- DELAYS CAUSED BY "BRIDGE BASHES" ARE SOON TO BE CUT
Delays to rail passengers caused by
road users crashing into railway bridges are soon to be reduced with the
introduction of bridge monitoring technology launched by Railtrack North
West.
Six trial mobile digital cameras costing £6,000 each have been developed
in an attempt to shorten the response time to bridge bash incidents. These
cameras act as roving eyes for Railtrack's operational control centre.
Once a struck bridge has been reported, the nearest member of staff will
attend the scene armed with a digital camera. Using a remote video link,
images of the accident will be transmitted to Railtrack control where
experts can assess the damage.
The main benefit of the equipment is that it saves valuable time. It
allows workers who are closer to an incident than a qualified bridge
engineer to attend. With the use of the linked camera, the experts can
then view and assess the damage of the bridge without travelling to the
incident. If the engineer needs to look at a particular part of the
bridge, he can tell the camera operator where to point the camera via the
voice link. Problems are corrected more quickly and delays to rail
passengers are kept to a minimum.
This new technology introduced by Railtrack has proved very effective in
trials, but is not the first measure it has taken in an attempt to
decrease response time. A system known as "BridgeGuard",
developed by Oldham based Ferranti Technologies Limited is also being
implemented. This scheme consists of a number of sensors attached to
bridges within the north west, each system costing around £35,000. When a
vehicle strikes a bridge the sensors detect the fault and notify the
bridge maintenance engineers of the impact and its intensity. "BridgeGuard"
has been shadowing normal "bridge bash" procedures for three
years, but due to its success and reliability it is due to run
independently by the end of this month.
Every year hundreds of railway bridges are hit by vehicles. This causes
delays to trains, obstructs the road and in some instances seriously
damages the bridge. Within the last twelve months 248 bridges have been
struck within the north west, causing a total of 33,434 minutes delay to
trains.
The use of the bridge monitoring equipment will ensure the response to
such incidents is dramatically reduced, therefore guaranteeing fewer
delays for rail passengers.
Location
Road name
No. of strikes
Shotton, Deeside
A548 Chester Road
47
Stockport
George’s Road35
Chinley
A624 Hayfield Road
29
Lostock Gralam
A530 Griffins Road
28
Port Sunlight
Ellens Lane
27
Preston
Lytham Road
24
Bredbury
Ashton Road
23
Disley
Redhouse Lane
23
Cefn-y-Bedd
Wrexham Road
19
Aintree
Copy Lane
19
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