered crossing using new technology radar to ensure that the crossing is clear of pedestrians and vehicles prior to the lowering of the barriers and the passage of any trains.

The propose works are due to commence in Jan 2012.The new crossing will become fully operational in JUly 2012."

Thank you

Diana Hockaday

I suppose the new automatic barriers and the removal of the signal man will mean that Spooner Row will lose its halt.

The formal proposal by Network Rail comes before the Planning Lighting & Highways Committee of Wymondham Town Council at their meeting on Tuesday October 4th. This committee meets before the full Council.  I quote below from an email from our Town Clerk on the subject.  As with all Council & committee meetings, there will be some opportunity for residents to ask questions at the start of the meeting.  There will also be  presentation to the school.

<snip>

Network Rail will be attending the Town Councils Planning Lighting & Highways Committee meeting scheduled for Tuesday 4th October. It is envisaged that the meeting will start 15 mins earlier than normal at 6.30pm as Network Rail advised that their presentation lasted 10 mins followed by questions (when they presenred to Attleborough Town Council re the main crossing in the Town it took 15mins for the presentation and questions). I was told verbally by Network Rail that they were undertaking a presentation to the school but they did not advise me of the date or time this was due to take place. I re-iterate that it was important that they did a presentation to residents and suggested that they did it on the same day as the school visit.

</snip>

Network Rail have cancelled the presentation to Councillors (Tue October 4th, 18:30).

However, there are now plans for a public meeting in our Village Hall to which all residents will be invited.  Date & time to be announced. 

Well I too (of course!) hope that everyone will be given a reasonable chance to have their say.  Diana Hockaday & I have been saying that we need a public meeting; now, as if by magic, it has been promised (within the next couple of weeks I believe).

That said, I think it would be unrealistic to have any expectations that we can stop it happening. Network Rail have decided to upgrade the whole line, and do so they will.  What we can do is to ensure that all safety measures are in place for a crossing on a busy road near a school.

Unfortunately I shall not be able to come to the meeting tomorrow, but hope it allows people to have their say.

 

Received from our Town Clerk today:

I have today been advised by Network Rail that the proposed meeting at Spooner Row to discuss the new automated level crossing has now been rearranged for TUESDAY 29th NOVEMBER  7.00pm AT SPOONER ROW VILLAGE HALL.

I am told by Network Rail that they will be sending out 150 letters to surrounding households

This re-scheduling is because some unions have planned strike action for Nov.30th so train travel may be disrupted.

Followig the meeting in the Village Hall, Network Rail have replied to the points raised.  I quote their reply below. 

 

 
Regarding the incident in 1969 in Lippstadt , this happened before the advent of obstacle detector crossings, and is one of the reasons why the new system became the favoured option. If anyone or any cars or vehicles are on the crossing when it closes the system will prevent the train from reaching the crossing. With respect to the statement that German railways are replacing automatic crossings with manned crossings, every one of the 220-plus obstacle detector crossings in Germany has been installed since 1969. Although as we stated at the presentation there has not been a single incident where the German crossings have failed to detect an occupied crossing, the UK system has additional safeguards and additional functionality to protect users.

 

With respect to the census details the age or accuracy of the data would have no effect on the choice of crossing at this location. The selection criteria for an obstacle detector crossing is not limited by the levels of pedestrian or vehicle traffic.  The last census was carried out on 4 July 2011 at 10.55am, and the measured data extrapolates to a daily use of 1,485 vehicles (including vans and HGVs) and 27 pedestrians. The timing would have missed both the morning and afternoon “school run” and as such the pedestrian figure is likely to be low. However we reiterate that this would have no effect on the choice of crossing type in this case. The trial site where the crossing concept was tested is in permanent use all year round by pedestrians and all types of vehicles, it has more than one school in the vicinity and regularly sees very large groups of children from both primary and secondary schools, often a whole class at a time.

 

When two pilot schemes were mentioned this is because the modular resignalling pilot is being carried out on two routes, so strictly speaking it is one pilot.  Although the crossing is part of the modular pilot for resignalling the whole line, the equipment used at the crossing has been tested and accepted, the crossing is not a pilot or a trial. This equipment and the concept behind the operation of the crossing is fully accepted for use on the rail network.

 

I hope that these replies answer all of your questions about the new crossing. If you have any more questions please do not hesitate to contact me again.

I can forward any further questions if anyone has any -- John T