In article ,
(Robin) wrote:

On 24/11/2017 08:44, wrote:
In article ,
(Offramp) wrote:

On Thursday, 23 November 2017 09:42:08 UTC, David Walters wrote:
Promise of 24 Thameslink trains running through central London each
hour will not be fulfilled until another £900m of work is carried
out


https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/...-completion-de
layed-london-december-2019

I live near Mitcham Eastfields, which is on Thameslink. There is a
level crossing associated with the station. Sometimes three trains
are scheduled to go through the station, let's say, NB, SB and a
fast. This can mean that the barriers stay down for 7-10 minutes. By
that time pedestrians and drivers are starting to get cranky.

If the barriers stayed down for much longer I think people would
start edging forward.

I'm amazed people don't realise how long level crossings can stay down.
When I was a kid in the 1960s we knew that. My parents always turned the
car engine off to wait at one as most motorists did. People can be so
impatient these days.

with 5 times as many cars, travelling 5 times as many miles, I find
it neither surprising nor wholly reprehensible that people are no
longer content to wait for the signalman to change the signals, then
come down from the box to open the gates. And those figures are
national. In London and the SE the changes have been greater.

That level crossing model, while normal in the 1960s, largely went out long
ago. So signalling is as likely as not automatic or controlled by route
setting. 5 crossings are supervised from Cambridge PSB by CCTV. Almost no
crossing gates require a signalman to come down from his box to open the
gates now. Indeed gates opened by wheel from within the box existed before
the war!

--
Colin Rosenstiel