Safety Upgrades Set For Woodbridge Level Crossings

Network Rail is upgrading three heavily used level crossings in Woodbridge to make them safer.

Beginning Tuesday 6 October improvements will be made to the following crossings:

• Haywards (on Tide Mill Way)
• Ferry Lane
• Jetty Avenue (on Jetty Lane)

The level crossings have experienced an increase in both foot and motor vehicle traffic. In addition some of the equipment is old and needs to be replaced.

The new equipment will automatically detect obstructions such as cars and pedestrians which will bring the crossings in line with more modern safety standards. This will allows the audible alarms, know as yodels, to be shortened from 70 seconds to 20 seconds for each train that passes through Haywards and Ferry Lane.

The work includes installing new signalling equipment and cabling, axle counters (which detect the location of trains on the track) and new decks at
Ferry Lane and Haywards.

The first set of work is set to finish on Wednesday 23 December 2020. During this time East Suffolk Line trains will operate as normal. On a few occasions there may be a traffic management system set up on the roads themselves for safety purposes; when this happens it will only be for a short period of time.

The work resumes Wednesday 6 January 2021 and is expected to be complete Friday 5 April 2021. The East Suffolk Line will be closed for some of the work in 2021; further information and revised timetables will be available nearer the time.

Ellie Burrows, Network Rail’s route director for Anglia, said: “Our main priority is to keep our railway running safely for everyone and as communities grow upgrades like this are essential in doing just that. It’s safer for our engineers to work when trains aren’t running, which is why much of the work will be carried out overnight, and we have plans and methods in place to minimise noise levels.”