Media centre

Tuesday 12 Oct 2004

BRIDGE ‘BASHER’ DISRUPTS RAIL JOURNEYS

Region & Route:

Rail passengers travelling between Barnsley and Wakefield faced disruption today after a rail bridge at Darton was struck and damaged by a lorry. The lorry hit the bridge at approximately 10.20am.  Trains were stopped while Network Rail’s engineers inspected the damage.  At 11am they were able to reopen the bridge for services to Wakefield.  But, due to the severity of the damage the line to Barnsley has remained closed while engineers carry out repairs. Graham Botham, Route Director, Network Rail said: “This incident has resulted in disruption to hundreds of passengers.  Network Rail’s engineers are working round the clock to repair the bridge structure, but, due to the extent of the damage, work will take at least 48 hours to complete. “I would urge drivers of any large vehicles to make sure they know the height of their vehicle, to observe the height restriction signs on bridges and to take extra care when driving near rail bridges.” A bus replacement service will operate for the remainder of today between Barnsley and Wakefield.  Train services will resume tomorrow, but, will be subject to delay as only one track will be in use rather than the normal two as engineers work to repair the bridge. Dyan Crowther, managing director, Arriva Trains Northern, said: “We apologise to customers for the inconvenience this incident is clearly causing, and are working closely with Network Rail to ensure that normal services can be resumed as soon as possible.”