Tallington Level Crossing saga rumbles on

A Market Deeping Councillor is calling for a bridge to replace a notorious level crossing.

Coun Adam Brookes (Lib Dem), chair of the town council’s planning and highways committee, has written to the rail regulator, the Office of Rail and Road (ORR), to include plans for a bridge to take the A1175 over the East Coast Main Line (ECML), instead of Tallington level crossing.

“I’ve written to the ORR as part of their consideration of Network Rail’s plans for 2019-2024 seeking the replacement of Tallington level crossing with a bridge,” he said.

“I’ve highlighted the disruption the crossing causes in our local area and this does seem set to get worse.

“Network Rail’s plans are currently unclear as to whether this will happen in the near future.

“This is though particularly important now following the recent approval of a project at Werrington Junction which will increase capacity on the East Coast Main Line.

“This will see another four trains per hour passing Tallington.

“Clearly this will only further exacerbate problems at Tallington and so a project to replace the level crossing with a bridge should be in Network Rail’s plans.”

The crossing is believed to be one of the busiest level crossings on the British railway network with the barriers often down for about 40 minutes per hour.

Level Crossing campaigner and Tallington Resident, Ken Otter, welcomed Coun Brookes’s letter.

“It’s supposed to be completed now, it was in their (Network Rail) plans but got cancelled because the Midland Main Line ran over budget,” he said.

“From 2020, there’s going to be this new company which will manage everything on the ECML - the trains and the infrastructure.

“This muddies the water even more because we’ve got no-one to talk to.”

A Network Rail spokesman, said: “We appreciate the impact which level crossing barrier downtime can have for both drivers and pedestrians.”

The spokesman said they had undertaken a feasibility study into the closure of level crossings on the ECML in 2014-15 “to better understand the options and costs associated with this work”.

“At that time the study estimated the cost of closing the crossing to be prohibitive.

“This work is not currently funded for delivery.

“We continue to seek opportunities to close level crossings on the ECML when it can be funded, possibly aligned with other planned work.

“Additionally, we continue to work with the industry on our plans for the next funding period – between 2019 and 2024 – and this includes determining what the level of investment in the ECML will be.

“Once these plans have progressed further we will be in a position to develop specific proposals in line with the available funding and provide more information in relation to our plans for the East Coast.”

Coun Richard Davies, executive member for highways and transport at Lincolnshire County Council, said: “We are aware of the issues with Tallington level crossing, and we are working with the local community, land owners and Network Rail to find a solution.”