Spital Cow Road Level Crossing - Tweedmouth

[a_c_skinner]

This crossing is south of the loops and sidings just south of the Royal Border Bridge at Berwick upon Tweed. It is a very minor road with virtually no traffic. There is a foot crossing controlled by gates and red/green lights with a siren and vehicle crossing which is operated only by a rail employee. Line speed is 100MPH up and 115MPH down. There are easy viable other routes for road traffic which would be as quick or quicker, especially as we waited five minutes as train was due. While we waited (no complaint, don't want to be under a Voyager, nice chap told us) there was no other road traffic.

So why is this crossing still open? I thought there was a drive to shut crossings and it strikes me this one could be shut for the price of two padlocks and a few road signs and hardly any inconvenience. We only drove that way out of interest. I doubt anyone knows this particular crossing, I suspect Network Rail doesn't know of it, but what sort of things keep apparently futile crossings open.

 

[Narrowgauge725]

I have used it once and was amazed it existed

 

[Llanigraham]

A lot depends on how the crossing was specified in the Act for the building of the railway. There are many crossings that were specified in those Acts and to close them can mean that a new Act has to be passed.
And I can assure you that the Level Crossing Manager will know about it!

 

[swt_passenger]

A lot depends on how the crossing was specified in the Act for the building of the railway. There are many crossings that were specified in those Acts and to close them can mean that a new Act has to be passed.
And I can assure you that the Level Crossing Manager will know about it!

I would hope the crossing keepers are known to NR, or they might have pretty thin pay packets…

 

[MadMac]

A public Right of Way isn’t impossible to get rid of, but can be challenging. NR probably has more pressing concerns level crossing-wise.

 

[a_c_skinner]

While we were waiting for the Edinburgh to Temple Meads I did speculate to Mrs S that the crossing may have been specified in the original Act of Parliament and I am of course sure the nice, polite chap who worked the gates is known to the employer. But it must be costing a fortune. Perhaps 20 vehicles a day, 5000 a year for at least four WTE crossing keepers.

 

[swt_passenger]

In the 2021 level crossing usage spreadsheet, the vehicle crossing rate was assessed as 10 per day, back in 2019. Pedestrian numbers were 24 per day total, shared between the two separate entries, the vehicle (14) and pedestrian (10) crossings each have their own data and different risk assessments.

I wonder if pedestrians and cyclists are asking to use the vehicle crossing because it’s considered safer, or they just take advantage if they see a vehicle crossing?

The data can be found on this NR web page, there’s a map followed by a link to downloadable spreadsheet “Level Crossings Data April 2021”.

Active level crossings - Network Rail

Information about all our level crossings including type, location and risk assessments. Active level crossings map How to use this...

www.networkrail.co.uk

 

[endofthetunnel]

Network Rail currently are running a two pronged approach - both dealing with the very high risk crossing sites and also picking off the ‘low hanging fruit’ and closing as many simple ones as they can.
I suspect this crossing is neither of the two!

It’s staffed and also has some warning systems so is inherently safer than most other completely user worked crossings, including along the same stretch of high speed railway.
The fact this has a member of staff adds weight to there being some act of parliament or phrase in the deeds which requires it to exist and be staffed so that will make the closure slightly harder legally, plus it will require the relocation or redundancy of members of staff, which gives another financial consideration to the closure.

 

[zwk500]

So why is this crossing still open? I thought there was a drive to shut crossings and it strikes me this one could be shut for the price of two padlocks and a few road signs and hardly any inconvenience.

As it's an existing highway there would be a legal process involved in closing or diverting it. The nearest diversions aren't actually paved - you have to head back through the Caravan park and then hop through the estate to stay on a paved path. As providing a footbridge at this location isn't really viable (due to gradient across the railway and closeness of housing) it would be a rather protracted closure, as the local residents and Caravan park would object to their easiest access to the sea being cut off. As there's a member of staff there and it's actually in town rather than needing somebody to drive out in to the middle of the countryside it's a lower priority than other crossings.

