Delay to Dingwall railway crossing works
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PLANS for major level crossing upgrade work in Dingwall have been delayed until later in the year, transport chiefs have revealed.
Network Rail recently announced plans to install full barriers on two crossings in the town following a spate of close calls involving trespassing pedestrians and cars who have ignored the warning lights.
But the work to install full barriers on Dingwall Middle crossing and the Dingwall No.1 site, which had been expected this summer, will now mostly be carried out in October and November to allow for additional design work.
However, motorists who had hoped to avoid summer road closures will not be spared all of the original disruption.
Vegetation will need to be cleared to make space for the new equipment, and this preparatory work will begin next week.
As a result, Newton Road will be closed from July 19 at 7am to July 22 at 11am. And Dingwall No.1 in Craig Road will be shut from 7am on August 2 to 11am on August 5.
Final installation and testing of the new barriers will also require fortnight-long road closures at both sites – with Dingwall Middle closing to road traffic from October 15 to 29 and Dingwall No.1 following suit from October 29 to November 12.
David Dickson, the infrastructure director for Network Rail Scotland, said: "These level crossing upgrades represent a significant improvement for rail and road safety.
"Our consultation work with the local community earlier this year indicated support for these improvements and we look forward to seeing them delivered.
"Our aim is to deliver this work with as little disruption as possible, however, we will require two short closures this summer plus two week road closures for each crossing to install and test the new equipment this autumn," he added.
Train services are not expected to be affected by any of the works.
