Busiest level crossings in the UK today

[Tracked]

Arksey Crossing, just north of Doncaster on the ECML to York, used to be a particularly bad one pre-Covid. Probably not the busiest in terms of the number of trains, it just seemed to be quite bad in the amount of time the barriers spend down; it was rare not to get held up waiting for a train there, and once the crossings were down it was unusual for it to be just the one train (4 was my worst, 2 north-bound passenger, 1 southbound freight and Passenger).

Not sure about it now, with the services returning to normal I've gone via Thorpe-in-Balne most of the times I've driven out that way, used it on foot a couple of times in January and the barriers had gone up by the time I'd reached it, but were down both times they came into sight and by the volume of traffic crossing had been down for some time.

 

[Strathclyder]

In Strathclyde, the crossings at Lanark Junction (Stanmore Road), Motherwell (Logans Road), Glenboig (Mollinsburn Road), Cardross station (Station Road), Ardmore (Ardmore Road, between Cardross & Craigendoran) & Gailes (Gailes Road, between Irvine & Barassie) all spring to mind in terms of the number of trains passing them daily. However, Logans Road is by far and away the busiest in terms of road traffic and in conjunction with the rail traffic that passes by, makes it a bottleneck for Motherwell as a whole. Replacing it with a bridge is anything but simple though, as this Google Maps screengrab shows:



The only real traffic Ardmore and Gailes crossings have are a few private farmhouses/a small rocky beach and a nearby golf course/sandy beach/nature reserve (a Site of Special Scientific Interest to be precise) respectively. Replacing either with a bridge is likely seen as not being worthwhile.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Engineering works this week mean that a good chunk of the city centre is closed, but the normal timetable at the moment is a 6 minute service.

Having just been out and checked in person, I now concur.

That makes 20 trams crossing at Navigation Road LC each hour, and maybe 4 trains per hour on the adjacent Stockport->Chester heavy rail line.

 

[randyrippley]

Hest Bank north of Lancaster must be in with a shout.

To give an example between 4pm and 5pm today it had 11 trains go through.

going off tangent a bit........but does anyone know how Hest Bank crossing was worked on the night the Chinese cockle pickers died in Morecambe Bay? It would have restricted emergency services access to the shore.
Were the trains stopped or restricted over the crossing?

 

[ASharpe]

There is a bulky excel doc with a lot of data here:

https://www.networkrail.co.uk/communities/safety-in-the-community/level-crossing-safety/

Spoiler

Mount Pleasant in Southampton apparently is the winner for road crossings with 459 trains per day.

 

[Dr_Paul]

Those who have known the multiple crossings in SW London around Richmond for a long time tell me that with each generation of crossing equipment the closure time just gets extended. It's all very well having high-tech CCTV control from a remote point, and some automation, but the time taken to close (and, notably they say, to raise afterwards) just seems to go outwards. This doesn't matter with a rural crossing closed once or twice an hour, but these crossings can close more than 50% of the time, and the queued traffic commonly doesn't get cleared before the barriers come down again. Even the physical barrier raising speed is apparently not what it once was.

I quite frequently drive across the Manor Road crossing at North Sheen, and I don't think it's any worse now than it's been for many years. There are eight up and eight down services each hour (Hounslow Loop, Kingston Loop, Windsor, Reading) and some additional ones at rush hours. The gates have always seemed to come down several minutes before a train arrives, although they usually rise pretty quickly after the last one has gone: there can be three or four trains for each time the gates are down. Manor Road is quite busy, so one can get caught for two 'downs' before driving across. When the crossing was manually worked by a signalman in a box by the crossing, he would often unlock the pedestrian gates if there was sufficient time between trains; motors could be held even then for two or three trains.

 

[Robert Ambler]

We have this question asked regularly.

Using Pre Covid timetables, you’ll be hard pushed to beat Windmill Lane MCB-CCTV at Cheshunt, and Wharf Road AHB just down the line, both with 24 tph in the peak.

Ingatestone MCB and Church Lane MCB-CCTV were busier at 26tph in one peak hour, but those days have long gone.

