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Friday 17 Apr 2020
Lorry causes £200,000 damage to railway bridge on key freight route
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Network Rail today warned lorry drivers to always know the height of their vehicles after a skip lorry seriously damaged a railway bridge on a key freight route in Warwickshire.

Emergency repairs costing more than £200,000 had to be made to the bridge at Warwick Road in Kenilworth after it was hit by a skip wagon on 20 March.

The vehicle smash caused significant damage to the bridge’s central arch, forcing the temporary closure of the railway above and a much longer closure of the road below.

To get freight and passenger trains moving again temporary supports had to be installed to shore up the structure.

Speed restrictions for trains had to be put in place while the repairs were carried out.

Marc Vipham, route asset manager at Network Rail, said: “Freight is critical to the nation's response to the coronavirus crisis. Closing a key line for freight traffic has serious impacts delivering critical supplies to many key workers and institutions. For this very reason, our engineers worked rapidly to find a safe way to secure the bridge and keep the railway open.

“However, all of this hard work should have been unnecessary. Bridge strikes like this are entirely avoidable, cost taxpayers millions of pounds and cause delays to tens of thousands of rail passengers and freight every year. Lorries can’t limbo. I can’t stress enough how important it is for drivers to know the height of their vehicle.”

Repairs to the bridge are now complete and Warwick Road is expected to reopen this week.

When I was on BR I was told that the BR legal department persued the driver or owner of the vehilce for damages. Does Network Rail?

Mark Wheel, Senior Engineer and London North Western Route Bridge Strike Champion, explains: “As one of the biggest Routes we have one of the biggest problems with bridge bashes. But each Route has a Bridge Strike Champion, and together we have contributed almost £200,000 worth of funding to this national campaign and the market research we’ve undertaken.

“There are so many agencies involved in this issue, but at the end of the day it’s about the driver knowing the height of his vehicle, and getting under the skin of the driver is an issue that’s never been properly tackled.

“Everybody seems to think it’s someone else’s problem, so we are taking a multi-agency approach and working closely with the Highways Agency and local authorities who are responsible for signage, but also many of the largest hauliers and enforcement agencies.”

Wheel says that more prosecutions will help focus the minds of drivers, while hauliers now have an added financial incentive to prevent bridge strikes. This is because NR is in a much stronger position to reclaim 100% of its costs, now that historical legal difficulties in recouping Schedule 8 payments from hauliers’ and drivers’ insurers have been resolved.

Successful court cases, including NR vs Conarken and Farrell Transport (2010) and NR vs Handy & Others (2015), have paved the way for negligent drivers and their employers to be fully liable for NR delays as well as repair costs. This is likely to increase insurance premiums unless they make greater efforts to reduce risk.

Wheel adds: “Historically, there has been a reluctance to prosecute drivers for careless driving and their failure to comply with road traffic signs. We’re not quite sure why, but we are working very closely with police, the Home Office and the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) and traffic commissioners to toughen up on enforcement.

“In the claims world, there is this term ‘consequential loss’, and until 2010 we struggled to argue that Schedule 8 payments were included in this. Hauliers were happy to pay for repairs but not Schedule 8 payments, so we took them to court and won in 2010, and then on appeal in 2011 and again in 2015. The judge said ‘shut up and pay up’, so we now have legal precedence to claim it all back.

“There is a large financial implication to hauliers and drivers from this, so we’re now working with them to see if we can help them demonstrate to insurers some sort of bridge strike awareness or training, in order to reduce their premiums and the number of incidents at the same time.”

The final strand of NR’s prevention campaign is to encourage the development and trialing of new height management and route planning tools for drivers, as well as in-cab low bridge warning devices.

NR is also in the process of identifying high-frequency sites for bridge strikes, where it can increase headroom where possible or fit steel beams to reduce the impact of collisions and limit potential damage to infrastructure. So far 380 bridges have been identified, and interventions will be considered on a case-by-case basis.

Yes - and can now claim more money, according to this article in Rail (https://www.railmagazine.com/news/rail-features/bcb). While disobeying signs is a criminal matter for the police, NR have to sue for damages in a civil case. They have only recently* managed to win compensation for all their section 8 payments, as well as physical damage. It's a long article; this is the core of it:


* five years ago on appeal, which is recent for the railways

What are Schedule 8 payments? I guess they might be compensation for services not run while the bridge is being repaired?

Most bridges only Have triangle signs... advisory, so it isn’t forbidden! A circle is forbidden, so although ignoring warning signs no offence is committed directly. Driving without due care and attention I guess could cover it.

And if anyone knows who’s responsible Holmbush Arch in st Austell has completely lost its warning sign (it used to be a triangle)

Most bridges only have triangle signs... advisory, so it isn’t forbidden! A circle is forbidden, so although ignoring warning signs no offence is committed directly.

In any case the commission (or not) of a criminal offence would have no effect on liability in negligence - which is what we are talking about.

Nine passengers on a double-decker bus were hurt when the vehicle crashed into a bridge.

The crash happened in Station Road, Rochdale, at about 14:10 BST, according to Greater Manchester Police.

North West Ambulance Service said five people have been taken to hospital, one with "a significant leg injury". None of the injuries are life-threatening.

Richard Street and Station Street have been temporarily closed as emergency services investigate.

Another rather nasty one here in Rochdale.  A lucky escape for those on the top deck: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-52476221

From the BBC:

What on Earth was the driver thinking of?  :o