New tech for line's 'riskiest' level crossings

The line between Guildford and Reigate is closed for two weeks

A £25m project to upgrade signalling and 1970s level crossings, seen as some of the "riskiest" in the area, will be complete by the end of the week.

Network Rail's closure of the North Downs Line between Guildford and Reigate began on Sunday 14 September and ends on Saturday 27 September.

Four level crossings are being upgraded at Chilworth, Tangley, Brook and Burrows Lane, as well as 16 signals along the stretch of railway between Shalford and Gomshall.

BBC Surrey went behind the scenes for a closer look at the work that is being done.

Gabriel Azevedo, senior project manager working on North Downs Line, said the level crossings were four of the least safe in the southern region.

"There's a big push to have them reconstructed in manner where they can be upgraded and they're safer for the public," he said.

Gabriel Azevedo is the senior project manager working on North Downs Line

All four crossings will have new signalling installed and will feed back to Guildford area signalling centre, Network Rail said.

Brook and Burrows Lane level crossings will be fitted with radars that will scan the crossing before a train approaches, only lowering the barriers once all vehicles are clear.

While Chilworth and Tangley level crossings will be fitted with CCTV and be monitored by a signaller, who will lower the barriers when it is safe.

The Burrows and Brook level crossings will have new barriers installed to cover the full width of the road, rather than the half currently covered.

Jeff Rose said cars have tried to jump the level crossings when they were closed

Jeff Rose, programme manager for Network Rail, said the crossings were "not as safe as they could be", leading to delays to trains, cars and pedestrians.

He said: "People can walk around the ends of the barriers.

"We do have instances where cars haven't stopped and tried to jump the level crossings when they've been closed."

He said after the improvement works, the level crossings would close for about 30 seconds longer than currently for cars when trains were passing through.

"It's not going to cause that much disruption, but the trade off with the amount of safety and prevention of death is well worth the wait," he added.

New signalling systems will feed back to the centre in Guildford

Kez Edmonds, project operations interface specialist for the scheme, said shifts for signallers could be "very intense" when things went wrong on the line and the work moved away from relying on computer technology to the signaller's own personal skills and setting routes manually.

"Upgrading level crossings will improve safety on the railway," he added.

Burrows Lane, Tangley and Brook crossings are currently three of the "riskiest crossings" on the route, Network Rail said, but said the works would decrease the risk of an incident by 97%.

Rail replacement buses are running between Guildford and Gatwick Airport during the closure.