Oh dear. The ORR appears to be taking up where the old inflexible HSE left off.
Eight weeks ago in the Mountsorrell area of the Midland Main Line there was a pedestrian near miss on a crossing.
The crossing has been in continuous use for some 150 years.
The service pattern and line speed on this section remains the same as it was in the 1990s so the 'risk' today is as great as it was ten or twenty years ago.
This particular near miss involved a pedestrian who, in less politically correct times, might have been described as "doddery".
None the less the brave, risk averse, box fillers of the ORR decided that a prohibition notice must be slapped on the crossing with immediate effect.
Which leaves Network Rail with a problem as they are now obliged to find another right-of-way for those inconvenienced by ORR's knee jerk over-reaction.
In the normal course of events this would presumably involve the construction of a footbridge - at not inconsiderable expense.
Alas the crossing was no ordinary foot crossing it was in fact a Bridleway.
Leaving poor old NR to come up with an even more expensive design of footbridge capable of taking horse as well as foot traffic.
Meanwhile whilst one bit of ORR adds needlessly to the railway's costs another bit of the same organisation is demanding NR budget cuts of £3.3bn over the next five years.
As Asquith pointed out "Power without responsibility is the prerogative of the harlot throughout the ages".
Time for Chris Bolt to rein in some of his more over zealous 'safety courtesans'?
