Our plan for level crossings
In June 2011, David Higgins, Chief Executive of Network Rail, announced a new, systematic programme to reduce risk and enhance safety at level crossings. This followed the introduction in 2010/11 of a new level crossings team that has a single objective: to reduce level crossing risk by 25 per cent by 2014. We have now launched a level crossing policy and 10 key milestones that we aim to reach every year until 2014 and will give an update on our progress in our next report.
Level crossing misuse
We measure the number of incidents where a motorised vehicle is struck by, or strikes, a train, or any incident where a non-motorised vehicle or pedestrian is struck by a train, or any near miss with a motorised vehicle, non-motorised vehicle or pedestrian.
While there has been a 24 per cent increase in reported near misses with pedestrians this year (from 209 in 2009/10 to 260 in 2010/11), there has been a reduction in the number of pedestrian fatalities (from 7 in 2009/10 to 3 in 2010/11), and there have been no child fatalities at level crossings.
In addition, there has been a 64 per cent reduction in the number of collisions with vehicles (from 14 in 2009/10 to 5 in 2010/11) and an 18 per cent reduction in near misses with vehicles (from 137 in 2009/10 to 112 in 2010/11).
Closing crossings
In 2010 we commenced our £10m national level crossing closure programme. Since then, 227 level crossings have been closed and at the end of 2010/11 there were agreements in place to close over 200 more. We hope to close our 500th level crossing in 2011.
Educating level crossing users
This year our community safety team organised and attended 95 level crossing safety days to educate users about the consequences of level crossing misuse. These days were held around Britain in conjunction with the British Transport Police (BTP), local police forces, train operating companies and other key stakeholders
They’re not time-wasters, they’re lifesavers
In 2010/11, we continued our national television advertising campaign aimed at raising awareness among motorists of the dangers of misusing level crossings with the strapline ‘They’re not time-wasters, they’re lifesavers’.
Rail Safety Camera Partnership with the British Transport Police (BTP)
In 2010/11, we funded a purpose-built marked police van equipped with CCTV cameras and automatic number plate recognition technology to help identify motorists who misuse level crossings.
The van is operated by BTP officers who have access to a system that can begin processing offences there and then. This means the police can spend more time at crossings without having to return to the station to fill in paperwork. This is a pilot project that is currently being trialled in Kent, Sussex and Surrey.