Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent steps his Department has taken to prevent collisions with motor vehicles on rail crossings.

The Department continues to work closely with Network Rail, which has the chief responsibility for managing Britain’s railway infrastructure, to prevent collisions between motor vehicles and trains on level crossings.

As part of Network Rail’s risk reduction programme, Network Rail has closed over 1,200 level crossings on the network since 2009 and has invested over £200 million to improve safety at other crossings, including deploying automatic barriers, miniature stop lights, CCTV and obstacle detection systems. During the period 2019-24, Network Rail will continue to target high risk level crossings and make improvements wherever possible.

In addition to planned closures of high risk level crossings on the network, Network Rail continues to run national public awareness campaigns to encourage responsible driving and discourage misuse. This includes using social media and radio advertising to target motorists who live by, work near, or travel through level crossings, so that they follow the warnings in front of them, including lights, barriers and alarms.