New rail flyover would be years down the line

A flat rail crossing in Newark — the last of its kind in Britain — could be replaced with a flyover, but not for more than a decade.

Network Rail has outlined investment options in a study into the East Coast Mainline.

One of the possible projects is replacing Newark Flat Crossing, north of Northgate Station, where the East Coast Mainline crosses the Nottingham to Lincoln line.

However, it is suggested that any upgrades were unlikely to be made before the HS2 project has been completed in the 2030s.

Newark Flat Crossing slows trains on the Nottingham to Lincoln route meaning any increase in east-west services is limited.

Flat crossings are a railway junction that have a track configuration in which merging or crossing railroad lines provide track connections with each other that require trains to cross over in front of opposing traffic.

Trains have to wait for each other, costing time and capacity on the line.

The report comes weeks after Network Rail announced a £16.8m upgrade to the Nottingham to Newark line, as part of a multi-billion pound plan to renew the lines nationwide.

Mr James Fountain, the Newark Business Club action group chairman, said these works would be essential.

“The business club believes it is essential to have the flat crossing removed to improve services on both the East Coast Mainline and the Newark Castle line.

“At the moment trains are waiting 20 minutes at Nottingham station because of it and these changes would provide improvements to both lines.

“It is an issue we have identified for years. It effectively creates a log jam.”

'Good they are looking at it'

The report says the crossing is an outdated piece of infrastructure but removing it would be costly and involve a complex engineering task.

However, Mr Fountain said it was a manageable project compared with others across the country.

“Irrelative to the expenditure in other parts of the country, it is a relatively small medium-term vision project to improve the connectivity for the service provided to rail passengers,” he said.

“It is good that they are looking at it.

“We have been advocating this for a number of years and talking to stakeholders and politicians and we have identified it as an essential piece of infrastructure.”

Members of Lincolnshire County Council’s highways and transport scrutiny committee also discussed the possibility of removing the flat crossing.

Committee member Mr Chris Brewis said: “Newark is rare as it is the last significant flat crossing in Britain.

“The cost of correcting the problems at Newark, particularly as it is close to the River Trent, would be astronomical, well into seven figures.”