Yes my vote would go to Windmill Lane especially as in addition to the 20+ trains per hour it is adjacent to the platform ends at Cheshunt Station so the barriers are bought down as a stopping train approaches the station although it does not cross the level crossing until departure.

 

[PlatformEdgeVT]

This might've been said before, but Navigation Road has 22 or more tph. (20 Metrolink services, 2 Northern and maybe 2 freighters). Same with Deansgate Lane.

 

[Basil Jet]

Lincoln Road level crossing near Enfield Town has been permanently closed to road vehicles for years, despite still being manned for one shift per day!

 

[Royston Vasey]

Foxton (Cambs) isn't the busiest, but I was recently stopped by the barriers there when no less than seven trains passed through in succession within ten minutes. The barriers were down for about 12 minutes.

It was a perfect Sunday evening storm of an LNER divert, a local Cambridge/London in each direction, a fast Cambridge/Brighton in each direction, a Kings Lynn/Kings Cross in each direction and an ECS to Letchworth. Four of the seven were subject to minor delays, the down services at least seemed to have been stacked up.

 

[bramling]

Passenger trains wise it generally it has...

10 x LNER
2-4 x Hull Trains/Grand Central/Lumo
2 x EMR
2 x XC

16-18 per hour, though a few of those passenger services currently don't run.

Plus freight to and from the Leicester lines. Most freight on the ECML now runs via Spalding but there are a few left.

The signaller in the box at Helpston controls the level crossings at Helpston, Maxey, Lolham, Tallington, and Greatford, plus the release for the gates at Woodcroft.

Helpston must be absolutely awful for the signaller there. I use Helpston occasionally and it’s quite typical to wait 10 or more minutes for the barriers to rise, then before the queue of cars has cleared the lights start flashing again. I don’t mind if at the front of the traffic queue, but otherwise it’s a nightmare!

 

[TheBigD]

Helpston must be absolutely awful for the signaller there. I use Helpston occasionally and it’s quite typical to wait 10 or more minutes for the barriers to rise, then before the queue of cars has cleared the lights start flashing again. I don’t mind if at the front of the traffic queue, but otherwise it’s a nightmare!

Peterborough PSB do the signalling, Helpston "just" does the various level crossings.

 

[MadMac]

Logans Road is by far and away the busiest in terms of road traffic and in conjunction with the rail traffic that passes by, makes it a bottleneck for Motherwell as a whole. Replacing it with a bridge is anything but simple though, as this Google Maps screengrab shows:

View attachment 111875

I grew up less than a mile from Logans Road. Replacement by a bridge was looked at in the late 70s when the housing area on the left was part of Motherwell Bridge and Engineering. It was reckoned that it would cause more problems than it would solve by displacing the bottleneck back towards the station.

 

[GN Boy]

Foxton (Cambs) isn't the busiest, but I was recently stopped by the barriers there when no less than seven trains passed through in succession within ten minutes. The barriers were down for about 12 minutes.

It was a perfect Sunday evening storm of an LNER divert, a local Cambridge/London in each direction, a fast Cambridge/Brighton in each direction, a Kings Lynn/Kings Cross in each direction and an ECS to Letchworth. Four of the seven were subject to minor delays, the down services at least seemed to have been stacked up.

Quite often you’ll see the emergency services stuck at Foxton Crossing - I always feel really bad if I’m stopping at Foxton on the Up especially and he’s waiting for me to stop, complete platform duties and depart!

 

[Strathclyder]

I grew up less than a mile from Logans Road. Replacement by a bridge was looked at in the late 70s when the housing area on the left was part of Motherwell Bridge and Engineering. It was reckoned that it would cause more problems than it would solve by displacing the bottleneck back towards the station.

Presumably the one-way traffic system in place near the station itself didn't exist back in the late 70s. But yeah, it's not a easy one to solve, particularly not with housing now on either side of the road on the North Motherwell side of the crossing.

 

[Railwaysceptic]

Lincoln Road level crossing near Enfield Town has been permanently closed to road vehicles for years, despite still being manned for one shift per day!

