New warning system improves safety at level crossings in Cambridgeshire: Covtec installed at Block Farm level crossing 2

Wednesday 21 Jun 2017

New warning system improves safety at level crossings in Cambridgeshire

Region & Route:
Eastern: Anglia
| Eastern

A new audible warning system, alerting pedestrians and cyclists of approaching trains has made three footpath level crossings in Cambridgeshire safer.  Network Rail began rolling out the system at 18 level crossings across the Anglia region at the beginning of the year, making the railway safer and more reliable as part of its Railway Upgrade Plan.

The system has been installed at footpath level crossings where the user is required to stop, look and listen for a train before crossing. When a person arrives at the crossing and a train is approaching, the system reproduces the sound of a train horn. This is an additional warning to complement the real train horn on its approach.

The new system has been installed at the following level crossings in the Cambridgeshire region:

  • Soham station, Cambridgeshire
  • Clayway, Littleport
  • Block Farm, Fordham, Ely

The following video shows how the system works. The first horn after 12 seconds, is the warning system, followed by the faint horn of the train approximately 2 seconds after. 

 

By improving safety at these crossings with this additional measure, temporary speed restrictions can be lifted, reducing delays for passengers across the rail network.

Richard Schofield, Network Rail’s route managing director for Anglia, said: “This new system will improve safety at these crossings where the user needs to stop, look and listen for a train before deciding to cross.  This extra warning also means that we can safely remove speed restrictions at these crossings, making the railway more reliable as part of our Railway Upgrade Plan.”

Notes to Editors

The new system has also been installed at the following level crossings in the Anglia region:

  • Dixies, Newport
  • Henham, Newport
  • Islands, near Church Road, Bentley
  • Spring Lane, off Boundary Road, Wivenhoe
  • Pagets level crossing, Paget Road, Wivenhoe
  • Spikes Lane, Stowmarket
  • Wisset, Halesworth
  • Rose Farm, Attleborough
  • Sadlers, Harlow
  • Tednambury, Sawbridgeworth
  • White House, Gissing, Diss
  • Giles, Clacton on Sea
  • Strumpshaw, Norwich
  • Pannington Hall, Wherstead, Ipswich

Contact information

Passengers / community members
Network Rail national helpline
03457 11 41 41

Latest travel advice
Please visit National Rail Enquiries

Journalists
Network Rail press office - Katie Mack
Media relations manager (Anglia route)
0330 8577 132
Katie.Mack@networkrail.co.uk

About Network Rail

We own, operate and develop Britain's railway infrastructure; that's 20,000 miles of track, 30,000 bridges, tunnels and viaducts and the thousands of signals, level crossings and stations. We run 20 of the UK's largest stations while all the others, over 2,500, are run by the country's train operating companies.

Usually, there are almost five million journeys made in the UK and over 600 freight trains run on the network. People depend on Britain's railway for their daily commute, to visit friends and loved ones and to get them home safe every day. Our role is to deliver a safe and reliable railway, so we carefully manage and deliver thousands of projects every year that form part of the multi-billion pound Railway Upgrade Plan, to grow and expand the nation's railway network to respond to the tremendous growth and demand the railway has experienced - a doubling of passenger journeys over the past 20 years.

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