Mark Burridge @MarkBurridge1
Barrier up but train passing... at East Sheen today
Seems quite serious at a fairly busy crossing.
Scary photo sent to Twitter to exaggerate the situation and imply it’s a railway issue? Whatever next.
Beware idiot road users but rail gets the blame.
Out of interest, how would a (train) driver know if the crossing had failed in some way? Would the signaller get in touch with the driver, or would the driver just be following single yellows for that portion of the route?
To be fair, the photo looks like it was taken by somebody in a car at the crossing, who doesn't likely know the nuances of what happens when crossing gates have failed, and has just seen that the barriers are up with a train passing the crossing. Now, there's always more to a situation than one photograph - users here will know what the procedure is when a gate fails for whatever reason, but an average driver will not and see/think 'Gate up, train passing, dangerous!'. If I found myself here, I'd not necessarily know that it was 'correct' - but then again, I'd probably call 101 or 999 rather than tweet about it. (Although, there's nothing to say that this tweeter didn't do that too!)
Each train had a reason for the delay added to it, rather than a general disruption notice it seems.
Didn't think to do the right thing and report it, but felt he needed to tell the rest of the world. [sighs]. It's a good job Network Rail were already aware of the situation.
To be fair, would the average person know who to report it to? There's not actually been an accident, so calling 999 seems like it would be a waste of time (which people are advised against). Many people still don't know that 101 exists. Would the man on the street who rarely/never uses the train know about BTP or Network Rail?
Would it have signals? Looks like an automatic.
I though automatic crossings where only ever half barrier so that road users can't get 'trapped'?
As you say. It only looks a bit like a half barrier at first glance (from the direction photographed) because the left barrier has previously been removed by a van. Then you probably notice they’re actually up on the offsides, and the far near side barrier is down behind the 455.
AFAIK, you are correct.
Actually, it was one of the replies to the original person that included Network Rail.
Full barriers. Here it is on Google Street View It's had more than its fair share of collisions with the barriers. There was a similar incident about a year ago. The train I was on travelled through at caution.
