Geleen rail crossing closed after release of near-miss video
ProRail closed the unguarded railway crossing in Geleen, Limburg, due to a number of recent near-miss incidents at the crossing. Last week the rail manager posted a video of one such near miss at this crossing online, as part of a campaign to warn against the dangers of level crossings. The video went viral, NOS reports.
On Sunday ProRail posted another near-miss video of this same crossing. Like the first video, this video shows a cyclist very nearly being hit by a train.
On Monday a fence was placed in front of the crossing. "This is a very dangerous crossing", ProRail CEO Pier Eringa said. "It is a way from the main rail network and visibility is very bad. A little time ago we hung a camera here, of which the spectacular images of things only barely ending well are now known. That was for us and the municipality of Sittard-Geleen enough reason to close this dangerous level crossing as quickly as possible."
In the coming year a tunnel will be built for pedestrians and cyclists. Until that time they will have to use an alternative route.
The Netherlands counts over a hundred unguarded railway crossings and ProRail wants to close them all as quickly as possible. "The best level crossing is no level crossing", Eringa repeated. The government plans to close all unguarded railway crossings in the country within five years.
