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Update: Rail passengers suffer delays

9:12am Tuesday 13th May 2008

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Rail services between Oxford and Didcot have returned to normal following problems at a level crossing this morning.

The technical fault at Appleford level crossing near Didcot delayed services by up to 40 minutes for commuters earlier today.

First Great Western spokesman Lance Cole said barriers at the level crossing in Main Road, the B4016, were jammed in the up position shortly after 6am.

Network Rail engineers corrected the fault shortly after 10am, added Mr Cole.ing electrical failure near Swindon.

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Andrew, Oxford says...
5:06pm Tue 13 May 08

A level crossing on a 200kph railway is ridiculous. They are a clear terrorist target for a start - just imagine an HST hitting a petrol tanker that's driven through the barriers.

It's time to either close the crossings or excavate tunnels/build bridges.

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simon, crystal palace says...
5:22pm Tue 13 May 08

Andrew - that's simply not financially viable. There are over 7,600 level crossings in the UK it would cost an astronomical amount of money to change even a small percentage of them. It's an argument used whenever there is a fatality on them too. The amount of money needing to be spent to maybe (and it is maybe) save a couple of lives a year is not worh doing. Sounds callous but there you go.

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Mark, Oxford says...
5:42pm Tue 13 May 08

"200kph railway" - where do you think we are, Belgium? You're lucky if you do 60 through Appleford, and more often than not you could jog faster.

As for the risk - there are about 7600 crossings in the UK and 1800 incidents per year, resulting in about 12 deaths. Nineteen out of twenty incidents are due to people deliberately ignoring the warnings (cf the lady killed recently crossing while while the lights were flashing). You can't protect idiots against themselves.

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Ed, Oxford says...
8:27pm Tue 13 May 08

Not my fault. I drove over it on Sunday. Had to hit the button twice as it took forever to get the barriers up.

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anon, didcot says...
11:53am Wed 14 May 08

andrew, are you on crack? terrorist attack? think you're starting to believe government hype!

I hardly think a small level crossing on one train line is going to be a terrorist target ever!!

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