To ask the Minister for Regional Development whether his Department has considered implementing a policy, similar to Network Rail in GB, to phase out all level crossings to improve safety on the rail network.

In Northern Ireland safety matters remain the operational responsibility of the NI Transport Holding Company and its subsidiary NI Railways but this is overseen by my Department, in its role as the Safety Authority for Northern Ireland. In common with both Network Rail and Irish Rail, NI Railways has embarked on a level crossing Safety Improvement Project. The policy of all three organisations is broadly similar in prioritising crossing closures.

NI Railways has a Crossings Management Group that consists of people with a range of expertise from across the business. The objective of the group is to improve level crossing safety and the strategy adopted has three main elements: Closure/Safety Improvement; Compliance and Engagement. This is similar to the Network Rail strategy of the 4 E’s (Education, Enforcement, Enablement, and Engineering.)

The most effective way of reducing level crossing risk is to eliminate the crossings completely. Such closures require the agreement of authorised users, and often, more than one user has the right to use a crossing. Negotiations with users can be protracted, and if a closure project requires planning permission it can take some time to get the necessary consents before construction can commence. Nevertheless, NI Railways has successfully closed over 60 level crossings in the last 5 years.

NI Railways is now at a point in the project where other technical solutions will be progressed for those crossings that may remain open, including signalling schemes, warning lights and additional crossing telephones.

NI Railways has now fully adopted a Level Crossing Risk Model that was developed by Network Rail. This will mean that in future, the assessment of risk and the identification of suitable mitigations will be managed using the same approach as Network Rail, the aim of which is to make all crossings as safe as is practical.