South Yorkshire Times — Friday, 8 June 1934
Denaby Crossing
Mr. Tom Williams, M.P., had a question down for the Minister of Transport yesterday. He was to ask whether the Minister’s attention had been drawn to the loss of time to road transport at the Denaby Main level crossing, and what steps it proposed to take with a view to the erection of a bridge.
“I have no figures of any recent census, but on October 2nd, 1928, 748 vehicles passed from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and 270 were delayed. Seventy-five trains passed, and the gates were closed 59 times for a total period of 3 hours 74 minutes. The longest period closed was 8½ minutes, and the longest period open was 22½ minutes.
“On 5th October, 1928, 754 vehicles passed in the time mentioned previously, and 322 were delayed. The gates were shut for 72 trains 55 times, over a period of 3 hours 8 minutes, or 39 per cent. of the time, and the average time closed was 3 1/16 minutes. The longest time closed was ten minutes, and the longest time open 15½ minutes.
“On Friday, December 14th, 1928, from noon to 9 p.m., 772 vehicles passed and 337 were delayed, a percentage of 43.6. Seventy-seven trains crossed and the gates were closed 53 times, over 3 hours 19 minutes, an average of 4 minutes or 40.6 of the time of observation. The longest closure was 13 minutes (twice), and the average vehicle delay was two minutes. No cycles were included in the figures.
“It was the state of affairs in 1928 one can only conjecture the increased delay, now that there is so much more traffic, and there does appear to be a strong case for some action to be taken.
“The cost appears to be the snag, for something like £150,000 would be involved, of which Government grant should be about £100,000, with a substantial contribution from the railway company.”