When I was still working, I used that crossing quite a lot. I was annoyed when they closed it!

 

[Halifaxlad]

Of course, you could define "busiest" either in terms of trains or road vehicles, or some combination of the two.

If we go by road vehicles then I think the crossing at Starbeck between Harrogate and Knaresborough must be a contender. It seems to feature in the news every so often.

 

[Ken H]

What about Kildwick? (1) Busy road approaching a hospital. and gates down for long periods.

(1) between Steeton and Silsden station and Connonley station

 

[Ediswan]

Lincoln Road level crossing near Enfield Town has been permanently closed to road vehicles for years, despite still being manned for one shift per day!

I know the crossing is never now open to road vehicles, but has it been formally closed ? It is still in the sectional appendix. The gates are still there.

 

[Basil Jet]

I know the crossing is never now open to road vehicles, but has it been formally closed ? It is still in the sectional appendix. The gates are still there.

[Lincoln Road Enfield] It's still a crossing for pedestrians, with the pedestrian gate locked and unlocked by the guy in the cabin.

 

[MadMac]

Presumably the one-way traffic system in place near the station itself didn't exist back in the late 70s. But yeah, it's not a easy one to solve, particularly not with housing now on either side of the road on the North Motherwell side of the crossing.

The current one-way arrangements opened around 1975 IIRC, but it had been one way since about ten years previously. No easy solution.

 

[Ediswan]

[Lincoln Road Enfield] It's still a crossing for pedestrians, with the pedestrian gate locked and unlocked by the guy in the cabin.

OK, I know it remains open for pedestrians, which does explain the sectional appendix. But has it been formally closed to road vehicles ? My understanding is that current closure is based on a safety assessment, rather than formal closure.

 

[paul1609]

Ford and Yapton on the West Coastway both have 16 tph off peak when the full service resumes in May, previously it was 17 in some hours when the GWR Brighton services ran

 

[Robert Hay]

What about High Street in Lincoln?

 

[swt_passenger]

What about High Street in Lincoln?

Position 255 on the 2021 list. Only about 200 trains per day.

 

[norbitonflyer]

Helpston must be absolutely awful for the signaller there. I use Helpston occasionally and it’s quite typical to wait 10 or more minutes for the barriers to rise, then before the queue of cars has cleared the lights start flashing again. I don’t mind if at the front of the traffic queue, but otherwise it’s a nightmare!

A common experience at North Sheen. Three trains, barriers up, half a dozen cars get across, wig wags start again, three more trains (n.b as it's double track that means the first train must have cleared the section before then third arrives)

 

[MadMac]

A common experience at North Sheen. Three trains, barriers up, half a dozen cars get across, wig wags start again, three more trains (n.b as it's double track that means the first train must have cleared the section before then third arrives)

The now-closed Camps, east of Kirknewton, was challenging despite not being particularly busy in terms of road or rail traffic. When it ceased to be a block post and became a gate box, we provided 'Train Approaching' indications and were directed by the Operations folks as to how and when they should operate. Up (Stopping at Kirknewton), Up (Non-Stop) and Down. One of the Crossing Keepers who worked the place told me a few months later that had he followed the "letter of the law", he would have had the crossing closed continuously for 54 minutes at one point.

 

[Strathclyder]

The current one-way arrangements opened around 1975 IIRC, but it had been one way since about ten years previously. No easy solution.

Ah I see, thought they opened a lot sooner than that. Cheers for the correction.

And yeah, it's a seriously tough one to crack. I suspect that's the reason all the relevent bodies (North Lanarkshire Council, Transport Scotland & Network Rail) have left it as is, as any solution would either be hideously expensive or too impracticial to implement (or some combo thereof).

 

[bspahh]

Quite often you’ll see the emergency services stuck at Foxton Crossing - I always feel really bad if I’m stopping at Foxton on the Up especially and he’s waiting for me to stop, complete platform duties and depart!

A fire engine stopped there yesterday evening

 

[Bedwyn32]

Thatcham in Berkshire is not the busiest. But if you are there in rush hour I have know it to be down for 30 plus minutes at times.