BUS passengers in Colchester agree a level crossing is causing congestion and delays by remaining closed for too long.

Colchester Bus Users’ Support Group has backed shopkeepers, who complained Network Rail was closing the Eastgates crossing too early and taking too long to reopen it to traffic.

The Eastgates signal box was boarded up a few months ago and cameras installed to allow the gates to be controlled from Colchester North station.

Residents and traders claim the barriers now close as soon as trains pull out of Colchester Town station, 1.5 miles away.

Bus group member Peter Kay said a No 62 bus, on which he was travelling recently, sat at the crossing for 13 minutes.

As a result, he said, traffic was queueing back to the mini-roundabout in East Street.

He added: “It’s obvious it has got much worse and it is having a drastic effect on bus services, especially for people at the university and in Greenstead and Wivenhoe.

“To save itself half a job, Network Rail is throwing the whole of Colchester into chaos. People are wasting thousands of hours sitting in traffic.

“Remote-controlled gates don’t work if it’s a very busy level crossing as the controllers can’t see if traffic is gridlocked, like an operator in a manned signal box could.

“It will never work in practice, unless we get someone back there again – and that needs to be done by putting political pressure on Network Rail.”

Russell Spink, a spokesman for Network Rail, insisted the timings of the barrier had not changed.

He said: “All that has changed is that they’re now operated by people at Colchester North, rather than the old signal box.

“Level crossings were designed in an era when road and rail traffic was much lighter than today.

“If we were building a railway now, there would be no level crossings.

“We understand motorists may get frustrated at level crossings, but we have no reason to keep barriers down any longer than is necessary for trains to pass safely.”