The risk of bridge strikes

Bridge strikes are a significant risk to railway safety

A bridge strike occurs when a motor vehicle crashes into a bridge at a location where the railway passes over a road or the road crosses the railway.

Bridge strike incidents can cause death or serious injury to road and rail users and are financially costly to the vehicle owner and the railway.

After an incident the bridge needs to be checked to make sure it’s safe and debris needs to be cleared. This can cause significant delays to both road and rail users as well as disruption to the affected community.

Wise up size up: our bridge strikes campaign

Reporting a bridge strike

If a bridge strike occurs it should be immediately reported to us using the telephone number on the identification plate fixed to the bridge. If no plate is provided the strike should be reported to the Police by telephoning 999.

The number of bridge strikes at our bridges since 2000 (between 1 April and 31 March) are shown in the table below.

Some bridges over roads were struck repeatedly in 2017/18, with 32 strikes being reported at bridgeBGK/1568: Stuntley Road (A142) in Ely, Cambridgeshire.

The top 10 assets with greatest number of reported bridge strikes in the year ending 31 March 2018 were as follows:

Repeated bridge strikes 2017/18

Two or more bridge strikes were reported at 358 bridges carrying the railway over roads and roads over the railway in the year ending 31 March 2018.

Our Route bridge strike champions take the lead in managing bridge strike risk locally and can be contacted as follows:

Bridge strike contacts

More information

• Prevention of bridge strikes
• Responding to a bridge strike
• Wise up size up campaign
• Bridge strikes: Risks, consequences and costs (PDF)