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Residents fight to save Wareham railway crossing

7:20pm Sunday 25th October 2009 in


A TOWN meeting has been called to allow residents to have their say on controversial plans to close the pedestrian level crossing in Wareham.

Feelings have been running high in the town since the news that the crossing between the Wareham and Carey was under threat.

Footage below of an impatient mother ignoring warning lights as a train approached in Wareham

Network Rail says it is “high risk” and one of the worst in the region for “near misses” thanks to widespread misuse.

But residents fighting to save it claim its closure it will cut the town in half and leave disabled and elderly people stranded.

Residents are calling for electronic crossing gates. Proposals to transport people over the lines by bus have failed to convince.

Following a packed town council meeting earlier this month, campaigners have pushed for the public meeting.

Angela Stuart, who runs Carey Post Office, said they invoked their right to convene a meeting, as laid out in the 1972 Local Government Act, by sending a letter signed by six electors to the town council.

She added: “We need to make sure that as many people as possible are made aware that we are going to lose this crossing if we don’t fight for it.”

She said residents had also carried out a survey, revealing around 1,000 people a day use the level crossing.

The public meeting is on Thursday October 29 at the Purbeck School hall, Worgret Road, at 7pm.

It will be an open forum, chaired by the town mayor Audrey Tighe, where anyone on the electoral register in Wareham Town will be allowed to have their say, ask a question or put forward a resolution for consideration at the next meeting of the town council.

MP Annette Brooke is expected to attend and an invitation has been extended to Tim Westwood, Dorset County Council traffic manager.

More Purbeck News


Comments(12)

fred0507 says...
7:31pm Sun 25 Oct 09

"will be an open forum, chaired by the town mayor Audrey Tighe, where anyone on the electoral register in Wareham Town will be allowed to have their say, ask a question or put forward a resolution for consideration at the next meeting of the town council.

MP Annette Brooke is expected to attend and an invitation has been extended to Tim Westwood, Dorset County Council traffic manager. "

Have they actully bothered inviting anyone who is relevant such as the BTP who have to waste much needed resources watching people cross. or HMRI or HSE or even the drivers who suffer stress with each near miss.
Sadly this will not be resolved untill some one is hit and killed, then your crossing will be closed.

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Yawwwn! says...
8:13pm Sun 25 Oct 09

Before anyone has a go at the council or Network Rail, just remember that if this crossing is closed, its closed because the people who use it...don't respect the warning sirens and lights warning not to cross.

If this crossing was respected by all...then this would not even be in the news with debates about whetehr it should be closed or not.

The public only have themselves to blame! ! ! !

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upontown says...
8:15pm Sun 25 Oct 09

Public meetings, threats from the Railway owners and constant misuse could be wiped away in one fowl swoop with 2 gates that close when operated by the Signalman.

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Ferndown Steve says...
8:32pm Sun 25 Oct 09

As said above - Two options are closed gates operated by signalman when train in vicinity or a new pedestrian bridge/ramp over the tracks !


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[Chris] says...
10:20pm Sun 25 Oct 09

Dont know about two options. I would say two words needs to be put into place and practice:
.
Look - Listen
.
Look for the Lights, and Listen for the Siren. Why waste more of taxpayers money because of a mindless, idiotic few.

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MJD says...
7:02am Mon 26 Oct 09

How many pedestrians have been killed there since 1847 ? Thats a 162 years. Thats how long the gates have been there. The first station was the other side of the gates.

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GB916 says...
7:41am Mon 26 Oct 09

The above picture and the recent video of a stupid mother and child train dodging would be enough for most jurors find the notion to close this closing right,i guess the locals that abuse the crossing can put forward a good case as to why they ignore the lights and warning sound,over to you,but funny how they never put forward why they do it,they just whine that if the crossing is closed it will cut their town in half,sorry you are guilty as charged,case closed along with the closing i say.

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essexman2 says...
11:44am Mon 26 Oct 09

GB916 wrote:
The above picture and the recent video of a stupid mother and child train dodging would be enough for most jurors find the notion to close this closing right,i guess the locals that abuse the crossing can put forward a good case as to why they ignore the lights and warning sound,over to you,but funny how they never put forward why they do it,they just whine that if the crossing is closed it will cut their town in half,sorry you are guilty as charged,case closed along with the closing i say.
The idiots who cross in front of trains are not only stupid, but frankly selfishly inconsiderate as well for two reasons.

They will end up depriving sensible users of the facility. They have no thought of any driver, who may have the misfortune to run them over, and suffer severe mental problems after the event.


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mgpoole says...
2:00pm Mon 26 Oct 09

As a "near miss" example this is not in it. The train is not approaching, but at rest in the station Up Platform. It starts to move as the woman is on the crossing but she is clear of the track for several seconds before the train reaches the crossing. Similarly with the photograph on the website with a couple walking across, the train being in the Up Platform at the time. It remains utterly reprehensible that anyone should ignore the safety signs provided. And we do not know, and nor can the pedestrians, whether there is also a train approaching on the Down. They could be in more danger than we see, but as evidence it is a little thin. The crossing users are ignoring red lights, and that's bad enough. But as "near misses", case not proven.

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X Old Bill says...
7:03pm Mon 26 Oct 09

Oh dear, here we go again.
For the benefit of those residents with short memories, or are recently arrived: Yes, there were gates for pedestrians at this crossing and Yes, they were locked when a train was approaching.
The open crossing is a very recent innovation, in the overall scheme of things. It was considered to be SAFER than gates, by the Department of Transport.
What needs to be researched by those arguing either way is the location of a copy of the Traffic Order authorising the construction and use of the present crossing. There most certainly was such an order, it is required by law.
While the Railway may have decided to use such a crossing they are not allowed to do so without authority from a Government Inspector. It is the words of that Inspector to which you need to refer: Was the Authorisation Absolute or Conditional? If there were conditions what were they? Is there any scope for reversing the Authorisation and reinstating the original crossing? Were there any compelling reasons to keep the crossing in its present form? Is so what were they?
Those on either side of the argument would do well to prepare their case on legal terms rather than emotional. At the end of the day that is how it will be decided.
(I would be happy to take instructions from either party...)

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CoogarUK.com says...
12:06am Tue 27 Oct 09

Close it before someone is killed. The idiots who defy the red warning signals are the ones to blame.

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rook says...
8:15am Tue 27 Oct 09

Easily solved with automatic gate.

I will shortly be publishing my latest paper as part of a biology doctorate. In it I explain that Darwin was a clever chap and his ideas of evolution, specifically 'survival of the fittest' are adequate in the animal world where the better equipped members of a species produce more offspring and therefore improve the breed.

However, in humans this doesn't work, so I am proposing a revision entitled 'extinction of the dumbest' whereby idiots with selfish motives are allowed to do as they please as long as it doesn't harm normal people, thereby eventually wiping out their genetic traces from the gene pool.

Simples!

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WRONG SIDE OF THE TRACKS: Residents taking risks at Wareham level crossing and, above left, the Daily Echo’s front page story WRONG SIDE OF THE TRACKS: Residents taking risks at Wareham level crossing and, above left, the Daily Echo’s front page story

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