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Salford City FC co-owner and former Manchester United and England superstar Paul Scholes has helped launch a new railway safety initiative which aims to cut the number of young people who are killed or injured after trespassing on the railway.

More than 60 open level crossings have been fitted with a new modular barrier system to improve safety and reduce the risk of a road vehicle collision with a train. The barriers at Brewster Lane and Matt Pitts Lane in Skegness, Lincolnshire were brought into use this month, the final two of 66 crossings which have been upgraded as part of a three year national programme.

As thousands of drivers take to the roads to deliver the estimated 200m parcels that have been ordered in the run-up to Christmas, Network Rail has teamed up with some of the biggest road fleets in Britain to help drivers stay safe at level crossings this winter. 

The West Coast main line north of Carlisle has reopened just two days after it was under eight feet of floodwater.

Network Rail will be re-opening the West Coast main line north of Carlisle this afternoon just two days after it was under eight feet of floodwater.

Network Rail’s orange army has swung into action to reopen the northern section of the West Coast main line after extensive flooding of the tracks receded overnight.

The West Coast main line north of Carlisle will remain closed for several days after eight feet of water flooded the railway.

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.