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Level Crossings
Commissioner
Professor George Gretton
Team members
Mrs Susan Sutherland, Project Manager
Miss Susan Robb, Solicitor
Mr Adam Machray, Legal Assistant
This project is being undertaken jointly with the Law Commission for England and Wales. The project is included in the Law Commission's Tenth Programme following a suggestion by the Department for Transport. We are assisting the Commission with the Scottish aspects of the project.
Level crossings present the largest single risk of catastrophic train accident on Britain’s railways, but the current legal framework is complex and outdated. The aim of this project is to make recommendations to modernise and simplify the legal framework.
Background
There are between 9000 and 9500 level crossings in Great Britain. The current law on crossings is complex, outdated and difficult to access, creating problems for regulators, owners and operators and increasing the safety risk for users.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 examining the legal framework with a view to its modernisation and simplification. The aim is 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.
The Commissions have been undertaking extensive research into the current legislation and have set up an Advisory Group of interested bodies to assist the joint team on the project. The Office of Rail Regulation hosted a seminar in London on 30 January to discuss the project and to get ideas as to how the law might be reformed. The seminar was attended by a wide range of bodies with an interest in level crossings. Further meetings have been arranged with key stakeholders as a follow-up to the seminar.
We are currently working on a joint consultation paper which will be published in 2010.
For more information, please contact: susan.sutherland@scotlawcom.gov.uk
Page last updated: 8 February 2010
