Planning permission is being sought for Network Rail facilities on a site near the Railway Station (see left) opposite Railway Terrace.

The Rail Operations Centre (ROC) will eventually replace the existing signalling centre at York (which is to the northeast of the application site), and would become the operating centre for the East Coast mainline between London and Scotland and would incorporate a training centre which would include a welding centre and external track facilities.

The training centre would replace existing facilities in the city and consolidate facilities in the region. The proposed building is T-shaped with the 3-storey (though with plant room on the roof) ROC and 2-storey workforce development buildings running parallel to the York to London line, linked by a hub (arrival point, cafe etc) to the single storey welding centre building which would travel northwest towards the Cinder Lane footbridge. The track would be to the southeast of the site (parallel with the line which runs to Skelton) and car parking spaces on the northern side of the buildings. A direct footpath from the train station will also be provided into the site.

The application is recommended by officials for approval – with conditions – and will be considered by the local planning committee on Wednesday. More details can be found on the Councils web site.

A couple of years ago now extensive improvements were made to cycling facilities on Crichton Avenue. Initially an unsegregated area of bitmac was provided on the approaches to the railway bridge. This left cyclists and pedestrians to work out who would use which bit of path.

At the time, the Council felt that this was potentially hazardous and decided – following a trial of a shorter length of shared path at Monk Bridge – that “hoof prints” and cycle logos should be painted on the path. Cyclists then knew which section of path to use.

A recent survey has found that over 90% of users now favour what has been labelled as “pseudo segregation”. It is likely to be introduced on similar parts of the cycle network elsewhere.