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Wednesday 20 Nov 2024

Grantham railway bridge in national top ten ‘hit list’ for lorry strikes

Region & Route:

Eastern

| Eastern: East Coast

New figures show a railway bridge in Grantham is among the top five most bashed by lorries in Britain.

The structure at Harlaxton Road, which carries the East Coast Main Line above, was struck 14 times for the year ending March 2024, causing needless delays for rail passengers and road users.

Today (20 November) Network Rail has published its Top 10 most struck bridges in the country. Harlaxton Road’s 14 strikes was four behind Stuntney Road in Ely, Cambridgeshire, which took the list’s unenviable top spot with 18 incidents.

Only last Friday (8 November) the bridge in Grantham suffered damage when an HGV driver failed to follow the warning signs, leading to a temporary stop on the railway above while engineers urgently made structural safety checks.

💥BRIDGE STRIKE💥

Rail passengers faced needless delays this morning when a lorry hit a bridge in Grantham forcing us to stop trains 🛑

Trains are now moving but with delays - please check @nationalrailenq

🚚🚛Lorry drivers - know the height and size of your vehicles‼️ pic.twitter.com/8979Jmmwlm

— Network Rail East Coast (@NetworkRailEC) November 13, 2024

Nationally between March 2023 – March 2024, there were 1,532 reported bridge strikes - one every six hours - which cost Britain’s rail industry around £20m in delays, cancellations and repairs.

They also add up to 100 days of delays for rail passengers, which is why Network Rail is urging haulage operators and lorry drivers to plan routes carefully and check vehicle heights.

Network Rail also has a team of bridge strike champions covering each route across Britain, who raise awareness by visiting local haulage companies.

While the last two years has seen the total number of incidents recorded on the network fall - with a 4% reduction in the last year alone – lorry drivers are being urged to check out the ‘Wise Up, Size Up’ campaign to bring an end to unnecessary bridge damage.

Simon Pumphrey, Network Rail East Coast route infrastructure director, said: “Every time a vehicle hits a bridge it can cause serious safety issues for road and rail users. To compound matters, these incidents can delay tens of thousands of passengers while we inspect the bridge and repair any damage – creating cost from public funds which should be used upgrading and improving our network.

“We’ve done a lot of work with transport partners to tackle bridge strikes and it’s encouraging to see this is paying off with a general downward trend in the number of incidents. But there’s still much to do and we urge operators and drivers to properly plan their routes, know the height of their vehicles and be vigilant for road signs showing the height of bridges. We will report those who don’t to the Traffic Commissioners and Network Rail always looks to recover the entire repair and delay costs from the driver and the operator.”

Useful information about the Network Rail’s battle against bridge bashing can be found here: Wise Up, Size Up.