Media centre

Tuesday 25 Aug 2015

Residents invited to learn more about plans to replace Wool footpath level crossing

Region & Route:

| Southern: Wessex

| Southern

Residents will have the opportunity to find out more about the proposed new stepped footbridge at Wool at a drop-in session on Tuesday  September 15 at the D’Urberville Centre & Village Hall in Wareham.

Members of the Network Rail team will be on hand between 2pm and 8pm to answer questions and update residents on the proposed changes and how the project will affect the local area between.  There is no need for local residents to book a place and all are welcome.

Network Rail is proposing to close the footpath level crossing at Wool and replace it with a stepped footbridge. The crossing has been identified as high risk owing to the number of trains that pass through it and the poor visibility for both trains and users at the crossing.

As part of this project, Network Rail consulted Wool Parish Council, Purbeck District Council and Dorset County Council to establish the best alternative for the current level crossing. 

Andrew Latimer, Network Rail’s project manager, said: “Every time a footpath or a road meets the railway, there is a risk and it is our aim to reduce this as much as we can. We have closed more than 900 level crossings in the last five years and we know the safest level crossing is a closed one.

"We believe the new footbridge offers the safest option for the community to cross the railway. We look forward to sharing our plans with the community and to answer any questions they may have."

For further information about the project, residents can contact Network Rail’s 24-hour national helpline on 03457 11 41 41.

NOTES TO EDITORS

• The drop-in session will take place on from 2-8 pm at D’Urberville Centre & Village Hall, Collier's Ln, Wool, Wareham, Dorset BH20 6DL
• Once approvals are granted the project should take no more than six months to complete.
• There are approximately 6,100 level crossings in Britain. Level crossings were built with the Victorian railway more than 100 years ago when there were far fewer trains, travelling at slower speeds and fewer people and road traffic. If the railway were being built today, level crossings would not be used.
• There are many different types of crossings, all with different safety measures in place from signs, to barriers and klaxons. See http://www.networkrail.co.uk/level-crossings/types-of-level-crossing/.
• Network Rail is investing £100m in the next four years to reduce risk at level crossings and improve safety. The ongoing programme of activity includes:
  • Network Rail’s dedicated community safety team which aims to reduce railway crime
  • Level crossing closure programme which has seen more than 950 closed over the past six years
  • Investment in upgrading and improving level crossings
  • Mobile camera enforcement vans
  • Developing better and cost-effective ways of detecting and recording level crossings misuse