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RAILTRACK
John Armitt
Chief Executive
Railtrack PLC (in Railway Administration)
Alan Bloom, Chris Hill, Scott Martin and Mike Rollings were appointed
Joint Special Railway Administrators of Railtrack PLC on 7* October
2001.
The Joint Special Railway Administrators act as agents of the company
and without personal liability
09 July 2002
The Rt. Hon. Michael Howard, QC, MP
House of Commons
London SW1A OAA
Dear Mr Howard,
Thank you for your letter of 26th June concerning the points raised
by Mr. Barrie Botley, Campaigns Coordinator, Shepway Friends of the
Earth.
To answer the points raised that relate to the specific issues around
the crossing at Dungeness. Following the incident on 11th June, a
site meeting was held to assessthe crossing. Her Majesty's Railway
Inspectorate have also separately visited the site and confirmed that
the crossing meets current standards.
We have identified some work to improve signs to ensure that drivers
of road vehicles have good visibility of the crossing. However, only
1 train per week uses this crossing and the incident was caused by
a road traffic accident not by any rail related fault. Therefore,
Railtrack is not currently considering installing barriers at this
crossing.
Although there are no plans
to alter the crossing directly as a result of the incident on 11th
June, the ultimate intention is that all crossings of this nature,
known as 'automatic open crossing - locally monitored (AOCL), will
disappear in the next few years and be replaced by 'automatic barrier
crossings - locally monitored (ABCL)' The crossing at Brookland on
the Dungeness branch will therefore be converted to ABCL as part of
a programme of conversions, prioritised by risk. The same applies
to the other crossings on this line.
Regarding general maintenance of this line, we undertake patrols every
two weeks, all defects are recorded and the necessary maintenance
is programmed into the work schedule. I can inform you that we are
planning a number of maintenance items, including sleeper replacement.
Last year we replaced 400 sleepers, this year we are planning to replace
500 on this line. We will of course ensure that the maintenance is
commensurate with its usage.
I hope you find this information
helpful. Thank you for bringing the matter to my attention.
Yours sincerely
John Armitt
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