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Tuesday 1 Dec 2015

Ten years after Elsenham tragedy, Britain’s level crossings are the safest in Europe – but there’s still more to do

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It is ten years since the tragic deaths of Olivia Bazlinton, 14, and Charlotte Thompson, 13, at Elsenham level crossing in Essex – an event which led to a sea-change in Network Rail’s approach to level crossing safety and today Britain has the best level crossings safest record of any major railway in Europe. 

In 2010, Network Rail began its level crossing safety improvement programme which has helped make the railway significantly safer by improving and upgrading crossings with new technology and removing or replacing almost 1,000 from the national network altogether.

More than 100 dedicated level crossing managers have been employed and trained to manage the safety of around 60 crossings each, building local relationships with those that use the railway most frequently, and an improved management system helps us better understand the specific risks at each crossing and deploy appropriate warning and protection measures.

Mark Carne, Network Rail’s chief executive says: “Since Elsenham our approach to level-crossing safety has been transformed. Today we carry out detailed risk assessments of every crossing to target our interventions in a much more effective way.

“We have made huge strides in level-crossing safety over 10 years, and I’m proud of the fact that our level crossings are the safest in Europe, but they’re still inherently hazardous places and there’s still much more we can do, working with communities to make level crossings even safer.”

Tina Hughes, Olivia’s mother, now works with Network Rail as the company’s level crossing user champion. Here, she talks about how things have changed ten on years on.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Notes to Editors:

Innovation and improvements at level crossings:

• 1,100 crossings have improved sighting
• 494 level crossings fitted with brighter LED lights
• 113 level crossings fitted with spoken audible warnings to announce when “another train is coming” after one train has passed through
• 66 new barriers fitted at automatic open crossings
• 66 crossings fitted with a time delay, preventing a signaller from mistakenly raising the barriers as a train approaches (to prevent further Moreton-on-Lugg-type accidents)
• 20+ crossings fitted with Home Office approved red light safety cameras which act like speed cameras and capture motorists crossing after the warning sequence has begun.
• 15 BTP-operated fleet of mobile safety vehicles with number plate recognition camera technology introduced
• 81 level crossings are in the process of being fitted with power operated gates
• Less costly modular footbridges developed

Closures:

• 987 level crossings closed since 2010

People and systems:  

• 100+ level crossing managers employed and trained on a specially developed course. Each has responsibility for the safety and management of around 60 crossings in a geographical patch, where they aim to build relationships with those that use the crossings most frequently.
• Further development of the All Level Crossing Risk Model (ALCRM) to help us better understand the specific risks at each crossing and deploy appropriate warning and protection measures.
• The last fatality at a level crossing (excluding suicides) was on Feb 8^th This is the longest period of time without an accidental fatality since the level crossing programme began in 2010.