LEVEL CROSSINGS
SIR,—Janus's animadversions on level crossings err on the side of leniency. In this age of mechanical transport they are the invention of the devil. I live in a semi-urban -district which is divided in two by a railway crossing. I am a doctor, and half my district lies on one side and half on the other. In addition there is, a hundred yards from the crossing, a large food factory from which a constant stream of traffic flows. This factory also has a branch line from which its products are sent by rail. On the other side of the crossing is a petroleum depot, from which the empty containers are sent by rail.
The result of this congestion is that at almost any hour of the day the gates are closed. If I have an urgent case on the other side of the cross- ing it must wait until the gates open, although the person concerned may be bleeding to death from a road accident or just going under from heart failure. In a year' I spend hours in front of those gates. Owing to the signalling system, the gates are often locked five minutes before the train is due, and the result is a long string of exasperated drivers and cyclists. Proposals to build a bridge have been mooted at any time during the past fifteen years, and now the proposals are finally shelved indefinitely. These crossings are an anachronism as well as a curse.—
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