General News Seaward Way Crossing Seaward Way Crossing is now authorised for all traffic (including passenger trains). Various assessments have taken place and the ORR have agreed it is compliant with the previously approved design, subject to one or two very minor adjustments. These will be completed shortly, and next season there will be a full service of trains again to and from Minehead.The crossing is now complete with double barriers, and is operated by the signalman with the aid of a CCTV system. Previously the crossing was an automatic half barrier design, operated automatically. Whilst suitable for minor roads, traffic on Seaward Way had increased over the last twenty years. A full celebratory re-opening of Minehead station is planned for the spring. Plans for New Joint Planning Group Plans are being developed for new regular quarterly high-level meetings to help develop and co-ordinate the contributions of the main partners in the West Somerset Railway. All the directors of the West Somerset Railway plc,
trustees of the West Somerset Railway Association and trustees of the West Somerset Railway Heritage Trust are to meet together to develop and review strategic planning for the railway on a regular basis. Full details of how these meetings will operate and deliver are being worked out, and it is intended that the first meeting will take place in December. From now on there will also be an annual review meeting to ensure that the group is making the maximum impact. As their titles indicate, each of the constituent organisations has a different focus: the job of the plc is to run the railway so that it is safe and profitable; the Association is the main membership organisation and has a key role generating charitable funding with specific objectives; and the Heritage Trust has the important role of making sure the heritage features of the railway are conserved and made available in the best possible way. In the past, effective co-ordination between these organisations has sometimes been difficult, and so this new initiative is seen as way to make sure that all three organisations, which each have an important role to play, work collaboratively and in step. In this way it is seen that the railway will most likely prosper and move forward. Each organisation will continue to have its own key role, but by working positively and Seaward Way Crossing as seen by the Minehead signalman via the new CCTV system. Photo: John Jenkins.
WSR JOURNAL – WINTER 2021
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