§ Mr. Whitakerasked the Minister of Transport how many level-crossings there are in Great Britain; what is the approximate annual cost of manning and main-training them; what would be the approximate cost of replacing them by bridges; and how many are planned to be replaced.
§ Mr. John MorrisThe latest available figures, which are for 31st December, 1966, show that there were 2,770 level crossings on public roads and 13,162 accommodation and occupation crossings. The British Railways Board tell me that the cost to them of manning and maintaining the public level crossings is approximately £1,500,000 annually; there are also appreciable signal box costs directly attributable to level crossings. No figures are available for the maintenance of the other crossings. Decisions about the desirability of replacing public level crossings by bridges must be the responsibility of the individual highway authorities: consequently, I cannot say how 135W many are planned for replacement or what the cost would be. The introduction of automatic half barriers is in many cases a satisfactory and economic method of reducing delay at level crossings, where bridging is not economically justifiable.