UK town “blames” rail freight for congestion
A tanker train heads for Spalding Image Network Rail media centre
The small market town of Spalding in the middle of Lincolnshire, on England’s east coast, has raised its arms in protest at a somewhat blameless rail freight industry. Town representatives have claimed freight operations are to “blame” for a residential and road development which they say will blight their town. A somewhat confused local media report maligns Network Rail for “refusing” to install a bridge at a busy level crossing in the town centre.
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A paradox it seems, but as stuck at standards, already not optimal 30 years ago, current “investment” at infrastructure of railways, just pave for new “bottlenecks” and “noise barriers”, etc.!
For added capacity and added utilisation of vast existing assets, roads, etc., regrettably current railway standard, “state of the art”…, is not optimal.
Again, low price is proving high cost!
Investment worth name, shall prove resilient, thus sustainably, robustly provide for added load capacity, etc.!
It’s totally impractical to raise or lower a railway line for one road crossing, so it’s the road that has to be raised on a bridge or lowered into a tunnel. Fitting in the necessary ramps often involves blocking access to or the removal of adjacent properties a point usually ignored by those who shout for “something to be done about it.”
As a resident of Spalding while I do not agree with R G-J on many things on this he actually has a point. There need to be serious discussions between the local Council and Network Rail to get the issue of level crossing closures resolved. FYI R G-J is not a former member of the local authority but is a current and very active local Councillor.