The Voice of Spalding and South Holland
Network Rail has issued a public apology about the persistent problems causing lengthy closures of level crossings in South Holland.
The authority responsible for the UK’s railway network says it is working with equipment suppliers to quickly rectify issues on the GNGE line.
The apology came after Littleworth crossing at Deeping St Nicholas developed a fault on Friday, causing barriers to remain down for more than three and a half hours and forcing road traffic to use alternative routes.
A Network Rail spokesman said: “We apologise to the community in Spalding that there have been a number of failures following the recent re-signalling works.
“A number of these have been due to equipment failures and we have been working with our suppliers to investigate and address the root cause of the issue.
“Additionally there have been a number of failures at level crossings. As part of the re-signalling a large number of level crossings were upgraded to a new type of crossing MCB-OD (Manually Controlled Barriers with Obstacle Detection.
“There has been some issues with this new technology which we are addressing as a priority.”
Friday’s issue in Deeping St Nicholas was the third long closure of a level crossing in less than a fortnight.
Network Rail said: “There was an issue with the signalling systems from 05.23 to 09.02. The barriers were down in order to protect safety and our team responded as quickly as possible and we apologise for the inconvenience.”
Problems at Mill Green and Park Road level crossings in Spalding have caused lengthy closures and serious road traffic congestion since a £280million upgrade of the line last year.
South Holland District Council has written to Network Rail seeking assurances over addressing the issues.
Meanwhile, a Spalding rail enthusiast says the equipment manufacturer is to blame, not Network Rail. In a letter published in The Voice on June 4, David Mead says Siemens must take responsibility for the faults.
