The Mid-Norfolk Railway (MNR) has announced the work to refurbish the MNR’s level crossing on the B1108 at Kimberley Park Station has been completed after a week of work.
This refurbishment has used the same technology as the railway’s Yaxham Road level crossing in Dereham and again uses a system developed by the Dutch railway infrastructure company Edilon Sedra.
The work was conducted once again by a mix of MNR staff, volunteers and contractors from Sonic Rail Services, together with a team of technicians from Track Engineering Construction Ltd. The next stage of the refurbishment will see the installation of signalling to this station in due course, as part of the overall resignalling plan for the railway. This next stage of work however will have no impact on local residents or the road travelling public.
The work on the crossing has seen specially prefabricated concrete slabs installed, before new special hard wearing high manganese content steel rails were fitted. The rails were then encased in a special resin developed by Edilon Sedra by the TECS technicians. The finished crossing is therefore expected to have a maintenance free life of at least 50 years. The crossing rails were also laid onto a special bedding layer that acts as a noise dampener and so the crossing will also be quieter.
The Chairman of the MNR, Charlie Robinson said: “I would, on behalf of the railway, like to thank local residents and the travelling public for their patience while this important work has been carried out. It is our hope and expectation that by investing in this 21st Century technology they will see the benefit and have a quieter level crossing for road traffic.
“I would also like to thank those who have made donations towards this work, it is much appreciated and means every pound donated is a pound saved for other work. The appeal will remain open to help towards the installation of the signalling.
“Finally a huge thank thank our volunteers and our commercial partners from Sonic Rail Services, TECS Ltd and of course Norfolk County Council for the work that has been done to successfully deliver the new crossing on time and in budget.”
The refurbished level crossing is another step forward for the railway as it continues to invest and develop so that the MNR can once again celebrate the heritage of Norfolk railways by running trains for the benefit of everyone starting on the 23 June 2021.
Photo credit: Peter Singlehurst MNR
