Olhão’s battle of the railway crossing continues as the national railway company Refer has tried to render the crossing impassable by opening up a deep and dangerous trench.
This latest move has created an immensely tricky pedestrian crossing and has forced the elderly, wheelchair users and people with prams and trolleys to use the narrow, steep underpass while leaving the fleet-of-foot a testing challenge either to jump the new trench or step down onto two rather wobbly blocks in order to cross.
The battle lines are drawn and the opposition has shown itself to be childish, thoughtless and negligent.
In a report from Sul Informaçao today, the Junta de Freguesia of Olhão publicly has named the digging of a trench the full width of the crossing as, ‘the destruction of the pedestrian walkway.’
"Even after the demonstrations of the Olhanense population against the closure of the pedestrian walkway, Refer was not dissuaded from their intentions which are almost obsessive, having tried to destroy any chance of the pedestrian walkway ever being used by using pneumatic hammer drills in the surrounding area,” described the Junta president, who added,
"In our opinion, this type of response, abrupt and unilateral, shows an attitude of arrogance on the part of Refer which is improper in a democratic country given that there have been meetings between the Council and Refer to find a wise and workable solution."
The pedestrian walkway now no longer exists due to the destruction of the concrete access platforms and the digging of a wide, deep trench but this has not stopped locals using the crossing as they have for 25 years without a single accident. It simply is more dangerous now so to do.
As for the underpass, the Junta is resolute in its criticism that this is not suitable for much of the local, ageing population and suggests that all that was needed, before Refer destroyed much of the crossing’s infrastructure, is new sound and light signalling with a gate for when trains are approaching or leaving the nearby station.
The Junta’s attitude to Refer has turned from collaborative to one of incomprehension and intolerance, stating that "in a democracy the power of some may not override the interests and needs of the population."
"It is the people who deserve to be respected that are seeing their quality of life highly impaired; especially those of advanced years and those with mobility limitations for whom using the underpass is impossible due to the steep slope. The situation worsens, according to reports received from numerous pedestrians, when the pavement is slippery after it rains. Under these conditions there have been numerous falls,” unlike at the crossing where there has been trouble free foot passage for decades.
For a company that is using the ‘safety of pedestrians’ as its trump card, Refer has behaved in a reckless manner, endangering those it seeks to protect and showing the management to be callous, spiteful and not interested in continuing a dialogue with the town hall in order to find a solution.
Olhão’s residents may appear mild-mannered and calm but no one appreciates being pushed around by a state company when the basis of its argument is shown to be wafer thin and its arrogance is symptomatic of a wider attitude toward ‘the little people.’
Comments
Ed
Did you not show recently, Editor, that the Câmara had received notification of the plans of REFER, but had just ignored them?
Neither REFER nor Olhão Câmara look well in this dispute. But it is poor old Zé Povinho who suffers in the end.