The Risk of Bridge Strikes
The number of reports of vehicles striking bridges continues to rise each year.
For the year to 31st March 2008, there were over 1700 reported bridge strikes, and this number continues to rise. On average about 6 bridge strikes are reported each day.
Bridge strikes are a significant risk to the safety of train passengers and railway workers, damage our bridges, and can cause significant delays to train services.
Bridge strikes can also result in the death or serious injury of the driver or passengers on the vehicle involved, and other innocent road users. Bridge strikes are financially costly to the vehicle owner as well as the railway.
A bridge strike can cause significant delays to the road user and disruption to the community.
The management of the risk of bridge strikes has three aspects:
- Prevention
- Mitigation in which it is accepted that as a strike may not be prevented, provision of mitigation will reduce the consequences of a strike. Examples include collision protection beams and road signing and also hazard markings on the bridge
- Response – if a strike occurs, the use of trained rapid response staff to respond to a reported strike to manage the incident and examine the structure
Prevention of Bridge Strikes
It is therefore essential that highway managers are aware of the consequences of bridge strikes and have guidance on the requirements for managing this risk for the road user in order that they may implement measures to prevent such incidents occurring. Similarly managers of freight and passenger transport companies and their professional drivers should also be aware of the risks and consequences of bridge strikes and take steps to prevent them occurring.
As part of a concerted effort to raise the awareness of the dangers of bridge strikes amongst all those involved in highway transport and infrastructure maintenance, a protocol ‘Prevention of Strikes on Bridges over Highways: A Protocol for Highway Managers and Bridge Owners' has been developed jointly by the CSS (County Surveyors’ Society), Department for Transport (Traffic Signs Policy Branch) and Network Rail.
Whilst there is no one solution to the prevention of bridge strikes, one vital ingredient is for a consistent approach to signing and road maintenance at bridges to be applied across the country. The protocol recommends practices to be adopted by all highway authorities and bridge owners which should lead to a consistent approach across the country so as to increase driver understanding and awareness. The protocol will be used by Network Rail staff in their discussions with local highway authorities as a basis for the standards and practices to be adopted.
Network Rail in conjunction with freight and passenger transport industry partners, has also developed a series of good practice guides to help raise awareness of the risks and consequences of bridge strikes, and to give guidance on how they can be prevented.
Two guides to provide guidance for transport managers and professional drivers in the freight and construction plant transport industry have been produced with support from the Freight Transport Association, Road Haulage Association, Construction Plant-hire Association, Associations of Chief Police Officers, the Department for Transport, and Transport and General Workers' Union.
A further two guides have also been produced for operational staff and drivers in the passenger transport industry. The Organisations that supported the development of this second pair of guides included Road Operators Safety Council, Confederation of Passenger Transport, Department for Transport, Associations of Chief Police Officers and Transport for London.
The Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Transport endorsed the guides for transport managers in the freight and construction plant transport industry and operational staff in the passenger transport industry.
By following the guidance, the freight and transport industry will be able to reduce the number of bridge strikes thereby avoiding unnecessary damage, costs, delays and disruption.
These documents are part of a series of actions under way to reduce the number of bridge strikes as part of our commitment to delivering a safe and reliable railway.
Response to a Bridge Strike
Police-initial actions
Network Rail and the three police organisations have jointly developed a protocol Police bridge strike protocol – initial actions which details the roles and responsibilities of the organisation’s control offices in response to a reported bridge strike. Police consider that a bridge strike is a potentially critical incident. The protocol is an agreed framework of key actions to be undertaken by the Police and Network Rail, following a bridge strike at a railway bridge. The purpose of the protocol is to ensure all those involved in the response to a bridge strike work together in a consistent manner and achieve high levels of safety, whilst minimising delay to train services.
Bridge Strike at a bridge over the railway
There are approximately 8,000 bridges that carry public highways and roads over the railway. In any one year approximately 150 bridge strikes are reported at these bridges. In addition to the damage to the vehicle, these strikes can cause significant damage to bridge parapets and delays to the railway.
Network Rail in conjunction with the County Surveyors’ Society and Police organisations has developed a protocol “Response to a Bridge Strike over the Railway” to provide advice as to the action to be taken when a vehicle collides with a bridge over the railway causing significant damage to the parapet. In addition to those of Network Rail, the protocol details the responsibilities of Highway Authorities and Police.
The protocol gives guidance and advice to highway and road managers, bridge owners and others involved in the response to a bridge strike at a bridge over the railway to maintain the safety of the railway and public highways and roads. By following the advice in the protocol, the risk to the operational railway and to the highway or road users will be minimised, and train services and road traffic movements will be able to be restored safely.
This guidance does not apply to the response to a bridge strike at a bridge carrying the railway over a public highway or road, for which different procedures apply.
Guidance and advice for highway managers and bridge owners to minimise bridge strikes at bridges that carry the railway over public highways or roads is given in Prevention of Strikes on Bridges over Highways: A Protocol for Highway Managers and Bridge Owners .