Repairs to 'dangerous' traffic lights at Laois train station held up by Irish Rail

People are "in fear" of driving at a junction near a train station in Laois due to traffic lights not working correctly, according to local councillors. 

Councillor John King has insisted that Laois County Council must address the issue with the traffic lights at the very busy junction at Ballybrophy train station. 

Speaking at the January meeting of the Borris-in-Ossory / Mountmellick MD, Cllr King said that there has been near misses at the junction and that the lights for the Kilcoke Road are particularly dangerous for drivers.

He told the council: "There's fear now in people. The lights are not working on a regular basis and especially from the Kilcoke Road. The ones on the Station Road that takes you down to Ballybrophy Station are not too bad. The lights are all over the shop.

"There have been near misses. People are telling me now that it was a much safer junction before because they knew the lights weren't there and they stopped with caution, looking left and right. It's making people nervous so we have to get a clear answer and I don't want to be coming back again in a few months time relaying the same issue."

Cllr King said he had raised this issue before with the council and funding was sanctioned but nothing was done. 

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Rory O'Callaghan, Senior Executive Engineer with Laois County Council, told Cllr King that Road Design has organised the repair of the lights and a low-cost safety scheme application has been submitted to the Department for funding to upgrade them.

However, works are dependent on Irish Rail as ducting across the railway bridge is needed to carry out the repairs. O'Callaghan said a licence application is being prepared to submit to Irish Rail. It was this that held up the previous plans for works at the station.

O'Callaghan explained: "We had funding last year but we had issues with Irish Rail and their requirements. So I have to make a licence application this year. Funding is coming but it's subject to the Irish Rail licence. 

Cllr King was supported by Cllr Conor Bergin and Cllr James Kelly. All three of the councillors receiving calls from concerned locals in recent weeks.

Cllr Bergin agreed that the lights are making the junction more dangerous, saying: "They're out on a regular basis now, they're just not working as it stands. People have said to me too that the situation was actually safer before they put these lights in. They've actually made it more dangerous in a way which is the opposite of what they're meant to do."

According to Cllr Kelly, one motorist timed the lights and it was between 8 and 10 minutes. Cllr Kelly said he contacted Laois County Council who did send out a contractor to try and resync it. 

However, the larger issue at hand needs cooperation with Irish Rail. Cllr Bergin told the council: "This would've been done last year but it wasn't for Irish Rail. I hope they're going to play ball with this new licence application because they've gotten an awful lot of goodwill from people in that area."

Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme