Time closing on last relic in Scottish railway network
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Time is closing on the last remaining automatic railway crossing with no barriers in use on a public road anywhere in Scotland.
Half barriers have now been installed at the Dalfaber level crossing in Aviemore in an overall improvement project costing £1m.
Although the new two safety barriers were erected on Thursday evening, they are not expected to come into use until early next month and then only if testing runs smoothly.
Most of the work has been carried out in kind by volunteers with the Strathspey Railway Company who have expertise in the field.
Works to the road at the crossing and its approaches were completed before Christmas.
The steam railway company runs its locos on the private line between Aviemore and Broomhill by Dulnain Bridge and also welcomes special visits by services including the Royal Scotsman.
The works have been undertaken by Scotia Homes, Highland Council and the railway company as a condition of the housing developer’s planning approval for 75 homes on the other side of the tracks off Dalfaber Drive.
The existing level crossing was created by Highland Regional Council when Dalfaber Drive was built across the line in 1978.
Prior to that time the route was little more than a track but since then most of Aviemore's new housing has been built in the vicinity.
The works are being funded by Scotia Homes who have started work on new housing in and around Dalfaber Woods.
The safety barriers and their operating system will require being signed off by the Office of Rail and Road inspectors.
Testing is currently taking place of the signalling and telecoms including the new relay house which controls the operations.
The safety project was given fresh in March, last year, when a car was involved in a collision with a locomotive at the crossing.
The female driver suffered minor injuries and shock and the front of her Ford car sustained collision damage to its front in what one person at the scene described as a 'side swipe'.
The most serious accident occurred at the level crossing in spring 2005 when a Toyota Micra being driven by local woman was hit by a train and taken 100 metres down the line.
She had to be cut from the wreckage and suffered serious but not life-threatening injuries.
A spate of near misses have been reported by motorists over the years with many claiming they could not see the lights because they were dazzled by the low lying sun.
Badenoch and Strathspey councillor Bill Lobban, who lives across the railway line at Dalfaber, said at the time of last March's accident: “Fortunately this time no one appears to have been seriously injured although when I spoke to the driver and passengers a few minutes after it happened they were very shook up.
"Everyone who uses this level crossing knows how dangerous it is and whilst it has been quite some time since the last major incident it is only a matter of time before the next one.
"Ten years ago railway regulators deemed the crossing unfit for further traffic and yet development continues and there still is a planning condition for the new housing around the golf course that the crossing must be upgraded.
"It’s not the Strathspey Steam Railway's fault nor the council’s but the deficiencies of the planning system mean that a host of developers have escaped having to pay a penny with only the final developer left picking up the tab.
"Whilst I would admit that seems more than a little unfair given current house prices in the area I’m sure re-developing the crossing won't break the bank."
