Welsh farmers warned of railway track dangers

[whole diary]

[Chris from Nailsea]

From the Farmers Guardian:

Farmers across Wales are being urged to ^See Track, Think Train^ when using the 1,200 railway level crossings across the country.

In Wales alone in the past five years there have been 543 incidents, including 66 near misses, at what are classified as user worked crossings, most often operated by farmers.

More seriously, between January 2007 and June 2012, three people died while using level crossings in Wales and in the past 12 months there have been four vehicle collisions.

Now Network Rail, in a joint approach with NFU Cymru, is hoping a new campaign will make farmers more aware that they should treat level crossings as they would a busy road, even in quiet rural areas.

^Network Rail and NFU Cymru are concerned about the welfare of the agricultural professionals that use level crossings,^ says Tracey Young, Network Rail^s community safety manager for Wales. ^Work is continuing to improve railway safety at level crossings, which includes modifying, upgrading and even closing crossings where possible,^ she added.

NFU Cymru president, Ed Bailey, is urging farmers who have to use such crossings to be extra vigilant. ^Farmers with land either side of the railway rely heavily on being able to use level crossings and we are happy to work with Network Rail on this campaign,^ he says. ^Hopefully, by raising awareness of the dangers at the same time as Network Rail continues to modify and upgrade them we can reduce the number of incidents on crossings.^

The advice is:

Always use crossing telephones where provided.
Follow the signaller^s instructions.
Always be vigilant.
Make sure livestock are under control.
Don^t rely solely on train timetables.

There is always the chance of a charter or engineering train passing when you least expect it.

Network Rail is also offering compensation packages to landowners who would like to sell the rights to their crossings.

More than 600 level crossings have already been closed, with the target being 750 closures by April 2014. Details on 0121 345 3354.