Thatcham Railway Crossing, £83k wasted! Options

[motormad]

http://www.newburytoday.co.uk/2013/road-la...g-will-go-ahead

I agree with Mr Woodhams (surprisingly).

Mr Woodhams said that he believed the road changes would have little impact on congestion.

He said: “From the outset the Thatcham Conservative councillors have been wracking their brains to come up with a new idea to impress motorists and residents, to reduce queueing times at the Thatcham level crossing.

“They have wasted £83,000, and the provision for a right-hand turn lane into the Thatcham sorting office … will have little to no effect on reducing these queues.

This will not reduce congestion. If people want to go into the sorting office they either go around the one-way system and out infront of everyone or just drive down the wrong side of the road. (there's nothing coming anyway).

I used to live 2 minute walk from Thatcham train station. Infact I grew up there and would go into town on the train regularly before I had a car.

A bridge is the only solution and unless they do that, anything will be a waste of money.
The sheer amount of disruption during the roadworks will cause havoc as well.

[spartacus]

Can't be done Andy.

We should be thankful that you weren't put in charge of getting a man on the moon in days gone by....

It's surely not beyond the wit of man to devise an intelligent level crossing management system that can identify a train when it's at the current position of the 'trigger' and determine whether it's FAST TRAIN or SLOW TRAIN. Fast activates the barrier, slow train only activates the barrier whe it gets to a secondary 'trigger' located closer to Thatcham crossing... The speed that the slow train comes through at between Woolhampston or Newbury would allow for a much shorter stopping distance if the driver had to hit the brakes for any reason