Wem level crossing slams shut for three hours

According to one witness, it was not the first time the town's automated level crossing in Aston Street has developed a fault.

It suddenly came down at around midday yesterday and Network Rail, which operates the crossing remotely from from Cardiff, was unable to get the barriers reopened until nearly three hours later.

Town resident Garry Bolas said he was stuck in traffic for about an hour and a half at lunchtime when he tried to drive home from the Wem Industrial Estate on Soulton Road.

"I called up Network Rail from the telephone box by the side and they said there was nothing they could do about it," said Mr Bolas.

"There was an ambulance and it could not get across."

Mr Bolas said a Network Rail worker arrived on the scene but also seemed unable to get the barrier open.

"There was a big tailback," he added.

"It was right down to the main High Street."

He estimated 100 cars could have been involved in the jam, which also stretched into Soulton Road, on the other side of the crossing.

"It was shameful," he added.

Mr Bolas said there had been other problems and he planned to raise the automated crossing at the next meeting of Wem Town Council.

Jon Crampton, of Network Rail, said: "There was an incident near Wem station with a signal failure causing the level crossing to remain down.

"We were alerted just before midday. We had engineers on the site carrying out repairs to make the level crossing operate as normal.

"It was operational again at five minutes to three. There are signal failures across the country which cause this kind of thing, and they can happen at any given time.

"We then do all we can to get them operating as soon as possible. We apologise for the disruption caused.

"Trains were not disrupted."

Councillors in Wem raised fears last year that people's safety could be at risk because of changes to make the level crossing automated.

But rail bosses insisted when the change was made that road users would not notice any difference.