Residents fear being stranded if bridge demolished

The footbridge in Church Fenton is being demolished as part of upgrades

Residents in a North Yorkshire village say they will be left stranded if a railway footbridge is removed before a new road bridge is finished.

Network Rail plans to demolish the Church Fenton footbridge as part of the Transpennine Route Upgrade between Manchester, Huddersfield, Leeds and York.

The residents said removing the footbridge before a new road bridge is finished would isolate part of the community and urged Network Rail to halt plans until the road bridge is open.

The village has one other route across the railway line, a staffed level crossing, which can mean long waits at the gates.

Resident Sophie Nabhan-Sandison said she crosses the railway line at least six times a day during the week to take her three-year-old daughter to nursery.

She said: "Imagine having conditional access to your property and conditional access to leave.

"It's not a matter of someone can just come and open the gates. It's highly conditional on what trains are running, how many trains are running. There could be a significant wait."

Network Rail said the bridge needed to be demolished because it was too narrow and too low for the additional track and electrification required for the upgrade.

The new road bridge is due to be completed by mid-December, the company said.

Network Rail added the level crossing would stay open during the works for vehicles and pedestrians and be operated by crossing keepers, while delivery and utility vehicles would be guided through the new highway bridge.

Resident Darlene Wheldrike says the access gate is not suitable

Resident Darlene Wheldrike said she had waited 45 minutes to be able to get across the track through the access gate.

She said: "On this line, the Leeds Line, it's 100 trains a day and waiting for a clear window, waiting for seven, nine trains to go across, it's going to be so difficult and it doesn't meet our needs."

Bethan Vincent said, while access would improve once the road bridge is built, she was concerned about how long it would take Network Rail to complete the project.

She said: "It is just this uncertainty around will we be able to leave our houses, how long is that process going to take and actually how long are we going to be just reliant on the crossing.

"Is it going to be three weeks, is it going to be three months, six months, we just don't know."

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