Media centre

Friday 19 Mar 2004

GOOD NEWS FOR NORTH WEST’S MOST BASHED BRIDGE

Region & Route:

One of the most bashed bridges in the North West of England is to get specialist monitoring equipment to improve the safety of the railway and reduce delays to trains.  The railway bridge over Redhouse Lane in Disley has been hit by high-sided vehicles a staggering 42 times in the last two years – and that’s only counting the reported hits. Bridge owner Network Rail is convinced it is often hit but never reported. Every time a bridge is hit, trains must be stopped until a member of Network Rail staff has inspected it. This can take anything up to an hour if they have to travel a long distance to reach the bridge. In the rush hour it can be even worse because, of course, they have to get there by road. If the bridge appears to be safe, then trains are allowed to cross it- but only at 5mph- until a qualified bridge engineer has carried out a detailed inspection to decide if it is safe to lift the speed restriction. To go through this process at Redhouse Lane every time a bash is reported has caused 4,100 minutes delay to trains on the Buxton line in the last two years. Not only is this bad news for passengers but it also costs Network Rail thousands of pounds. - more - Redhouse - 2 Now Network Rail has found a way to limit these delays by installing a Ferranti bridge guard system on the bridge at a cost of £51,000.  Ferranti Technologies Limited is a supplier of electronic and electromechanical equipment and historically has its roots in defence and aerospace but has developed a system that consists of sensors situated underneath the bridge that are linked to computers in the operational control and structures department at Network Rail.                         When the system is installed one of three signals will show on a computer screen in the event of a strike; a green light will mean that the bridge is safe and trains can continue as normal, a yellow light will also issue a warning sound on the computer that means trains can continue over the bridge at 5mph until an inspection has been carried out and a red light with a warning sound will mean that there has been a high level impact and trains must stop. An additional £10,000 has been spent on clearing away vegetation, such as shrubs and trees   that was obstructing the view of the bridge and hiding warning signs at the roadside.  Yellow and black chevrons have also been painted on the lower part of the bridge to enhance visibility.  The work has been carried out with the agreement of landowners affected by any vegetation clearance on their land. Network Rail’s general manager, Jo Green said: “Network Rail would like to thank everyone concerned for their co-operation and team work whilst helping to resolve the problem.  The vegetation work is now complete and the system, which is being built specifically for this bridge, will be fitted in the near future. “This system will prove a much more efficient way of dealing with these incidents in the future.  It will save time and money for both train operators and Network Rail, but most importantly disruptions to public train services over this line can now be kept to an absolute minimum.”