Network Rail - Fencing for Sydney Gardens

[mow]

A recent The Bath Chronicle has an article about Network Rail attempting to add fences at Sydney Gardens, there is a public consultation in Bath.

http://www.thisisbath.co.uk/news/New-fe ... ticle.html

[Robin Summerhill]

The fencing was required after 95 reported incidents of trespass in the past three years. The low wall that separates the track and the garden has enabled trespassers and vandals to access the railway easily.

Bearing in mind that this particular piece of railway has been there for 170 years, why do we suddenly need fencing now?

Trespasing on the railway has been going on since railways were invented. I shall draw a veil over what I and a few thousand others got up to in the last months of steam in Lancashire in 1968 but, of these 95 reported cases, how many resulted in injury?

Fencing of course has to be paid for. Ultimately the passenger pays with increased fares. Does the level of real (not imagined) danger justify the expenditure?

[James]

They've fenced off the stepped waterside duck feeding area in Taunton's Vivary Park now "for health and safety reasons". Doesn't matter that no-one's fallen into the stream in all the years it's been there, as something could happen. You used to see kids in a sea of ducks, watching in awe as they ate out of their hands, but now all they can do is stare sadly through the bars at each other. Of course, if a child were to fall into the stream now, they'd have to either climb a 2ft high vertical stone wall on one bank, or an equally daunting 45 degree weed-strewn slippery stone face on the other.

[stationcat]

Having passed this area countless times over the years, it's fair to say that somebody sat on the wall would have to have the legs of a large giraffe to risk being hit by a train. But then, when did any Network Rail spokesman ever have a real grasp of reality!

[Roger]

Another example of the H&S police having lost all sense of responsibility. Perhaps they could emmigrate to the continent and erect miles of their needless fences over there.

[oldchapie]

I realy cannot agree with the ideal that fencing is waste of time.As an x drriver whom have had problems of persons being on or very near getting run over I can i confirm it is not good for the blood pressure. I know that the new type of fencing is a bit of an eyesore but the idiots who are determined to get on the railway will do so.

[Robin Summerhill]

but the idiots who are determined to get on the railway will do so.

Whether or not money is wasted on a fence?

Don't get me wrong. I heard some very unpleasant stories when at Bath Road about the destructive powers over the human frame that a locomotive has when it hits somebody, but you could say much the same about a 44 ton articulated truck at speed.

As you say, idiots who are determined to get on to the railway will do so. Fence or no fence, which then begs the question "Who are you deterring?" Presumably only those that aren't determined to do it, and they are probably more likely to have a self-preservation instinct than those who are determined.

[jules]

We have railroads running down the middle of the street in Oregon, active ones too with mile long freight trains two or three times a day - and they're not fenced off!

You can wander all over the railway here (even though it is illegal) but nobody hardly ever gets killed. Trains blow their horns and ring bells with abandon and make as much noise as possible, which is always nice to hear compared to the UK where you're severely restricted on horn blowing.

Having said that, a friend of mine was backing his truck out of Front Street Bar in Albany one night and managed to reverse it right into a Southern Pacific freight that just happened to be passing down the middle of the street. How he didn't see (or hear) it I will never know!

Never seen a truck spin round so fast though ... He was arrested for DUI, of course, fined $12,000, jailed for a few weeks, put on an alcoholics course and is now only allowed to drive (the remains of) his truck to and from work!

[nickt]

Sorry if this has been brought up elsewhere. I have noticed a lot of activity alongside the main line from Bathampton towards Bath very recently by engineers installing / replacing fencing of several types chainmail and spiked fence. Is this actualy going through sydney gardens which they wanted to do or stopping either side.
I dont recall seeing that the fencing is deffinately happening through the gardens or not.
Secondly,
Does anyone know when the track is being upgraded (same stretch) the new rail has been there for some time now.