Railway bridges struck by road vehicles - merged topic, ongoing discussion

[whole diary]

[stuving]

.....not a road vehicle but it is (was) a railway bridge...

http://www.noz.de/deutschland-welt/niedersachsen/artikel/644879/frachterunfall-vermutlich-totalschaden-an-friesenbrucke-1#gallery&0&1&644879

If you'd rather have that in English, with more pictures, as well, see here.

[TonyK]

Ach, Schei^e!

That will take a bit of sorting out.

[ellendune]

I fancy that there may be delays on that line for several days weeks months

[TonyK]

I fancy that there may be delays on that line for several days weeks

months years

[Bmblbzzz]

Pah! It didn't catch fire or anything! Nothing compared to what a couple of oil barges can do over here!

[stuving]

I fancy that there may be delays on that line for several days weeks

months years

This may be an important freight link, but as far as passenger trains are concerned it's probably not worth rebuilding. All it carries is the end of a local service from Groningen, and being cross-border but not between big cities that's just a minor branch line. It's run by Arriva - described in one German site as a British rail company (showing journalists are the same all over).

This bit of the bridge is routinely lifted off by a floating crane to let cruise ships escape from the yard that builds them. However, I don't suppose they have a spare one anywhere - and in any case the fixed part and lift gear was damaged too.

[Chris from Nailsea]

It's run by Arriva - described in one German site as a British rail company (showing journalists are the same all over).

Oh, the irony! 

[ellendune]

This wonderful picture from twitter

https://twitter.com/trilljester/status/598903225215897600

[JayMac]

I laughed at that one. Hard.

The image in question:



Found this one via Google too:

[ellendune]

Thanks for sorting the image bnm

[TonyK]

A report on the TV says a lorry is stuck under a bridge in Royal Wootton Bassett. No mention on Journey Check so far, nor on twitter.

[patch38]

The Adver has this:

http://www.swindonadvertiser.co.uk/news/14232978.Road_shut_as_lorry_is_stuck_under_Swindon_bridge/

A LORRY has become stuck under the bridge on Wootton Bassett Road, resulting in a temporary closure of the A3102.

Motorists are warned to expect delays as recovery teams move in to to extract the Lenham Lorry, which hit the bridge at about 8am, and traffic is being diverted by police.

A spokesman for Wiltshire Police said: "We got the call at 7.50am to a lorry on its side. Road closures are in place and the road is expected to be closed for several hours.

"Swindon Borough Council/highways putting in diversions.

"No serious injury to driver of lorry."

Congestion is reported to Blagrove Roundabout and on the B4006 to Bruce Street Roundabout, with long tailbacks of traffic.

Thamesdown Transport have diverted their Eastbound (West Swindon to Town Centre) services 1, 1a and 27 via Great Western Way and Paddington Drive (Bridgemead). This means that the stop at Mannington Roundabout Eastbound is currently not in use.

Westbound services (Town Centre to West Swindon) are operating their normal route.

There are severe delays for Stagecoach routes 8, 9 and 55.

A Network Rail spokesman said: "As a safety precaution trains were instructed to pass over the bridge at 5mph, this led to three trains being slightly delayed.

"Our engineer was on site within 15 minutes and conducted an inspection, the outcome of which was that there was no damage to the bridge and so normal service resumed."

Last February a Sparks Transport lorry became wedged under the bridge and began tilting sideways, in what have been a series of bridge strikes over the years. The driver was unhurt in the incident.

Notable accidents include August 2001, when two lorries hit the bridge in one day.

In November 2010 a Wilkinsons driver was fined ^85 for colliding with the bridge.

On January 22, 2013, a 32-tonne truck became stuck after its driver miscalculated the height and claimed the bridge signs were faulty.

A Mr Kipling^s cakes truck^s arched roof was ripped off later that year after a driver, apparently confused by his sat-nav, crashed into the bridge.

In January 2015 an Oak Furnitureland lorry hit the bridge, with the trailer striking the top and having to be cut up so the vehicle could be freed.

At 9.45am Thamesdown Transport said the road had reopened.

[bobm]

Running Horse bridge claims another lorry. 

Biggest delay was to the 05:58 from Swansea.  It was already running late after door problems at Newport, but left Swindon 30 minutes late and was 34 late by Paddington.

Also, as mentioned in the article, it didn't do much for bus services in Swindon either!

[patch38]

The original Swindon Evening Advertiser link now contains an update on the situation and - as a bonus - a photographic history of strikes on the bridge!

http://www.swindonadvertiser.co.uk/news/14232978.UPDATE__Road_shut_as_lorry_hits_Swindon_bridge/

[chrisr_75]

It, erm, strikes me that at 14' 9' or 4.5m, that this bridge is particularly at risk, as the standard unmarked bridge height is 16' 6" or 5.1m, so really quite close in height to this one. Most of the strikes appear to have been caused by vehicles heading out of Swindon, from what I can tell from assorted photos.

Given the number of hits this bridge has taken over the past few years, I'm surprised the local authority and Network Rail haven't considered reducing the carriageway height by a couple of feet to cure this problem. It would also be possible to erect some kind of overheight warning device of some sort at the traffic light controlled junction immediately before this bridge in either direction (the traffic lights could change to red on the approach of anything too large even?), as a left turn at either set of lights provides a suitable escape for any overheight vehicles.