November 15, 2013 3.53 pm This story is over 124 months old

Rail works to leave Lincoln villagers marooned over Christmas

Cut off at Christmas: Residents along West Gate in Saxilby will be unable to drive in or out of the village over Christmas.
Saxilby West Gate Crossing. Photo: Richard Croft

Saxilby residents living on West Bank will be unable to drive out of the village for over two weeks during the Christmas period due to level crossing works.

The level crossing in Saxilby will be unavailable between 7pm on December 20 and 6:30am on January 3.

During this time, local residents will be unable to drive to or from the village, and have to wait for a shuttle bus instead.

Network Rail stated it will be issuing further details to residents in the coming few days.

The rail company is completing a large number of projects over Christmas in the area.

The work was originally planned for the summer but got deferred because the route was being used for rail diversions.

As well as the crossing work at West Bank, Network Rail will remove Saxilby signalbox and transfer signaling control to Lincoln, replace Saxilby platform copings, remove the level crossing at Saxilby Station and install a new footbridge with ramps, replace track and associated improvements to track bed and drainage.

More than 50 people living along West Bank will need to walk to a 24-hour shuttle bus in order to travel to their destinations.

A temporary car park will be put in place for resident’s vehicles in St Andrew’s Community Centre. There will be 24-hour security provision on the site.

The only resident access will be via a short pedestrian step-free route, either side of which a fleet of minibuses will ferry residents, employees and visitors from the car parking and their property.

The minibuses provided will be accessible for wheelchair users and pushchairs.

At West Bank, the minibuses will offer transport to the Foss Canal footbridge. On the A57, another group of buses will take residents to their vehicles on the other side of the footbridge.

Improvements are expected to be made to the footbridge, with staff on hand to grit the bridge in adverse weather conditions and provide assistance and lighting.

Network Rail added access for East Midlands Ambulance Service (EMAS) to allow ambulances to drive over the crossing.

The company is also in the process of completing arrangements with Lincolnshire Fire and Rescue to enable provision of a fire tender on West Bank for the duration of the works.

Rachel Lowe from Network Rail said: “We apologise to residents for the disruption and inconvenience, especially at this time of year. Our project team is making every effort to mitigate that disruption.

“We are in touch with Royal Mail, Amazon and a number of supermarkets to put in place alternative arrangements for delivery of parcels and home shopping groceries to residents.

“We have been working with West Lindsey District Council about refuse collection. The only scheduled collection affected by the works is a recycling collection due on December 28.”

The District Council will be providing residents with additional recycling bags for this period.