If you happen to be walking Wistanstow, near Craven Arms in Shropshire, you may well come across a bold new structure designed to carry people safely over a busy part of the Newport-Shrewsbury ‘North and West’ route. It opened to the public on 17 January.
With a line speed of 90mph plus a goods loop, the pedestrian level crossing was long on the radar of Network Rail Project Manager Andy Cross to replace with a footbridge. However, conventional steel footbridges are expensive and time-consuming to install and often jar with local surroundings.
Mr Cross explains how a radical new design of footbridge was conceived: ‘There is a desire to eliminate many foot crossings because while signalling systems and indicators might help mitigate risks to pedestrians, they don’t eliminate them.
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