Residents' fury over Wem rail barrier failure

The level crossing in Aston Street, slammed shut for more than 15 minutes yesterday, causing tailbacks at about 7am on Soulton Road.

But it was not the first problem there and residents say they regularly have to wait for long periods for the barriers to open.

Julie Hoffman, who lives opposite the crossing, said the problems had been going on since the crossing became automated in October and controlled by Network Rail in Cardiff.

She said: "It's absolutely ridiculous. Nothing's been done about it, and people are always telling Network Rail all the problems that we've got, but they just aren't interested.

"And it's so dangerous. You have to wait the other side of the crossing to turn right, and people get stuck right on the track.

"We used to love living here just across from the railway.

"But now we can never get out of the drive, or we're sat at the level crossing for ages. It's completely changed living here for us."

Network Rail was criticised by residents in May this year when the barriers were closed for about three hours.

And councillors have since feared the crossing could be a serious danger.

Mayor of Wem, Mandy Meakin, said: "There have been longer delays than usual for quite a while now and there will be queues of traffic in the high street.

"What worries me is that a pedestrian might take the chance to dash across the track. The barriers can stop the cars but I do worry about pedestrians who have to wait for a long time.

"Technically, they are locking people either in or out of Wem, it's bad for traders if people can't get to their shops.

"They are virtually shutting us down."

Dylan Bowen, senior public affairs manager for Network Rail, said that the issue was caused by a fault with the device that detects the passing of a train.

This resulted in the signalling system going into safe mode and closing the barriers.

He said: "Our engineers attended and they had the system operating normally in around 90 minutes.

"We apologise for the disruption caused by the signalling failure and we fully understand the local concerns. Whilst signalling failures of this nature are not a common occurrence, they do happen from time to time across the country.

"When such a fault occurs we aim to get a specialist team out to identify and fix the problem as quickly as possible.

"If there is a problem, crossing users must obey the crossing instructions at all times as trains continue to run through the level crossing.

"We've been in contact with a number of local stakeholders with regard to the level crossing at Wem and we are currently trying to find a mutually convenient date for a visit to our rail operating centre to discuss further."