Automatic Railway Crossings (Hansard, 15 November 1989)

Mr. Alan W. Williams
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many accidents there have been at automatic railway crossings during the last year; and how many people have been(a) killed and (b) seriously injured.

§ Mr. Portillo
Provisional figures for 1988 show 26 accidents at automatic level crossings, in which there were five deaths and 13 injuries.

Mr. Alan W. Williams
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport (1) how many automatic railway crossings malfunctions were caused by(a) equipment failure, (b) vandalism and (c) reasons unknown in the last 12 months;
(2) how many reports of faults or malfunctions there have been with automatic railway crossings during the last year (a) in Wales and (b) in Britain.

§ Mr. Portillo
The statistics requested for the last 12 months are not readily available. Provisional details for 1988 show that no faults or malfunctions with automatic level crossings were caused by equipment failure, vandalism or unknown reasons. There were five "systems failures", two of which were in Wales, caused by

(a) grease on rails (2)

(b) train passing signal at danger (2)

(c) train running into a barrier which had been damaged by a road vehicle.
A systems failure is defined as any occasion, not resulting in a train accident, when a train runs onto a protected crossing when not authorised to do so.

Mr. Alan W. Williams
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many automatic railway crossings there are in(a) Wales and (b) Britain.
258W

§ Mr. Portillo
At the end of October 1989, there were 53 automatic level crossings in Wales and 764 in Britain as a whole.

Mr. Alan W. Williams
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether trains are required to stop when the warning lights for motorists at automatic railway crossings fail; and what failsafe mechanisms are provided.

§ Mr. Portillo
Arrangements vary for the different types of automatic level crossing. Those for the two major types are as follows. At automatic open crossings locally-monitored, such as Raven crossing near Ammanford, failure of the road traffic signals would extinguish the intermittent white light on the railway approach to the crossing. If this light does not show, drivers are instructed to bring their trains to a stand short of the crossing and may thereafter proceed with caution over the road when it is safe to do so.
At crossings with automatic half-barriers, the barriers would descend automatically if the road traffic signals failed and an indication of the malfunction would be given to the signalman. He would set the railway signals at danger. After being warned of the problem, train drivers would be allowed to proceed with caution in the way described.