Joint efforts to reduce waiting times at the level crossing at Starbeck are continuing from the County Council and Network Rail.
Concerns have been raised locally about the level of congestion on the A59 between Harrogate and Knaresborough when the crossing is down.
North Yorkshire County Councillor Don Mackenzie, Executive Member for Access, said:
We recognise the concerns about traffic queues and the effects on air quality and are continuing to work with Network Rail to try to reduce the length of time the level crossing is closed for each train passing through.
The proximity of the shops on Starbeck High Street to the road means that providing a bridge or an underpass to remove the level crossing would not only be extremely expensive but would be difficult to deliver and could result in the closure of shops on the High Street.
Cllr Mackenzie said:
With Network Rail, we have recently identified signalling improvements that could allow a reduction in the level crossing closure times. Investigations are currently ongoing and we expect to have a better understanding of the potential of this improvement by this autumn.
If the proposal is feasible and cost-effective, we will seek to source sufficient funding to enable the proposal to be put in place within the next two years.
How about this… stop closing the barriers a minutes before the train arrives, stop closing the barrier for a train that stops on the Harrogate-York Side until the train is ready to leave, that won’t take 2 years to implement, it is 2 seconds, why not divert some of the cash from the stupid relief road to this project, it will have a bigger impact.
It’s taken them this long to identify the signalling issue? It’s been known by the public for years. The notifying signal for trains coming from Harrogate is miles back up the line. Two years to install a few new signals? As for “Cost effective” – signals cost relatively little, and it’s pretty hard to put a number on how much these delays cost the town both directly and indirectly… and it’ll take them until Autumn to even crunch the numbers? Are they having a laugh? This is bureaucracy at its finest.
As for the “extremely expensive” underpass (which definitely wouldn’t require shops to close, as it could maintain pedestrian pathways at that elevation – whereas a bridge may leave shops in the dark and out of sight) I absolutely guarantee it’d be a fraction of the cost of the proposed relief road. As usual, absolute codswallop from the civil servants.