Scottish Transport Minister urged to resolve Ben Alder level crossing controversy
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Calls to reopen Ben Alder level crossing have been made directly by Dalwhinnie community leaders to Scottish Transport Minister Jenny Gilruth.
Network Rail (NR) controversially padlocked the gates without any consultation in July, last year, severing an historic and popular route to lochs, glens and hills including Ben Alder.
Ramblers Scotland and other national outdoor bodies, representatives of the local community and local businesses attended the meeting yesterday with the Minister.
She has now invited the UK rail body's chiefs to a collective meeting in a bid to find a breakthrough to end the controversy.
“We're pleased that the Minister listened to the concerns of locals and the wider outdoors community about NR’s high-handed and disproportionate actions," said Ramblers Scotland director Brendan Paddy.
“The Minister was aware that the Dalwhinnie debacle is part of a widespread issue with NR's approach to level crossings across the nation, including in her own Fife constituency.
“While operation of the rail network is reserved to Westminster, we are grateful to the Minister for calling a meeting with rail bosses to look at potential solutions.
“Having the Minister involved in the discussions is important to us because through their actions Network Rail have lost the trust and confidence of the community and other interested parties including Ramblers Scotland."
Since the closure, Ramblers Scotland has worked alongside local and national partners to get the crossing urgently reopened, including:
• gaining backing from nine leading Scottish outdoor recreation groups;
• running a joint petition signed by more than 9,000 people; and
• sending a joint letter to Alex Hynes, managing director of Scotland's Railway, signed by 15 signatories including landowners, businesses and local MSPs Kate Forbes and Ariane Burgess.
Freedom of Information requests by campaigners have shown that in the last five years in Scotland there have been no instances of pedestrians being injured while using a ‘private’ level crossing.
They have also pointed out that Network Rail has provided no evidence of any injuries at Dalwhinnie crossing.
Mr Paddy said: "Its unilateral closure of Dalwhinnie crossing has in fact made it less safe, as some people continue to climb over the locked gates.
"Even Network Rail’s own initial safety review at Dalwhinnie had recommended the installation of ‘miniature stop lights’ – a traffic light-style system to warn the public when trains are approaching – rather than closure."
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Kate Forbes, MSP for Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch, has said of the closure: “The Ben Alder crossing has been happily used by tens of thousands of people for years, if not decades, without incident.
“It was deeply regrettable that NR decided to padlock the gates without first consulting any of the community and local businesses, and the fact that almost 10,000 people have signed a petition calling for this decision to be reversed shows the strength of feeling about it."
Innis Keith, Network Rail Scotland director of safety, said the closure of Ben Alder crossing was a safety decision.
He commented: "Network Rail was required to take this course of action to prevent further unsafe use of the level crossing.
“We are aware of local frustration around this decision but safety must be our priority and rapid closure of the crossing was the only workable option available to deal with the risk posed.
"We would be very happy to work with partner organisations to explore alternative possibilities such as a new footbridge or improvement of the existing underpass but those solutions would require time and the allocation of resources whilst in the meantime the crossing must remain closed for safety reasons."