For pedestrians I doubt anyone knows this particular crossing, I suspect Network Rail doesn't know of it, but what sort of things keep apparently futile crossings open.

Network Rail certainly know about it as it's staffed, and they'll be keen to close it for that reason.

 

[Crossover]

For the benefit of those unsure, I believe this is the crossing being discussed

Google Maps

Find local businesses, view maps and get driving directions in Google Maps.

goo.gl

 

[spag23]

I hope the what3words location quoted on this crossing's notice board doesn't reflect NR's opinion of the gatekeeper.
extra.cowboy.manual

 

[a_c_skinner]

For the benefit of those unsure, I believe this is the crossing being discussed

Google Maps

Find local businesses, view maps and get driving directions in Google Maps.

goo.gl

Correct. It isn't the foot crossing that surprises me, it seems well protected by lights and sirens but that it is staffed for vehicles when actually driving round would generally be little slower or at times faster.

 

[Gloster]

Looking at it on streetview, I would think that it would be a difficult one to automate or even convert to CCTV. From the North Sea side there is very poor visibility due to a house and a fairly steep uphill approach, while in either direction there is a sharp dog-leg needed to cross.

 

[InOban]

You could close the road to vehicles but you would then have to build an expensive and intrusive foot bridge with ramps. Unless you could build a foot tunnel.

 

[fgwrich]

You could close the road to vehicles but you would then have to build an expensive and intrusive foot bridge with ramps. Unless you could build a foot tunnel.

Indeed, looking at Google Maps, you could upgrade Main Street and Albert Road, making the main road route run via there (Albert Road appears to drop to a bridge running under the ECML). You could just about fit a footbridge in, but you’d have to provide more ramps or steps on the North Sea side. A small subway / foot tunnel as you say would probably be the better option, though would require more work and a short closure to build it.

 

[zwk500]

You could close the road to vehicles but you would then have to build an expensive and intrusive foot bridge with ramps. Unless you could build a foot tunnel.

Indeed, looking at Google Maps, you could upgrade Main Street and Albert Road, making the main road route run via there (Albert Road appears to drop to a bridge running under the ECML). You could just about fit a footbridge in, but you’d have to provide more ramps or steps on the North Sea side. A small subway / foot tunnel as you say would probably be the better option, though would require more work and a short closure to build it.

The better option would be to upgrade the path that currently goes to the next bridge north of the crossing.

 

[swt_passenger]

Indeed, looking at Google Maps, you could upgrade Main Street and Albert Road, making the main road route run via there (Albert Road appears to drop to a bridge running under the ECML). You could just about fit a footbridge in, but you’d have to provide more ramps or steps on the North Sea side. A small subway / foot tunnel as you say would probably be the better option, though would require more work and a short closure to build it.

The southern extension of “Albert Rd“ and the route under the railway seems to be no more than a field track and to the east of the line it appears to be a signed footpath but closed off by a fence. I’m thinking it’s naming as Albert Rd is a Google mapping error.

 

[Gloster]

Looking at instantstreetview again, it seems that the continuation of Cow Road north from the crossing along the west side of the line is, at best, a rough track. Further north the 1929 map shows a subway leading under the line and down to Middle Street in Spittal; on instantstreetview the exit on to Middle Street appears to be still there, but very narrow: 3’ or so. Where the road from the crossing comes out on to Middle Street there is a street name plate saying Albert Road, but whether this name for the road goes all the way up the hill to the crossing or just the hundred yards to the corner at the bottom of the hill I cannot say.

 

[Meerkat]

If its a public road would you be allowed to close it without providing turning facilities, which would be very tricky on the downhill side?

 

[Pinza-C55]

Up until at least 1980 when I walked from Berwick to photograph it, it had a little North Eastern Railway wooden "sentry box" with an original NER enamel nameplate on it.
In 1979 I visited Hett Mill crossing south of Durham and the signalman told me it was solely there to give access to the nearby farm. When it was evaluated to decide how busy it was and therefore his wages, the farmer would cross it several times a day.