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Thursday 1 Oct 2020

East Suffolk Line level crossings set for safety upgrades this month

Region & Route:

Eastern: Anglia

Network Rail will carry out work to upgrade three level crossings on the East Suffolk line next week to improve safety.

The line will remain open throughout the first period of work which will take place on weeknights from Tuesday 6 October to 23 December.

The work will involve upgrading the following level crossings:

• Haywards (on Tide Mill Way)
• Ferry Lane
• Jetty Avenue (on Jetty Lane)

These crossings are being used more heavily in recent years following development of the local area and some of the equipment is old and needs replacing. The new equipment will automatically detect obstructions, for example a pedestrian or a car, bringing the crossings in line with more modern safety standards. The yodels (alarms) can also be shortened from 70 seconds to 20 seconds for each train passage at Haywards and Ferry Lane road crossings, reducing noise pollution.

Work will take place alongside the track which includes installing:

• New signalling equipment with related cabling
• Axle Counters (which detect the location of trains on the track)
• New crossing decks at Ferry Lane and Haywards

On a small number of occasions, temporary traffic management will be set up on local roads for safety reasons. Where this is necessary, it will only be for short durations and access will be maintained over the crossings.

The work completes on Wednesday 23 December 2020 and resumes in the New Year from Wednesday 6 January to Friday 5 April when the upgrades will be fully completed. The line will be closed for some of the work in 2021 and further information will be available nearer the time.

Ellie Burrows, Network Rail’s route director for Anglia, said: “Our main priority is to keep our railway running safely for everyone and as communities grow upgrades like this are essential in doing just that. It’s safer for our engineers to work when trains aren’t running, which is why much of the work will be carried out overnight, and we have plans and methods in place to minimise noise levels.”

Any questions or concerns can be reported via the 24-Hour National Helpline on 03457 11 41 41 or visit www.networkrail.co.uk/contactus.