Transport Minister to meet rail bosses over safety of level crossings

Published on Thursday 1 October 2009 16:33

TRANSPORT Minister Stewart Stevenson will hold talks with railway bosses about possible safety improvements to level crossings, such as at the one where three people were recently killed, it was disclosed today.

Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon told Holyrood that Network Rail had given Mr Stevenson a briefing on the accident earlier this week.

Three elderly people in a car were killed by a train on a level crossing in Halkirk village, Caithness.

Ms Sturgeon said the crash was an "appalling accident".

Although the Halkirk crossing has warning lights, it has no barriers to stop drivers.

The Deputy First Minister said she understood concerns raised about the lack of barriers at some level crossings.

"That is exactly why the Transport Minister will be exploring with Network Rail whether there are further improvements that they can and should be making at crossings where there have been such serious accidents."

Liberal Democrat leader Tavish Scott raised the issue with Ms Sturgeon, who was standing in for Alex Salmond at First Minister's Questions in the Scottish Parliament.

Mr Scott said the deaths at the level crossing are "regrettably, not unique".

Sumburgh Airport on Shetland installed barriers in a road across its runway because some motorists could not see any warning lights – ones similar to the those on railway level crossings, he pointed out.

"How can it be acceptable for the rail industry to say that the cost of installing barriers is too much?

"How many fatal accidents or injuries does there need to be before action is taken?

Mr Scott went on: "If barriers can be installed at airports for exactly the same reason there can be no justification for not acting to stop deaths and injury at rail crossings."

Ms Sturgeon told the Lib Dem leader she had "a great deal of sympathy" for the points he made.

But she said: "Investigations into the cause of this particular accident are ongoing and it would be wrong of me to speculate at this stage on what caused the accident."

The Rail Accident Investigation Branch is to test the level crossing's safety equipment, she said.

But Mr Scott said it is time to cut through the rail bureaucracy "that gets in the way" in organisations such as Network Rail, Transport Scotland, the Rail Inspectorate and the Health and Safety Executive.

He told Ms Sturgeon: "If she asked the Minister for Transport to pull together all these organisations to order action and to request the money to do it, she would have support right across this Parliament and certainly on the Liberal Democrat benches."

The Deputy First Minister pointed out that railway safety is not devolved to Scotland.

But Mr Stevenson will be "more than happy" to have talks to see how the issue Mr Scott had raised can be taken forward, she said.

"I am sure there is not a single person in this chamber who doesn't want to make sure we're doing everything possible too minimise for the future the chances of such an appalling accident happening again," Ms Sturgeon added.