Long delays for community 'trapped' by crossing closures

Alastair Kinghorn and a queue of traffic at the crossing on Tuesday morning

Problems getting in and out of a small community near Inverness have continued into a second day.

The only road into Bunchrew and surrounding areas have been affected by closures due to a £1.2m upgrade of a railway level crossing.

Local residents are in favour of the improvements, but they said short "amnesties" when the crossing would be open had not gone to plan.

Tuesday morning's disruption affected primary and secondary pupils going to school as well as people travelling to work in Inverness.

The closures started on Monday

The community, which includes the Englishton and Kirkton Muir area and involves about 37 properties, is about a 15-minute drive from Inverness. But some people said they had been delayed by two hours.

Some residents said they only found out about the engineering work when heading out of Bunchrew on Monday morning.

Network Rail has apologised for the inconvenience the work has caused.

It said the upgrade would improve safety at the site, and added that arrangements had been made to open the crossing at certain times.

Local authority Highland Council said it had liaised with Network Rail.

A spokesperson said: "The works were permitted on the understanding that a consultation would take place with the community.

"The council is aware of comments made by residents and will review the permit for works if a level of access cannot be maintained.”

Bill Bryan said people had been inconvenienced in different ways

Tuesday's timetable of openings started with a 55-minute slot at 06:00 and is due to finish with a 13-minute one at 17:32.

But resident Alastair Kinghorn said an agreed crossing time scheduled for about 08:10 had not gone to plan.

He said: "That was cancelled at the last minute and moved to 09:20."

Another resident, Bill Bryan, said people were having to put up with different levels of inconvenience, including his wife who had to postpone a doctor's appointment.

He said: "Personally speaking, the biggest problem has been the medical situation.

"My wife was due for an appointment at the doctors in Beauly yesterday afternoon, but she couldn't make it."

Mr Bryan added: "There are people who run businesses from here and they either have customers coming to them, or need to get through to their place of work."

Resident Gordon Davidson said it took him just over two hours to leave Bunchrew on Monday, and an hour-and-a-half on Tuesday.

He added that on Monday morning he and about 25 others queued at a stop sign.

Mr Davidson said: "None of us had been given any prior notice to this."

The work is expected to last about a week.

Gordon Davidson was delayed by more than two hours getting out of Bunchrew on Monday

Among the businesses caught up in the disruption has been The Old Farm Cattery at Englishton Muir.

Co-owner Val Edwards said: "Yesterday (Monday) we had two owners, one from Invermoriston and one from from Sutherland who had to wait an additional three to four hours before coming to the cattery to pick up their beloved pets.

"They were both due to arrive from holiday just after 11:00 to pick up their cats, but because of the issue at the crossing, could not attempt to arrive until 15:00."

The Old Farm Cattery has been among businesses caught up in the disruption

The cattery is less than two miles from the crossing

She added: "On arrival, they were delayed again because of the amount of traffic looking to cross.

"Even though we only reside one a half miles up from the crossing, it was a mad dash to come up, literally grab their cats, and make a hasty retreat back down the hill before they were 'locked in. for the night as there was no scheduled time for the crossing to be open again."

Bunchrew is about four miles from Inverness

A Network Rail spokesperson said: “We apologise to the road users who had their journeys delayed this morning due to a technical fault with our temporary signalling system.

“We realise the inconvenience this work will cause and thank everyone for their patience and understanding. Our work to upgrade the Bunchrew level crossing is essential to help keep the railway and road users safe.

“The crossing is open during certain times, and outside of the arranged crossing times we’ll work to allow those needing access to cross when possible.”