Level Crossing Safety

The terrible crash has raised the subject of level crossing safety. Christian Wolmar has some very sensible things to say to those demanding "something must be done".

The unions are saying 'Oh, we should have underpasses everywhere'. The cost of that would be in the order of billions of pounds.

Level crossings have been taken out on main, very heavily used lines but you can't possibly have underpasses everywhere, I'm afraid. In terms of risk assessment it is not worth doing. The money would be better spent on kidney machines or the NHS or something.

These are generally little used roads. There are about 10 people killed a year on level crossings but in terms of international comparisons that is quite a low rate. It is just like road accidents - they happen and sometimes there is not an enormous amount you can do about them.

The question of whether or not level crossings should be replaced by bridges cannot be answered without also asking the question "Who's going to pay for them?". Money doesn't grow on trees, and money spent on one thing is money not available for something else. And I cannot see why rail passengers should be asked to foot the bill for something which is only made necessary by the recklessness of a small percentage of road users. If thousands of bridges or underpasses are 'needed', perhaps they should be funded by a surcharge on motor insurance premiums?