Level Crossings

A project to review the law relating to level crossings.

Background

This project is the result of a suggestion by the Department for Transport. It was announced as part of the Commission's tenth programme of law reform in June 2008. We will undertake the project jointly with the Scottish Law Commission.

There are over 10,000 crossings in Great Britain. Level crossings present the largest single risk of catastrophic train accident on Britain's railways, and the risk factor is rising over time.

The current law on level crossings is complex, outdated and difficult to access, creating problems for regulators, owners and operators and increasing the safety risk for users. The project will be concerned with modernisation and simplification of the legal framework for level crossings. We aim to make recommendations with a view to reforming the framework so that it is more coherent, accessible and up-to-date, allowing for better regulation and reduction of risk.

We aim to publish a joint consultation paper in mid-2009.

Advisory Group

The Commissions have set up an advisory group of representatives of the following departments and organisations to assist the joint team on the project:

Automobile Association
Department for Transport
Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Heritage Railway Association
Local Government Association
National Farmers Union
Network Rail
Office of Rail regulation
Road-Rail Interface Safety Group (part of the Rail Safety and Standards Board)
Transport Scotland
Welsh Assembly Government

For more information, contact the public law team or go to the team page.

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