An Easter Ross level crossing will finally be closed and a bridge built over it, almost exactly 14 years after an incident on the line which claimed two young lives.
Highland councillors have approved Network Rail’s application for the bridge at Delny, near Barbaraville.
Teenagers Alan Thain and Paul Oliver died on the crossing after the car they were in was struck by the Inverness to Wick train on February 2, 2007.
There was also a fatal accident there in the 1980s, and there have been other incidents, including in May 1996 when Charles Ross, then 46, of Fearn, survived after his car was struck by a Sprinter train and shunted 30 yards along the track.
The length of time to get barriers installed has also been a sore point locally.
Delny was one of the last to get them, a full decade after the fatal accident.
But the incidents on the line are not what has prompted Network Rail to forge on with the Delny bridge.
Since 2010 Network Rail has been undertaking work to reduce risk at level crossings, with more than 1,000 being closed, and Delny is part of this programme.
The work involves the construction of a new single carriage road over the railway bridge adjacent to the level crossing, approached from the A9 along the public road at Delny.
The design has been amended to take account of larger farm vehicles, although a 7.5 tonne weight limit will be applied.
The existing level crossing would then be closed under a separate Stopping Up order process, and appropriate fencing and signage installed.
Kilmuir and Logie East community council supported the bridge application.
Chairman Tom Anderson said: “If Network Rail’s health and safety department say the bridge is required, we support them.
“There have been concerns about noise and disturbance to Barbaraville residents, and we are glad that planners have adopted our recommendation to put a 7.5T weight limit on the bridge to minimise this.”
Senior council engineer Jane Bridge said that although the road has an unrestricted speed limit, the design of the new section includes bends and visibility restrictions to ensure that traffic will be slowed down to 30mph at the crossing, where the road also narrows by more than three feet.
She also reassured councillors that the level crossing would not be stopped up before the road was ready.
Local councillor Maxine Smith chairs the north planning applications committee which agreed Network Rail’s application.
She said: “It’s long awaited, and always dangerous, I dread going down it and don’t trust it.
“I’m pleased to see it coming and happy it’s been granted today.
“It will also speed up rail journeys, which will help towards out efforts to get the halt in Evanton reopened.”
Fellow Easter Ross councillor Alasdair Rhind said the bridge had been a long time coming.
“Generally the community has been supportive and see the need for this.
“We’ve got to work with Network Rail on a great project for the benefit of rail and road users.”
Highland MSP Gail Ross said she was pleased with the decision.
“I am delighted to see the Delny Crossing is finally going to be made safer with the construction of a bridge.
“It is the only option that will ensure the safety of people that use that particular stretch of road. I would like to thank everyone that campaigned for this over many years and look forward to work commencing.”
A by-product of the decision is that Network Rail’s objection to a pending application for 100 houses in the area would be resolved.
It had objected to the development on grounds of an unacceptable intensification of the level crossing as a result.
