Following Network Rail’s plan to devote 100 billion pounds to getting the safety conditions of rail crossings across the country up to scratch, Halesworth train station in Suffolk is the latest location to benefit from this scheme.

The plans to implement a safe gate network across the existing level crossing to protect travelers on foot from accidentally treading onto the rails and putting themselves in danger of being hit by oncoming railway carriages are finally going ahead and are scheduled to begin on no later than the 23rd January 2017. Although more than 1,000 different railway crossings were closed due to the fact that they were considered unsafe, a general tally of opinions of regular commuters to and from Halesworth has shown that they approve of the initiative to make it a better station.

It is hoped that the implementation of this gate will clarify to passengers and pedestrians that they must adhere to the various guidelines and rules dictated by the station officials. These include the fact that the crossing is for users only and ought not to be considered as another way of crossing for non-station users. Equally, the installation of the gate along Halesworth ought to ensure that various measures that one would have thought was common sense or second nature to commuters and rail users (such as the necessity of checking that there is no oncoming traffic in both directions) are implemented by them. Regulars of the Suffolk station lent their approval to the project, as did the Conservative Member of Parliament for Suffolk Coastal, Dr. Therese Coffey. She declared that Network Rail’s plan to actually make the station a better and safer environment for travelers rather than to simply close the offending parts of it down signaled a significant hope that the station’s longevity will be preserved in the near future for years to come.