Network Rail Objects To Wrexham To London Service
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on the BBC.
This is the sub-heading.
Concerns have been raised about plans for a direct rail service between Wrexham and London, including fears over safety at level crossings.
These three paragraphs add details to the story.
Network Rail warned the line was already congested and there was not enough timetable capacity for extra services.
In a report, it said increased use would raise the risk of a collision at crossings along the route and that it could not support the application, put forward by a new open-access rail operator called the Wrexham, Shropshire and Midlands Railway (WSMR).
The new service would link Wrexham, Gobowen, Shrewsbury, Walsall and Coleshill up with the capital.
This Google Map shows the area of the crossing.
Note.
- Chirk station, which is fully-accessible via ramps, is at the top of the map.
- The railway between and running down the middle of the map.
- The railway has a maximum speed of 70 mph.
- The Aqueduct and the Viaduct crossing the valley of the River Ceirog together.
- The large caravan park.
- Chirk Castle Park.
If the Viaduct level crossing is in this area, it is a serious accident waiting to happen.
The BBC article says this about the crossing.
They include the Viaduct level crossing in Shropshire, which it said was “used by large groups and is also a hot spot for trespassing and fatalities”.
The operator said work would need to be carried out to make it safe.
North Shropshire MP Helen Morgan has previously spoken out on the safety of the crossing, which is close to the Chirk Viaduct.
She has written to Network Rail to request additional safety measures be put in place.
Network Rail said it had reviewed the safety of the crossing and brought forward plans to install crossing lights, which should be in place in December this year.
Note.
- I hope this is enough. But, I do know that the level crossing lights work well at Thurston station in Suffolk.
- It must help, that there is a bridge at the station.
The line between Wolverhampton and Wrexham, except for a short 15 mph section at Shrewsbury has at least a 70 mph maximum speed.
As electric trains, including battery-electric ones, have fast acceleration and deceleration would it not be possible for them to slow down for the level crossings?
This could even be done automatically using digital signalling.
Conclusion
I believe that this level crossing problem is solvable.
The Anonymous Widower 
Its maddening that the railway is now restricting service uplifts on multiple lines due to LXing risk and its plain daft. There too risk adverse and the risk evaluation process is daft as it basically says if you go from 1 tph to 2 you’ve doubled the risk and then ranks each crossing about how likely there could be a misdemeanour using a scoring system and history as a multiplier. So what the industry would rather do is let the traffic stay on the road which is far more risky. They need to be told to take a holistic view.
Comment by Nicholas Lewis | June 9, 2025 |
At one time, a few years ago, I had a girlfriend, whose relative was a solicitor working for British Rail in the Level Crossing Closure Department. He got masses of abuse and you can understand, why Network Rail give up on some level crossing closures. A senior legal person, that I know of, was threatening to take Network Rail all the way to the Supreme Court.
I think you’ll find from what my friend told me, that Network Rail try to take a reasonable view, but some of the opponents of closure, say things like my family has used this crossing for over a hundred years and you can f*** off or pay me a million for my house.
But I do think at Chirk, by controlling train speed and warning lights and signs, they could make it much safer.
A good friend of my wife’s was nearly killed in a level crossing crash, where a slurry tanker crossed in front of a train. He was on the train, which couldn’t stop in time.
The branch line he was on appears to be about 10 miles long with a 50 mph max speed and two level crossings.
As a sixteen-year-old, I was part of a team automating guillotine guards in a factory. The level crossing safety problem is similar. Surely, in sixty years, we must have progressed enough, to create a safe barrier system for a level crossing.
Comment by AnonW | June 9, 2025 |
https://www.eurogunzel.com/2019/02/russian-level-crossings-bite-back/
This seems an appropriate solution!
Comment by Nicholas Lewis | June 9, 2025
When I was in Eastern Poland by the Kalinin grad enclave border watching wildlife, we saw a Polish car jump an ungated level crossing.
I asked if it happened often. T5he guide said something like “Not so much in Poland, but all the time in Russia! They kill hundreds!”
So that partly explains the devices.
Comment by AnonW | June 9, 2025 |