Study into plans for rail footbridge at Bramley crossing

[whole diary]

[Chris from Nailsea]

From the Basingstoke Gazette:

After years of residents^ concerns and complaints, the wheels are finally being put in motion for plans to build a footbridge over Bramley rail crossing.

A feasibility study is being carried out by Hampshire County Council as to whether it would be financially viable to erect the bridge over the busy crossing, which links The Street and Sherfield Road.

Currently, there is no way for pedestrians to cross over if the barriers signalling an approaching train are down. This has led to concerns about people risking their own safety by climbing over or under the barriers and dashing across the tracks.

Ranil Jayawardena, who represents Bramley and Sherfield ward on Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council, said that the plans were long overdue. He said: ^ve had countless people coming to me and saying that getting a footbridge would be their number one priority in Bramley. The system at the moment, where the barriers come down 10 minutes before a train arrives from Basingstoke, is simply not working. It means that people often get stranded on the other side of the station and miss their train and, worryingly, sometimes try to get across anyway, by ducking under the barriers and running across the tracks. I^ve seen people do that several times myself and it^s a real danger.^

If the study finds that building a footbridge would be viable, the project would be funded jointly by Hampshire County Council, Basingstoke Borough Council and Bramley Parish Council.

Borough councillor Rhydian Vaughan said: ^People living in Bramley have been wanting it for years and this is a big step in the right direction. However, even if we got the green light to go ahead straight away it would be a long time before we would actually be able to build the bridge. But over the next five years, we expect to see a 40 per cent increase in railway traffic so it^s extremely important that we explore every opportunity to get this footbridge built.^

[eightf48544]

If it's new bridge would it have to have lifts or ramps?

[inspector_blakey]

I assume that wheelchair access would be a requirement, and it'll be ramps. Lifts are much more expensive and are only in use when a station is staffed, so there's someone there to help if anybody gets trapped.

Just a thought though, does the existing wheelchair access using the level crossing mean that a footbridge would not be required to be accessible? I suspect not, since it would be construed as unfair to wheelchair users if they had to wait at the level crossing whilst everyone else could use a footbridge, but I don't know the rules in detail.

[paul7575]

The footbridge built in the last couple of years at Elsenham, scene of the level crossing accident, has no lifts. 

I don't think the requirement for lifts is as cut and dried as is sometimes assumed - in fact I reckon a few of the new stations in Scotland (on the Airdrie Bathgate line) have footbridges without lifts.

Paul